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Albert Camus by Edward J. Hughes
Category: Philosophy and Religion | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
Winner of the Franco-British Society Literary Prize 2015 Few figures of twentieth-century French culture carry such an air of romance and intrigue as Albert Camus. Though his life was cut short by a fatal car accident in 1960, when he was just forty-six years old, he packed those years with an incredib ...Show more
Aldous Huxley by Jake Poller
Category: Biography and Memoir | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
"An outstanding book."--James Sexton "A welcome and necessary update of the life of one of the twentieth century's most provocative intellectuals."--Dana Sawyer A rich and lucid account of Aldous Huxley's life and work. Aldous Huxley was one of the twentieth century's most prescient thinkers. T ...Show more
Antoni Gaudí by Michael Eaude
Category: Biography Memoir | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
An accessible account of the contradictory life and work of the modernist Catalan architect. The celebrated art nouveau architect Antoni Gaudí was a contradictory figure: a deeply religious, politically right-wing man who nevertheless built revolutionary buildings. This book explores Gaudí's life, wor ...Show more
Arthur Rimbaud by Seth Whidden
Category: Biography | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
Before he turned twenty-one, Arthur Rimbaud (1854-91) had upended the house of French poetry and left it in shambles. In this critical biography, Seth Whidden argues that what makes Rimbaud's poetry important is part of what makes his life so compelling: rebellion, audacity, creativity, and exploration. ...Show more
Byron by David Ellis
Category: General Biography | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
A fresh, concise account of the Romantic poet Lord Byron's flamboyant life and work. In this book, David Ellis traces Lord Byron's life from rented lodgings in Aberdeen and the crumbling splendors of Newstead Abbey to his final grand tour of Asia. Describing his exile from England as well as his subseq ...Show more
Charles Darwin by J. David Archibald
Category: Science | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
A fresh account of Charles Darwin's rich personal and professional lives, well beyond On the Origin of Species. In 1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. With this bedrock of biology books, Darwin carved a new origin-story for all life: evolution rather than creation. But this singl ...Show more
DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH by FAIRCLOUGH PAULINE
Category: Biography | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
Dmitry Shostakovich was one of the most successful composers of the twentieth century--a musician who adapted as no other to the unique pressures of his age. By turns vilified and feted by Stalin during the Great Purge, Shostakovich twice came close to succumbing to the whirlwind of political repression ...Show more
Frantz Fanon by James S. Williams
Category: Philosophy | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
A biography of the revolutionary philosopher and psychiatrist. Doctor, militant, essayist, ambassador, teacher, journalist, pan-Africanist, Frantz Fanon sought to decolonize mid-twentieth-century culture as he embodied a new kind of intellectual. Born in colonial Martinique, he fought for France durin ...Show more
Friedrich Nietzsche by Ritchie Robertson
Category: Philosophy and Religion | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
An accessible and informative study of the life and work of this vaunted German philosopher. In this concise yet comprehensive critical biography, Ritchie Robertson examines the work of Friedrich Nietzsche within the context of his life. The book traces Nietzsche's development from outstanding classical ...Show more
GEORGIA O'KEEFFE by SCOTT NANCY J
Category: Art Literature | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
Georgia O'Keeffe, the most famous woman artist of American modernism and a pioneer in abstract art, created a vision without precedent. She expressed the grandeur of her world in the Southwest, from the high desert mesas to the smallest flower, with fierce independence. And a separate world has risen up ...Show more
Gustave Flaubert by Anne Green
Category: Biography | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest novelists, and his work continues to influence and inspire contemporary writers, artists, and musicians. Flaubert was determined from a young age to become a writer and achieved sudden fame in 1857 when his first published no ...Show more
Guy de Maupassant by Christopher Lloyd
Category: Biography Memoir | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
The most celebrated French storyteller of the nineteenth century, Guy de Maupassant was a master of the modern short story. Offering an intriguing picture of French life, his stories derive their enduring appeal from understated artistry, extreme craftsmanship, and the universality of his characters and ...Show more