We only have one life to read, but there are so many lives to read about.  Here are just a few of the many biographies of influential and inspirational lives that the library owns.  Check them out!

• Marian Anderson: A Singer's Journey
  

   

  
  
  
• The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the business of life
  

  "Here is the book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. The result is the personally reveal read more ...
  
  

  "Here is the book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. The result is the personally revealing and complete biography of the man known everywhere as "The Oracle of Omaha."" "Never before has Buffett spent countless hours responding to a writer's questions, talking, giving complete access to his wife, children, friends, and business associates - opening his files, recalling his childhood. It was an act of courage, as The Snowball makes immensely clear. Being human, his own life, like most lives, has been a mix of strengths and frailties. Yet notable though his fortune may be, Buffett's legacy will not be his ranking on the scorecard of wealth; it will be his principles and ideas that have enriched people's lives. This book tells you why Warren Buffett is the most fascinating American success story of our time."--BOOK JACKET.

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• Thirty ways of looking at Hillary: Reflections by women writers
  

  "In Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary, New Yorker editor Susan Morrison has compiled this timely collection of thirty original pieces by America's most notable women writers. This pointillistic portrait paints a composite picture of Hillary Clinton, focusing on details from the personal to the political, from the hard-hitting to the whimsical, to give a well-balanced and unbiased view of the wo read more ...
  
  

  "In Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary, New Yorker editor Susan Morrison has compiled this timely collection of thirty original pieces by America's most notable women writers. This pointillistic portrait paints a composite picture of Hillary Clinton, focusing on details from the personal to the political, from the hard-hitting to the whimsical, to give a well-balanced and unbiased view of the woman who may be our first Madam President. Taken together, these essays - by such renowned writers as Daphne Merkin, Lorrie Moore, Deborah Tannen, Susan Cheever, Lionel Shriver, Kathryn Harrison, and Susan Orlean - illuminate the attitudes that women have toward the powerful women around them and constitute a biography that is must reading for anyone interested in understanding this complex and controversial politician."--BOOK JACKET.

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• Tried by war: Abraham Lincoln as Commander-in-chief
  

  "Though Abraham Lincoln arrived at the White House with no previous military experience, he quickly established himself as the greatest commander in chief in American history. James McPherson illuminates this often misunderstood and profoundly influential aspect of Lincoln's legacy." "Lincoln was a self-taught military strategist, which makes his adroit conduct of the war seem almost miraculous read more ...
  
  

  "Though Abraham Lincoln arrived at the White House with no previous military experience, he quickly established himself as the greatest commander in chief in American history. James McPherson illuminates this often misunderstood and profoundly influential aspect of Lincoln's legacy." "Lincoln was a self-taught military strategist, which makes his adroit conduct of the war seem almost miraculous. To be sure, the Union's campaigns often went awry, sometimes horribly so, but McPherson makes clear how the missteps arose from the all-too-common moments when Lincoln could neither threaten nor cajole his commanders to follow his orders." "As we approach the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth in 2009, this book provides a genuinely novel, even timely, view of the most written-about figure in our history. Tried by War offers a revelatory portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured. How Lincoln overcame feckless generals, fickle public opinion, and his own paralyzing fears is a story at once suspenseful and inspiring."--BOOK JACKET.

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• The American Journey of Barack Obama
  

  The editors of LIFE Books have collected a richly illustrated biography of presidential candidate Barack Obama. This work includes intimate pictures from Obama's childhood and his time as editor of Harvard's Law Review, and culminates with the historic Democratic National Convention.

  
  
  
• Never Die Easy: The Autobiography of Walter Payton
  

  Walter Payton -- the man they called Sweetness for the way he ran -- remains the most prolific running back in the history of the National Football League. The star of the Chicago Bears' only Super Bowl championship, Payton was voted the most popular sports figure in Chicago's history -- eleven times.Written in the last weeks of his life, with veteran journalist and  read more ...
  
  

  Walter Payton -- the man they called Sweetness for the way he ran -- remains the most prolific running back in the history of the National Football League. The star of the Chicago Bears' only Super Bowl championship, Payton was voted the most popular sports figure in Chicago's history -- eleven times.Written in the last weeks of his life, with veteran journalist and author Don Yaeger, Never Die Easy presents Walter Payton's singular voice -- warm, plainspoken, funny, self-aware -- along with the voices of those who knew him best: his friends, family, teammates, and business associates.

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• The First Billion is the Hardest
  

  "Now eighty years old, T. Boone Pickens is a legendary figure in the business world. Known as the "Oracle of Oil" because of his uncanny ability to predict the direction of fuel prices, he built Mesa Petroleum, one of the largest independent oil companies in the United States, from a $2,500 investment." "When Pickens left Mesa at age sixty-eight after a spectacular downward spiral in the compan read more ...
  
  

  "Now eighty years old, T. Boone Pickens is a legendary figure in the business world. Known as the "Oracle of Oil" because of his uncanny ability to predict the direction of fuel prices, he built Mesa Petroleum, one of the largest independent oil companies in the United States, from a $2,500 investment." "When Pickens left Mesa at age sixty-eight after a spectacular downward spiral in the company's profits, many counted him out. Indeed, what followed for him was a painful divorce, clinical depression, a temporary inability to predict the movement of energy prices, and the loss of 90 percent of his investing capital. But Pickens was far from out." "From that personal and professional nadir, Pickens staged one of the most impressive comebacks in the industry, turning his investment fund's remaining $3 million into $8 billion in profit in just a few years. That made him, at age seventy-seven, the world's second-highest-paid hedge fund manager. But he wasn't done yet. Today, Pickens is making some of the world's most colossal energy bets. If he has his way, most of America's cars will eventually run on natural gas, and vast swaths of the nation's prairie land will become places where wind can be harnessed for power generation."--BOOK JACKET.

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• Sinatra in Hollywood
  

  "Hollywood legend, Academy Award-winning actor, and recipient of the Golden Globe Award for lifetime achievement in film, Frank Sinatra carved out one of the biggest careers in the history of Hollywood, yet paradoxically his screen legacy has been overshadowed by his extraordinary achievements as a singer and recording artist. Until now." "With the publication of Sinatra in Hollywood, an analyt read more ...
  
  

  "Hollywood legend, Academy Award-winning actor, and recipient of the Golden Globe Award for lifetime achievement in film, Frank Sinatra carved out one of the biggest careers in the history of Hollywood, yet paradoxically his screen legacy has been overshadowed by his extraordinary achievements as a singer and recording artist. Until now." "With the publication of Sinatra in Hollywood, an analytical yet deeply personal look at the screen legend of Frank Sinatra, Sinatra's standing as a significant, indeed legendary, screen actor has now been placed in full perspective. Examining each of Sinatra's seventy film appearances in depth, Tom Santopietro traces the arc of his astonishing six-decade run as a film actor, from his rise to stardom in "boy next door" musical films like Anchors Aweigh and On the Town, through his fall from grace with legendary flops like The Kissing Bandit, to the near-mythic comeback with his Oscar-winning performance in From Here to Eternity." "Laced throughout with Sinatra's own observations on his film work, Sinatra in Hollywood deals head-on with his tumultuous marriages to Ava Gardner and Mia Farrow and directly addresses the rumors of Mob involvement in Sinatra's Hollywood career. Ranging from the specifics of his controversial acting nickname of One Take Charlie to the iconic Rat Pack film Ocean's Eleven, from the groundbreaking performance in The Manchurian Candidate to the moving and elegiac late-career roles as tough yet vulnerable detectives, the myths and personal foibles are stripped away, placing the focus squarely on the work." "Often times brilliant, occasionally off-kilter, but always compelling, Frank Sinatra, the film icon who registered as nothing less than emblematic of "The American Century," here receives his full due as the serious artist he was, the actor about whom director Billy Wilder emphatically stated, "Frank Sinatra is beyond talent.""--BOOK JACKET.

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• Call Me Ted
  

  "An innovative entrepreneur, outspoken nonconformist, and groundbreaking philanthropist, Ted Turner is truly a living legend, and now, for the first time, he reveals his personal story. From his difficult childhood to the successful launch of his media empire to the catastrophic AOL/Time Warner deal, Turner spares no details or feelings and takes the reader along on a wild and sometimes bumpy r read more ...
  
  

  "An innovative entrepreneur, outspoken nonconformist, and groundbreaking philanthropist, Ted Turner is truly a living legend, and now, for the first time, he reveals his personal story. From his difficult childhood to the successful launch of his media empire to the catastrophic AOL/Time Warner deal, Turner spares no details or feelings and takes the reader along on a wild and sometimes bumpy ride."--BOOK JACKET.

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