TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Nonfiction

Week of May 4, 1997

FictionNonfiction
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1
ANGELA'S ASHES
Frank McCourt
Cover of ANGELA'S ASHES

ANGELA'S ASHES

by Frank McCourt · Scribner

22 wks at #1 · 33 on list

<b><i>Angela's Ashes</i>, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic.</b><br><br><i>"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."</i><br> <br> So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank's father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy -- exasperating, irresponsible and beguiling-- does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father's tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies. Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank's survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig's head for Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors--yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness.

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UNDERBOSS
Peter Maas
Cover of UNDERBOSS

UNDERBOSS

by Peter Maas · HarperCollins

1 wks on list

Sammy the Bull Gravano's story of life in the Mafia is based on dozens of interviews. The reader is ushered into the secret inner sanctum of Cosa Nostra, an underworld of power, lust, greed, betrayal, and deception, with the specter of violent death always looming. We've often read or heard about this world from the outside, but now comes a no-holds-barred account from one who was there. Gravano's story reveals the truth behind a quarter-century of shocking headlines. It is also a tragic story of a wasted life, and of the unalterable course that confronts those who become members of the so-called Honored Society.

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CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD
Neale Donald Walsch
Cover of CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD

by Neale Donald Walsch · Putnam

20 wks on list

In a world where organized religion fails to resonate with a growing number of people, Neale Donald Walsch's Conversations with God offers a refreshing and thought-provoking alternative. Delve into thought-provoking discussions on free speech, creativity, and discernment, as Walsch's empathetic and empowering words guide you towards a life of inner harmony and awakening. Unveiling the secrets to unlocking your true potential, this timeless classic explores the profound connection between humanity and the divine presence. With unwavering honesty and startling clarity, Walsch invites you to embrace love over fear, reminding you that you hold the power to transform your reality.

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THE GIFT OF PEACE
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin
Cover of THE GIFT OF PEACE

THE GIFT OF PEACE

by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin · Loyola Press

13 wks on list

In a series of personal reflections, the late Chicago cardinal shares his experiences over the last three years as he struggled with terminal illness, found peace as he approached the end of his own life, and ministered to other terminally ill patients. 50,000 first printing. $60,000 ad/promo. UP.

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PERSONAL HISTORY
Katharine Graham
Cover of PERSONAL HISTORY
7
THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR
Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko

THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR

by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko · Longstreet

15 wks on list

Can you spot the millionaire next door? Who are the rich in this country? What do they do? Where do they shop? What do they drive? How do they invest? Where did their ancestors come from? How did they get rich? Can I ever become one of them? Get the answers in The Millionaire Next Door, the never-before-told story about wealth in America. You'll be surprised at what you find out. "Why aren't I as wealthy as I should be?" Many people ask this question of themselves all the time. Often they are hard-working, well-educated, middle-to-high-income people. Why, then, are so few affluent? The answer lies in The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's wealthy. According to authors Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, most people have it all wrong about how you become wealthy in America. It is seldom inheritance or advanced degrees or even intelligence that builds fortunes in this country. Wealth in America is more often the result of hard work, diligent savings, and living below your means. - Jacket.

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NICKEL DREAMS
Tanya Tucker with Patsi Bale Cox
Cover of NICKEL DREAMS

NICKEL DREAMS

by Tanya Tucker with Patsi Bale Cox · Hyperion

3 wks on list

Tanya chronicles her rise to the top of country music fame, and tells her story about her struggle up from poverty. She became a country music superstar as an adult but not without going through some painful struggles. She talks about her eventual addiction and struggle with cocaine, her infamous brutal affair with Glen Campbell, and tells stories of other celebrities, such as Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette, Elvis Presley, Don Johnson, Andy Gibb, Cher, and Clint Eastwood.

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NAKED
David Sedaris
Cover of NAKED
10
THE KISS
Kathryn Harrison
Cover of THE KISS

THE KISS

by Kathryn Harrison · Random House

6 wks on list

Kathryn Harrison's parents married at 17 years of age, but were forced apart by disapproving parents within a year. Kathryn had just been born, but she did not see her father again until she was ten. Instantly, the two were attracted to one another; they even looked alike. By the time Kathryn was 20 they were having an affair. Kathryn's relationship with her mother had never been easy and now there was an added complication, made worse by the love which still existed between her parents. This is an account of the four-year affair between the author and her father.

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MURDER IN BRENTWOOD
Mark Fuhrman
Cover of MURDER IN BRENTWOOD

MURDER IN BRENTWOOD

by Mark Fuhrman · Regnery

9 wks on list

*Three months on the New York Times bestseller list* Twenty years ago, America was captivated by the awful drama of the O.J. Simpson trial. The Simpson "Dream Team" legal defense had a seemingly impossible task: convincing a jury that their client, a man the whole country had watched flee from police, was innocent of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. In order for O.J. Simpson to get away with murder, the defense attorneys had to destroy the reputation of Mark Fuhrman, a brilliant Los Angeles detective who knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that O.J. Simpson was guilty. Now Fuhrman tells his side of the story in a damning exposé that reveals why and how Simpson's prosecution was bungled. With Fuhrman's own hand-drawn maps of the crime scene and his reconstruction of the murders, Murder in Brentwood is the book that sets the record straight about what happened on June 12, 1994—and reveals why the O.J. Simpson trial was such a catastrophe.

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MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS
Carol Saline and Sharon J. Wohlmuth

MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS

by Carol Saline and Sharon J. Wohlmuth · Doubleday

1 wks on list

From the creators of "Sisters", a "New York Times" bestseller for 63 weeks, comes a heartwarming new collaboration by writer Carol Saline and photographer Sharon Wohlmuth which celebrates the richness and diversity of the mother-daughter relationship. 45 duotone photos.

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THE GOOD BOOK
Peter J. Gomes
Cover of THE GOOD BOOK
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LOCKED IN THE CABINET
Robert B. Reich
Cover of LOCKED IN THE CABINET

LOCKED IN THE CABINET

by Robert B. Reich · Knopf

1 wks on list

Locked in the Cabinet is a close-up view of the way things work, and often don't work, at the highest levels of government--and a uniquely personal account by the man whose ideas inspired and animated much of the Clinton campaign of 1992 and who became the cabinet officer in charge of helping ordinary Americans get better jobs. Robert B. Reich, writer, teacher, social critic--and a friend of the Clintons since they were all in their twenties--came to be known as the "conscience of the Clinton administration and one of the most successful Labor Secretaries in history. Here is his sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant chronicle of trying to put ideas and ideals into practice. With wit, passion, and dead-aim honesty, Reich writes of those in Washington who possess hard heads and soft hearts, and those with exactly the opposite attributes. He introduces us to the career bureaucrats who make Washington run and the politicians who, on occasion, make it stop; to business tycoons and labor leaders who clash by day and party together by night; to a president who wants to change America and his opponents (on both the left and the right) who want to keep it as it is or return it to where it used to be. Reich guides us to the pinnacles of power and pretension, as bills are passed or stalled, reputations built or destroyed, secrets leaked, numbers fudged, egos bruised, news stories spun, hypocrisies exposed, and good intentions occasionally derailed. And to the places across America where those who are the objects of this drama are simply trying to get by--assembly lines, sweatshops, union halls, the main streets of small towns and the tough streets of central cities. Locked in the Cabinet is an intimate odyssey involving a memorable cast--a friend who is elected President of the United States, only to discover the limits of power; Alan Greenspan, who is the most powerful man in America; and Newt Gingrich, who tries to be. Plus a host of others: White House staffers and cabinet members who can't find "the loop ; political consultant Dick Morris, who becomes "the loop ; baseball players and owners who can't agree on how to divide up $2 billion a year; a union leader who accuses Reich of not knowing what a screwdriver looks like; a heretofore invisible civil servant deep in the Labor Department whose brainchild becomes the law of the land; and a wondrous collection of senators, foreign ministers, cabinet officers, and television celebrities. And it is also an odyssey for Reich's wife and two young sons, who learn to tolerate their own cabinet member but not to abide Washington. Here is Reich--determined to work for a more just society, laboring in a capital obsessed with exorcising the deficit and keeping Wall Street happy--learning that Washington is not only altogether different from the world of ordinary citizens but ultimately, and more importantly, exactly like it: a world in which Murphy's Law reigns alongside the powerful and the privileged, but where hope amazingly persists. There are triumphs here to fill a lifetime, and frustrations to fill two more. Never has this world been revealed with such richness of evidence, humor, and warmhearted candor.

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DR. SUSAN LOVE'S HORMONE BOOK
Susan M. Love with Karen Lindsey
Cover of DR. SUSAN LOVE'S HORMONE BOOK

DR. SUSAN LOVE'S HORMONE BOOK

by Susan M. Love with Karen Lindsey · Random House

6 wks on list

Women all over the country and the doctors and nurses who care for them have established Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book as the standard reference on its subject. Dr. Love has now revised her book to reflect every new development in breast care, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and research. Every chapter has been brought up to date, including new information on silicone implants, imaging techniques, genetics, risk factors and prevention, hormone use, bone marrow transplants, tamoxifen, immediate reconstruction, and treatment for metastic breast cancer.

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