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A classic of American autobiography—the remarkable story of Helen Keller’s early life and education

At nineteen months old, Helen Keller was stricken with a mysterious illness that left her deaf and blind. For the next five years, she was trapped in the silent dark, her only means of communication a few dozen rudimentary signs. Her inability to express herself was a great source of frustration, and as she grew older, Helen became prone to angry outbursts and fits of despair. Her family sought help, and in March of 1887, twenty-year-old Anne Sullivan arrived from the Perkins Institution for the Blind. One month later, teacher and student made the first of many incredible breakthroughs. By placing one of Helen’s hands under cool running water and tracing the letters w-a-t-e-r on her other hand, Anne was able to convey the great mystery of language: that every object has a name. As Helen would later write in The Story of My Life, “That living word awakened my soul.”

Covering the first twenty-two years of Helen Keller’s life, from that miraculous moment at the water pump to her acceptance into Radcliffe College, The Story of My Life is one of the most beloved and inspiring autobiographies ever written. The basis for The Miracle Worker, the Tony Award–winning play and Academy Award–winning film, its heartening message has touched millions of lives and torn down countless barriers the world over.

June 6, 1944, D-Day: Allied forces took the beaches at Normandy—and the naval engineering genius of Edward Ellsberg would play a crucial part.

Before World War II, Edward Ellsberg had already established himself as a true innovator and master naval engineer, revolutionizing the salvage and rescue of sunken vessels like no one before. Then, having served his country for over a decade, he retired to private life.

But his work was not finished. Within hours of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the aging and physically ill Ellsberg was on a train to Washington, DC, to offer his services once again. And they would be needed for the greatest military invasion in human history.

In The Far Shore, Rear Admiral Ellsberg describes in detail the meticulous preparation and efforts behind the Normandy Invasion—efforts that would keep the flow of men and materials streaming onto the beaches and into the heart of Europe. From dealing with the extremes of engineering possibilities to wrestling with the knowledge that countless lives would depend on the success of his intricate planning, Ellsberg would work himself into exhaustion to do his part. His achievements would eventually earn him the Distinguished Service Medal and lead to his appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Vividly described by a man who saw firsthand the horrors of war and the cost of victory, The Far Shore takes readers through the brutal surf, onto the bloody beaches, and into the mind of one of World War II’s little-known heroes.

The celebrated remembrances of the man who led the Union to victory during the Civil War

Completed just days before his death, Grant’s Personal Memoirs is a clear and compelling account of his military career, focusing on two great conflicts: the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. Lauded for its crisp and direct prose, Grant’s autobiography offers frank insight into everything from the merits of the war with Mexico to the strategies and tactics employed by Union forces against the Confederacy to the poignancy of Grant’s meeting with General Lee at Appomattox Court House.

Beloved and bestselling since its publication in 1885, Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is a seminal work of military history and one of the great achievements of American autobiography.

Theodore Roosevelt’s bestselling memoir chronicling the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry and its victory at San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War.

Yearning to join the fight for Cuban independence in the Spanish–American War, Theodore Roosevelt and Col. Leonard Wood formed the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry. They enlisted a motley crew from all walks of life, from cowboys and frontiersmen to Ivy League graduates. These 1,250 men became known as the Rough Riders. After training in San Antonio, Texas, they set out for the tropical jungles of Cuba. As they grappled with hunger, malaria, and occasional defeat, their many battles with the Spanish Army culminated in the death-defying charge to victory at San Juan Hill.

Through it all, Roosevelt kept a pocket diary in which he made daily entries about his experiences and the men who fought beside him. Imbued with his trademark vigor and certainty of purpose, Roosevelt’s firsthand account of this historic campaign paints a vivid picture of the rugged, independent spirit that came to define American heroism.