Book Description

Heart of Darkness author Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in 1857) was a Polish writer who learned to read, write, and speak English after he was granted British nationality in 1886. Although his peers accepted him as a British gentleman, he never forgot where he came from. In fact, the history of his native land of Poland often inspired the short stories and novels he penned. Those details, along with the experience he'd had since moving to Great Britain, found their way into many of his published works. In An Autobiography of Joseph Conrad, editor Stephen Brennan has selected pieces from some of Conrad's better known nonfiction works—including The Mirror of the Sea (1906) and A Personal Record (1912)—to showcase some of the more exciting and trying times in the novelist's life. Readers will attend school with Conrad in Russian Poland, sail with him in Marseille, and meet family members who took part in his upbringing, such as Uncle Tadeusz. Portraits of Conrad throughout the years, in addition to photos of his town, home, and family, supplement the text and help readers envision the author and his surroundings during various stages in his life. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.