This rollicking hybrid of "If" and "The Secret Language of Birthdays" examines in hilarious detail just who people really are at 30, and how they stack up against everyone else of that age. Two-color text & illustrations.
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR NPR • Time Magazine • The Washington Post • Entertainment Weekly • The Boston Globe A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK From one of our most accomplished and widely admired historians—a revelatory portrait of Benjamin Franklin's youngest sister, Jane, whose obscurity and poverty were matched only by her brother’s fame and wealth but who, like him, was a passionate reader, a gifted writer, and an astonishingly shrewd political commentator. Making use of an astonishing cache of little-studied material, including documents, objects, and portraits only just discovered, Jill Lepore brings Jane Franklin to life in a way that illuminates not only this one extraordinary woman but an entire world.
HOPE OF AGES PAST is the story of three unforgettable, fictional characters: a devoted Lutheran pastor; a country peasant girl of uncommon beauty and wit; and a Catholic businessman with a reputation to prove—all caught up in the horrors of the European Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Warrior-kings lead their armies in battle and mounted knights fight to preserve their honor in a thrilling, continually evolving panorama of international religious warfare, intrigue, family love, faith, and romance.
AGE ISN’T JUST A NUMBER—IT’S A WAY OF KEEPING SCORE. THIS IS YOUR SCORECARD. The day we turn any age, we become contemporaries of everyone who has ever been that age, and it becomes our business to know that Bob Dylan wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind” when he was twenty, Orson Welles cowrote, directed, and starred in Citizen Kane when he was twenty-five, Winston Churchill was fired from the Admiralty when he was forty and took up painting, and Jane Austen died, unmarried and mostly unknown, when she was forty-one. Knowing who did what when provides the yardstick by which to measure our own progress; it’s comforting to learn that Grandma Moses didn’t show her first painting until she was seventy-eight, and discouraging (but not surprising) to discover that Einstein was already smarter than you at age sixteen. A witty, ironic collection of moments from famous lives organized by year of age from infancy to death, A Book of Ages tells you who is doing what, who is on top of the world, who is waiting for his luck to change, who is saying unkind things about whom, who is planning his revenge, who is meeting for the first time, and who Elizabeth Taylor is currently divorcing. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO? An Eccentric Miscellany of Achievements,Misdeeds, Crossed Paths, Bypaths, Inventions, Scandals, Child Prodigies, Late Masterpieces, Marriages and Breakups, Feuds, Dead Ends, Second Chances, Adventures and Misadventures, Novels Written and Battles Won and Lost, All Organized by Year of Age. From the Hardcover edition.
Do you know someone turning the Big 40? Are you approaching the age yourself and worried about being “over the hill”? Are you looking for the perfect birthday gift? Featuring everything you wanted to know about your 40s—and a few things you probably didn’t—The Big 40! offers a chance to reflect on past accomplishments, look ahead to future successes, and completely freak out—all at the same time. Use it to find out how you stack up against other 40somethings, or adapt it into the ultimate trivia party game. For instance, did you know that turning 40 means you are now older than 58% of America, and that you’ve lost 10% of your muscle mass in the last decade? And that almost 90% of 40-year-olds are in debt? But don’t despair—at 40, Lucille Ball’s television career was just beginning, Gandhi’s plan for civil disobedience was just an outline, and John Glenn’s career was about to go into orbit. Chances are you own a home (71%), you feel you’re in good or excellent health (87%), and you are happy (51%). About 91% of women and 88% of men have been married, 82% have children, and, best of all, you’re still gettin’ it on—1.8 times a week. These are but a few of the factoids, demographic stats, quotes, biographical sketches, and sage and not-so-sage observations in this illustrated celebration of this landmark birthday and the decade that follows. Do not panic! The Big 40 could possibly be the best age ever. From the Hardcover edition.