Bøger af Roger Vaughan

Victor Kovalenko, who's teams have won more Olympic medals in sailing than those of any other sailing coach in history, grew up in the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 60s. THE MEDAL MAKER tracks his development from top sportsman in the Soviet Union to his initial Olympic success as a sailing coach of the Ukrainian team. But Victor's innate curiosity and broad philosophical outlook clashed with post-Soviet, Ukrainian politics. When Australia beckoned, he was ready. He turned what appeared to be a mission impossible into double gold at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. At the time he was dubbed "The Medal Maker." The name has stuck with good reason. To date, in eight Olympic Games, Victor's team have amassed ten Olympic medals, six of them gold.

Arthur Curtiss James: Unsung Titan of the Gilded Age is about the extraordinary life and times of Arthur Curtis James, a relatively unknown railroad baron, prominent and intrepid yachtsman, generous philanthropist, avant garde socialite and secret philanderer, who was one of the ten richest men in America in the 1920s and 30s, owning one-seventh of all the railroad track in the United States. Unlike his contemporaries - Vanderbilt, Morgan, Rockefeller - Arthur Curtiss James is not a household name. Arthur was a private man who did business quietly, efficiently, and smartly. His far-reaching, enormous philanthropic activities were done without fanfare, often anonymously. Yet he is an exemplar of privileged life during the Golden Age. He was the last great railroad developer, building the final and most complete transcontinental railroad system in America. He was also an extraordinary yachtsman who owned and sailed three of the great, legendary yachts of the time - over a quarter of a million lifetime nautical miles! His main residence was Beacon Hill House, a 33-acre estate in Newport, Rhode Island, but he owned expansive mansions in Manhattan and Tarrytown, New York, and in Coconut Grove, Florida. By all accounts he was a likable, reasonable gentleman of good humor. He was a patron of art and culture, an avant garde socialite, and a generous benefactor to those in need. He was adventurous and fun loving loving - perhaps a little too fun loving, as whispered rumors of his infidelity and womanizing were not uncommon amongst the employees living on his estate. One such insinuation cost a close relative her inheritance. This Arthur Curtiss James biography tells the story of a remarkable man, who died in 1941 but whose footprint still looms large today.

DAVID is a biography of David Anderson, who in 1925 was born into one of the founding families of Standard Oil. The youngest of three brothers, David rebelled early against his elitist family, using Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky's raucous view of humanity as a guide. A Russian major at Yale, David Anderson's full, adventurous life has included three marriages, thirteen children (including steps), and three careers: corporate (General Dynamics); teaching (English, Russian, and history); and the Connecticut State legislature, where he was an early champion of climate change. During his 12-year term as a Representative, he evolved from Republican to Independent. At 94, Anderson is a leader of Reforest The Tropics, and a mover and shaker in Connecticut politics.