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The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Translated into a dozen languages, printed in hundreds of editions, and read by millions of people, Franklin's autobiography has had an influence perhaps unequalled by any other book by an American writer. Written ostensibly as a letter to his son William, the autobiography offers Franklin's reflections on philosophy and religion, politics, war, education, material success and the status of women. This edition of the autobiography, prepared by the editors of "The Papers of Benjamin Franklin", is drawn with care from the original manuscript in Franklin's handwriting now in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. The introduction by Leonard Labaree places the autobiography in literary and historical contexts. In the foreword, Edmund Morgan writes about Franklin's dual allegiance as an American and a subject of an English king, and his emergence as a leader of the American Revolution. This edition also includes biographical notes, a chronology of Franklin's life, and an updated bibliography. -
Voices Carry
Voices Carry is the riveting autobiography of one of China's most prominent citizens of the twentieth century. Beginning with his imprisonment during the Cultural Revolution, Ying Ruocheng's narrative takes us through unexpectedly amusing adventures during his incarceration before flashing back to his childhood and the legacy of his elite Manchu Catholic family. An internationally renowned actor, director, and translator, Ying also held a high government post as vice minister of culture before and during the Tian'anmen Square massacre. Detailing his experiences as a student and actor during China's civil war and revolution, as well as episodes ranging from his partnership with Arthur Miller on Death of a Salesman to his roles in the films The Last Emperor and Little Buddha during the era of reform, Ying Ruocheng's memoir provides a rare glimpse behind the scenes of contemporary Chinese culture and politics. -
我的知識之路 | John Stuart Mill Autobiography
郝明義 導讀:<一個普通讀者如何閱讀一本「天才」之書> 「由於這條知識之路的絢麗奪目,所以我覺得有如在觀賞一部不可名狀的電影。……彌爾以他條理清晰,文筆簡潔的敘述,為我們清楚地描繪出一條可供後人依循的路途。……正由於他說明得如此清楚,所以這一條特殊的知識之路,其實是任何一個普通讀者都可以學習的。」 彌爾是古今少有的奇才:他沒有上過學校,卻是世界著名的邏輯學家、哲學家、經濟學家、歷史學家、文學家、社會運動家。從小他所有的學習,都是來自於經濟學家父親嚴格的教育。他三歲學希臘文,童年即閱讀了《遠征記》、《對話錄》、蘇格拉底《回憶錄》等書;八歲開始學拉丁文、代數和幾何;十二歲起研究邏輯學,熟讀亞里斯多德的邏輯學論文,並寫下《羅馬政治史》;十三歲時,他在每天散步中聆聽父親傳授經濟學,回家後記錄下來,就這樣完成了《政治經濟學要義》一書。 這種強迫性教育為他省下了知識份子在一般學校制度浪費的十年時間,但也有其缺點:「我不曾有過童年。」彌爾坦承。對於理性的幾近病態的強調,使得他在二十歲那年陷入精神危機,最終是藉由閱讀、思考、以及愛情才幫助他度過難關。 《彌爾自傳》是一部奇特的傳記,與同類著作相比,它可算是一部完全知識性的作品,除了有幾頁提到他妻子的文字外,幾乎沒有感情的描述,但它的平淡質樸卻能使讀者無比感動。彌爾的自傳是十九世紀知識份子歷史中極為重要的文獻,它詳細記錄下作者親自接受的卓越教育經歷──雖然對大多數人而言,此種經歷讀起來像是中世紀苦役的記錄──今天,閱讀這一位天才的學習之路,不管是做為兒童教育的參考,或是自身修習的思索,都能帶給我們無限的啟發。 作者簡介: 約翰.彌爾(John Stuart Mill, 1806~1873) 十九世紀歐洲重要思想家,英國著名的哲學家、經濟學家與政治理論家,世人譽為自由主義的承先啟後大師。 約翰.彌爾生於一八0六年,自幼便展現聰明天才,在父親嚴格的教育下,三歲學希臘文;八歲學習拉丁文、代數和幾何;十歲讀完柏拉圖的著作;十二歲起研究邏輯學,熟讀亞里斯多德的邏輯學論文;十三歲讀政治經濟學,研習亞當史密斯和李嘉圖的學說。十四歲時前往法國,在邊沁的弟弟家裡寄住,修習化學、植物學和高深數學。 由於家學淵源,約翰.彌爾從小就與邊沁、李嘉圖等思想家接觸,深受他們的學說與思想所影響。十七歲時他進入東印度公司,任職三十五年,一八六六年以自由黨候選人身分成為英國國會下議院院員,任內他積極爭取工人階級選舉權、保護愛爾蘭人的權力,並在妻子與女兒的鼓勵下,大力主張婦女選舉權。 彌爾一生寫作不輟,著有《邏輯學體系》、《論自由》、《論代議政治》、《政治經濟學原理》、《功利主義》等,對後世哲學、政治等思想的發展,皆有深遠的影響。 -
Not by Chance Alone
How does a boy from a financially and intellectually impoverished background grow up to become a Harvard researcher, win international acclaim for his groundbreaking work, and catch fire as a pioneering psychologist? As the only person in the history of the American Psychological Association to have won all three of its highest honorsfor distinguished research, teaching, and writing Elliot Aronson is living proof that humans are capable of capturing the power of the situation and conquering the prison of personality. A personal and compelling look into Aronson’s profound contributions to the field of social psychology, Not by Chance Alone is a lifelong story of human potential and the power of social change. -
My Life
President Bill Clinton’s My Life is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public. It shows us the progress of a remarkable American, who, through his own enormous energies and efforts, made the unlikely journey from Hope, Arkansas, to the White House—a journey fueled by an impassioned interest in the political process which manifested itself at every stage of his life: in college, working as an intern for Senator William Fulbright; at Oxford, becoming part of the Vietnam War protest movement; at Yale Law School, campaigning on the grassroots level for Democratic candidates; back in Arkansas, running for Congress, attorney general, and governor. We see his career shaped by his resolute determination to improve the life of his fellow citizens, an unfaltering commitment to civil rights, and an exceptional understanding of the practicalities of political life. We come to understand the emotional pressures of his youth—born after his father’s death; caught in the dysfunctional relationship between his feisty, nurturing mother and his abusive stepfather, whom he never ceased to love and whose name he took; drawn to the brilliant, compelling Hillary Rodham, whom he was determined to marry; passionately devoted, from her infancy, to their daughter, Chelsea, and to the entire experience of fatherhood; slowly and painfully beginning to comprehend how his early denial of pain led him at times into damaging patterns of behavior. President Clinton’s book is also the fullest, most concretely detailed, most nuanced account of a presidency ever written—encompassing not only the high points and crises but the way the presidency actually works: the day-to-day bombardment of problems, personalities, conflicts, setbacks, achievements. It is a testament to the positive impact on America and on the world of his work and his ideals. It is the gripping account of a president under concerted and unrelenting assault orchestrated by his enemies on the Far Right, and how he survived and prevailed. It is a treasury of moments caught alive, among them: • The ten-year-old boy watching the national political conventions on his family’s new (and first) television set. • The young candidate looking for votes in the Arkansas hills and the local seer who tells him, “Anybody who would campaign at a beer joint in Joiner at midnight on Saturday night deserves to carry one box. . . . You’ll win here. But it’ll be the only damn place you win in this county.” (He was right on both counts.) • The roller-coaster ride of the 1992 campaign. • The extraordinarily frank exchanges with Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole. • The delicate manipulation needed to convince Rabin and Arafat to shake hands for the camera while keeping Arafat from kissing Rabin. • The cost, both public and private, of the scandal that threatened the presidency. Here is the life of a great national and international figure, revealed with all his talents and contradictions, told openly, directly, in his own completely recognizable voice. A unique book by a unique American.--From the Hardcover edition. -
Angela's Ashes
在线阅读本书 "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank's father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy -- exasperating, irresponsible and beguiling -- does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father's tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies. Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank's survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig's head for Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors -- yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness. Angela's Ashes, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic.