Washoe County Library System

The movie The Founder, starring Michael Keaton, focused the spotlight on Ray Kroc, the man who amassed a fortune as the chairman of McDonald’s. But what about his wife Joan, the woman who became famous for giving away his fortune? Lisa Napoli tells the fascinating story behind the historic couple.

Ray & Joan is a quintessentially American tale of corporate intrigue and private passion: a struggling...

The cofounder of BET and the first African American woman billionaire vividly details her struggles, including racism, loss, emotional abuse and depression, that she overcame to become one of the most accomplished businesswomen in America, finally finding herself and her place in this world.

A biography of the man who founded the successful cereal empire and extablished the second-largest charitable foundation in the United States.

"Max Fleischmann is known for his wealth from the family yeast empire and his philanthropy. But more interesting is the accounts of his adventures starting with a 1906 expedition in an auxiliary sailing ship to within 600 miles of the North Pole, his safari into British East Africa in 1907, his rugged pack trip into the Cassiar Mountains of British Columbia in 1908 and his hunting trip to the Alaskan Islands in 1909. "-- Provided by Amazon.com.

"Maggie's story begins in suburban New Jersey, in a comfortable middle-class family that supports her decision to travel the world during a gap year before starting college. During her travels, the trajectory of her life alters when she has a surprise encounter with a Nepali girl breaking rocks in a quarry. Maggie decides to invest her life savings of five thousand dollars to buy a piece of land and open a children’s home in Nepal. That home becomes...

"The Hiltons is a sweeping saga of the success-and excess-of an iconic American family. Demanding and enigmatic, patriarch Conrad Hilton's visionary ideas and unyielding will established the model for the modern luxury hotel industry. But outside the boardroom, Conrad struggled with emotional detachment, failed marriages, and conflicted Catholicism. Then there were his children: Playboy Nicky Hilton's tragic alcoholism and marriage to Elizabeth Taylor...

"The Good American is a story about courage, intense loneliness, and the State Department's golden age during the late Cold War and post-Cold War. It is also a celebration of ground level reporting and getting a worm's eye view of crisis zones. Robert Gersony, a high-school dropout later awarded a bronze star in Vietnam, spent over four decades on the ground in virtually every war and natural disaster zone in the world. Interviewing hundreds of refugees...

"One of the most influential, admired, and innovative women of our time: fashion designer, philanthropist, wife, mother, and grandmother, Diane von Furstenberg offers a book about becoming the woman she wanted to be. Diane von Furstenberg started out with a suitcase full of jersey dresses and an idea of who she wanted to be--in her words, 'the kind of woman who is independent and who doesn't rely on a man to pay her bills.' She has since become that...

"This is the true story of two decorated combat veterans linked by tragedy, who come home from the Middle East and find a new way to save their comrades and heal their country. In Charlie Mike, Joe Klein tells the dramatic story of Eric Greitens and Jake Wood, larger-than-life war heroes who come home and use their military discipline and values to help others. This is a story that hasn't been told before, one of the most hopeful to emerge from Iraq...

Offers a sweeping portrait of one of the twentieth century's most significant politicians, businessmen, and philanthropists, discussing his four terms as governor of New York, two years as Gerald Ford's vice-president, and relationships with other politicians.