TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Nonfiction

Week of December 1, 2002

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1
NEW
PORTRAIT OF A KILLER
Patricia Cornwell
Cover of PORTRAIT OF A KILLER

PORTRAIT OF A KILLER

by Patricia Cornwell · Putnam

3 wks at #1 · 1 on list

Examines the century-old series of murders that terrorized London in the 1880s, drawing on research, state-of-the-art forensic science, and insights into the criminal mind to reveal the true identity of the infamous Jack the Ripper.

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NEW
WHO SAYS ELEPHANTS CAN'T DANCE?
Louis V. Gerstner Jr
Cover of WHO SAYS ELEPHANTS CAN'T DANCE?

WHO SAYS ELEPHANTS CAN'T DANCE?

by Louis V. Gerstner Jr · HarperBusiness

1 wks on list

This is CEO Louis V. Gerstner Jr's memoir about the turnaround of IBM and his transformation of the company into the industry leader of the computer age. When Gerstner became CEO of IBM in 1993, shares were in freefall and the company was on the verge of collapse. Hired for his successful management of RJR Nabisco and American Express, Gerstner had no background in technology, but during his seven-year chairmanship, he transformed the company into the leading force of the computer age.

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A LONG WAY FROM HOME
Tom Brokaw
Cover of A LONG WAY FROM HOME

A LONG WAY FROM HOME

by Tom Brokaw · Random House

2 wks on list

Reflections on America and the American experience as he has lived and observed it by the bestselling author of The Greatest Generation, whose iconic career in journalism has spanned more than fifty years From his parents’ life in the Thirties, on to his boyhood along the Missouri River and on the prairies of South Dakota in the Forties, into his early journalism career in the Fifties and the tumultuous Sixties, up to the present, this personal story is a reflection on America in our time. Tom Brokaw writes about growing up and coming of age in the heartland, and of the family, the people, the culture and the values that shaped him then and still do today. His father, Red Brokaw, a genius with machines, followed the instincts of Tom’s mother Jean, and took the risk of moving his small family from an Army base to Pickstown, South Dakota, where Red got a job as a heavy equipment operator in the Army Corps of Engineers’ project building the Ft. Randall dam along the Missouri River. Tom Brokaw describes how this move became the pivotal decision in their lives, as the Brokaw family, along with others after World War II, began to live out the American Dream: community, relative prosperity, middle class pleasures and good educations for their children. “Along the river and in the surrounding hills, I had a Tom Sawyer boyhood,” Brokaw writes; and as he describes his own pilgrimage as it unfolded—from childhood to love, marriage, the early days in broadcast journalism, and beyond—he also reflects on what brought him and so many Americans of his generation to lead lives a long way from home, yet forever affected by it. Praise for A Long Way from Home “[A] love letter to the . . . people and places that enriched a ‘Tom Sawyer boyhood.’ Brokaw . . . has a knack for delivering quirky observations on small-town life. . . . Bottom line: Tom’s terrific.”—People “Breezy and straightforward . . . much like the assertive TV newsman himself.”—Los Angeles Times “Brokaw writes with disarming honesty.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Brokaw evokes a sense of community, a pride of citizenship, and a confidence in American ideals that will impress his readers.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

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JOURNALS
Kurt Cobain
Cover of JOURNALS

JOURNALS

by Kurt Cobain · Riverhead

2 wks on list

Here is a mesmerizing, incomparable portrait of the most influential musician of his time."--BOOK JACKET.

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SANDY KOUFAX
Jane Leavy
Cover of SANDY KOUFAX

SANDY KOUFAX

by Jane Leavy · HarperCollins

9 wks on list

“Leavy has hit it out of the park…A lot more than a biography. It’s a consideration of how we create our heroes, and how this hero’s self perception distinguishes him from nearly every other great athlete in living memory… a remarkably rich portrait.” — Time The New York Times bestseller about the baseball legend and famously reclusive Dodgers’ pitcher Sandy Koufax, from award-winning former Washington Post sportswriter Jane Leavy. Sandy Koufax reveals, for the first time, what drove the three-time Cy Young award winner to the pinnacle of baseball and then—just as quickly—into self-imposed exile.

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THE CONQUERORS
Michael Beschloss
Cover of THE CONQUERORS

THE CONQUERORS

by Michael Beschloss · Simon & Schuster

3 wks on list

Based on recently released documents, one of the nation's most celebrated historians reveals one of the little-known secrets of World War II--FDR's and Truman's sometimes shocking plans for a postwar Germany.

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LIVE FROM NEW YORK
Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller

LIVE FROM NEW YORK

by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller · Little, Brown

7 wks on list

WHEN A YOUNG WRITER named Lorne Michaels talked NBC executives into taking a chance on a new weekend late-night comedy series, nobody really knew what to expect-not even Michaels. But Saturday Night Live, launched in 1975 and still thriving today, would change the face of television. It introduced brash new stars with names like Belushi, Radner, Chase, and Murray; trashed taboos that had inhibited TV for decades; and had such an impact on American life, laughter, and politics that even presidents of the United States had to take notice. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom Shales and bestselling author James Andrew Miller bring together stars, writers, guest hosts, contributors, and craftsmen for the first-ever oral history of Saturday Night Live, from 1974, when it was just an idea, through 2002, when it has long since become an institution. In their own words, dozens of personalities recall the backstage stories, behind-the-scenes gossip, feuds, foibles, drugs, sex, struggles, and calamities, including personal details never before revealed. Shales and Miller have interviewed a galaxy of stars, including Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler, Chevy Chase, Will Ferrell, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Martin, Jon Lovitz, Jane Curtin, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Dana Carvey, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Garrett Morris, Molly Shannon, Damon Wayans, Chris Elliott, Julia Sweeney, Norm Macdonald, and Paul Simon-plus writers like Al Franken, Conan O'Brien, Larry David, Rosie Shuster, Jack Handey, Robert Smigel, Don Novello, and others who got their big breaks as part of the SNL team. The Coneheads, the Blues Brothers, Buck-wheat, Wayne and Garth, Hans and Franz, the Cheerleaders, Todd DiLaMuca and Lisa Loopner, "Cheeseburger cheeseburger," Mango, the Church Lady, Ed Grimley-they're all here. And for every fabulous character on-screen there was an outrageous maverick, misfit, or rebel behind the scenes. Live from New York does what no other book about the show has ever done: It lets the people who were there tell the story in their own words, blunt and loving and uncensored.

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I MAY BE WRONG BUT I DOUBT IT
Charles Barkley. Edited by Michael Wilbon
Cover of I MAY BE WRONG BUT I DOUBT IT

I MAY BE WRONG BUT I DOUBT IT

by Charles Barkley. Edited by Michael Wilbon · Random House

4 wks on list

Charles Barkley has never been shy about expressing his opinions. Michael Jordan once said that we all want to say the things that Barkley says, but we don’t dare. But even die-hard followers of the all-time NBA great, the star of TNT’s Inside the NBA and CNN’s TalkBack Live, will be astonished by just how candid and provocative he is in this book—and just how big his ambitions are. Though he addresses weighty issues with a light touch and prefers to stir people to think by making them laugh, there’s nothing Charles Barkley shies away from here—not race, not class, not big money, not scandal, not politics, not personalities, nothing. “Early on,” says Washington Post columnist and ESPN talk show host Michael Wilbon in his Introduction, “Barkley made his peace with mixing it up, and decided the consequences were very much worth it to him. And that makes him as radically different in these modern celebrity times as a 6-foot-4-inch power forward.” If there’s one thing Charles Barkley knows, it’s the crying need for honest, open discussion in this country—the more uncomfortable the subject, the more necessary the dialogue. And if the discussion leader can be as wise, irreverent, (occasionally) profane and (consistently) funny as Charles Barkley, so much the better. Many people are going to be shocked and scandalized by I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It, but many more will stand up and cheer. Like Molly Ivins or Bill O’Reilly, Charles Barkley is utterly his own thinker, and everything he says comes from deep reflection. One way or another, if more blood hasn’t reached your brain by the time you’ve finished this book, maybe you’ve been embalmed.

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STUPID WHITE MEN
Michael Moore
Cover of STUPID WHITE MEN

STUPID WHITE MEN

by Michael Moore · ReganBooks/ HarperCollins

35 wks on list

Rember when everything was looking up? When the government was running at a surplus pollution was disappearing peace was breaking out in the middle East and Northern Ireland and the Bridge to the Twenty-First century was strung with Internet cable and paved with 401 (k) gold? Well, so much for the future. Michael Moore the award winning povocateur behind Roger & Me and the best seller Downsize This! now returns to size up the new century and that big, ugly special interest group that's laying waste to the world as we know it: stupid white men. Among the targets of Mike's Manifesto on Malfeasance and mediocrity are the Bush family Junta, Bll Clinton the Idiot Nation and Corporate American.

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ABRAHAM
Bruce Feiler
Cover of ABRAHAM

ABRAHAM

by Bruce Feiler · Morrow

8 wks on list

In his new book, Bruce Feiler, the acclaimed author of Walking the Bible, travels to the Middle East to find the truth and the meaning behind the shadowy biblical figure of Abraham. He also explores how the three religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have appropriated Abraham as part of their tradition - and how the old man of the Bible could once again become a unifying force for those bitterly divided faiths. - Who was Abraham? - Why is he of fundamental importance to Jews, Christians and Muslims? - Can the message of his story help reconcile the warring faiths?

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AMERICAN
Chris Matthews
Cover of AMERICAN

AMERICAN

by Chris Matthews · Free Press

2 wks on list

From Chris Matthews, former host of MSNBC’s Hardball and NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show, and New York Times bestselling author of Bobby Kennedy, Jack Kennedy, and Tip and the Gipper, comes a definitive work on the lifeblood of America—its enduring spirit. People have often wondered what makes America truly great. With a citizenry of vastly different races, religions, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds, what intangible bond unites and defines us as "Americans"? In his own inimitable style, Chris Matthews offers a portrait of a country born of contradictions. We are a people reluctant to fight, who become ferocious when threatened or attacked. We are a deeply practical nation, yet we stand as the world's great optimists. Inherently suspicious of governmental power, we still embrace our flag in times of danger. Fiercely independent, in love with freedom, and eager to face the future, we are like no other people on earth. Matthews asserts that our greatest strength is a set of distinct notions that comprise our national character. The self-made man. The reluctant warrior. The lone hero. We celebrate them in our popular culture and throughout our history, from 1776 to 9/11. In American, Matthews explores the best America stands for and portrays our country as a beacon for the modern world—unafraid of challenges, moving ever forward, and ready and willing to prevail.

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.