Biography & Autobiography / General

Scholars examine four major aspects of Justice Douglas’s work: his relations with his colleagues; his views on civil liberties, which primarily led to his reputation as a liberal; his stance as an environmentalist; and his views as an internationalist.

Drawing upon previously undiscovered resources, Steel Titan is the first biography ever written on the life of Charles M. Schwab, president of U.S. Steel and founder of Bethlehem Steel.

The definitive political biography of Swedish prime minister Tage Erlander. This book is both the study of an individual style of leadership and the role of the prime minister in a parliamentary state. It shows Erlander as a complex and engaging intellectual fiercely loyal to his party, agitative yet dedicated to cooperation between parties.

This definitive biography of Ida Tarbell, one of America’s great journalists, is highly readably and widely acclaimed.

A compelling political biography of Galusha A. Grow, an often-overlooked, yet influential radical American politician of the nineteenth century, who became Speaker of the House in 1861.

The Story of Louise McNeill’s Growing Years on Her Family Farm, Told through the Circadian Rhythms of Rural Life

The inspiring story of a man whose avocation as a stargazer and vocation as a millwright led to his development of lenses, mirrors and other astronomical apparatus. John A. Brashear’s technological advances were later employed by astronomers in the United States and Europe. Brashear also attracted the friendship and financial support of astronomer Samuel Lagley, railroad magnate William Thaw, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Carnegie, who gave him $20,000 for the construction of Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh.

The first biography of David L. Lawrence, the best of the city bosses, who became mayor of Pittsburgh, modern municipal manager, governor of Pennsylvania, and a power in national politics.

Time’s Covenant offers a collection of the sermons and essays of William Clancy, one of the most vehement opponents of McCarthyism, who was also an ardent civil libertarian and literate commentator on the changing times of the 1950s and 1960s.

The first English-langiuage biography of the great Argentinian tango singer Carlos Gardel (1890-1935), that traces his rise from modest beginnings to become the first genuine “superstar” of twentieth-century Latin America.

Lee McCardell’s strongly-reviewed biography of the General who disastrously led British forces—including a young George Washington—into battle against the French near the site of present day Pittsburgh.

This memoir introduces the family of Charles Hart Spencer and his wife Mary Acheson: seven children born between 1884 and 1895. It also introduces a large Victorian house in Shadyside (a Pittsburgh neighborhood) and a middle-class way of life at the turn of the century and includes family photographs taken by Mr. Spencer, who was a talented amateur photographer.

At once a classic account of the ravages of mental illness and a major American autobiography, A Mind That Found Itself tells the story of a young man who is gradually enveloped by a psychosis. His well-meaning family commits him to a series of mental hospitals, but he is brutalized by the treatment, and his moments of fleeting sanity become fewer and fewer. His ultimate recovery is a triumph of the human spirit.

Biographer James A. Kehl, who was given first access to Matt Quay’s personal papers, presents an inside look at the controversial former Pennsylvania senator, who also ruled as the Republican Party boss for over fifty years in the state.

Pickering was an important figure in the early American republic. For more than fifty years, he was entrenched in the political, military and diplomatic affairs of the young nation. He held important administrative posts during the Revolution, two cabinet posts, and served as a congressman, senator, and as a spokesman for the extremist element of New England’s Federalists. This is the first comprehensive biography of Pickering, and a critical assessment of his politics.