- Table View
- List View
Real Characters
by J. Vernon McgeeJ Vernon McGee discusses some outstanding characters of the Bible.
Erin's Diary: An Official Derry Girls Book
by Lisa McGeeSet in Derry, Northern Ireland in the 1990s, Derry Girls is a candid, one-of-a-kind comedy about what it's like to be a teenage girl living amongst conflict.It's a time of armed police in armoured Land Rovers and British Army check points. But it's also the time of Murder She Wrote, The Cranberries, Salt-N-Pepa, Doc Martens and The X Files. And while The Troubles may hang over her hometown, Erin has troubles of her own, like the fact that the boy she's in love with (actually in LOVE with) doesn't know she exists. Or that her Ma and Aunt Sarah make her include her weirdo cousin Orla in everything she does. Or that head teacher Sister Michael refuses to acknowledge Erin as a literary genius. Not to mention the fact that her second best friend has ALMOST had sex, whereas Erin's never even kissed anyone yet. These are Erin's Troubles.Described by the Guardian as 'daft, profane and absolutely brilliant', by the New Statesman as 'pitch-perfect' and by i-D as 'the greatest show on British (and Irish) TV', Derry Girls has dazzled audiences for two series, with Channel 4's biggest UK comedy launch since 2004 and the biggest television series in Northern Ireland since modern records began.Now, this autumn, comes the first official tie-in. In the manner of the very best TV comedy books, Erin's Diary is a hilarious 'in world' publication that extends the laugh-out-loud humour of Derry Girls onto the page. With Erin's inner take on everything that has happened so far, this book will both dive deeper into the events we have seen unfold on the screen and unveil brand new stories and never-before-revealed details about characters. Complete with newspaper clippings, doodles, poetry, school reports, handwritten notes from her friends, and much much more, Erin's Diary is as warm, funny and brilliantly observed as the TV; a must-have for fans this Christmas.'Erin is sixteen and wishes she had a boyfriend and a life. Nothing else really happens... It's boring.' Orla McCool
Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time
by Ryan McGeeA gloriously funny, nostalgic memoir of a popular ESPN reporter who, in the summer of 1994, was a fresh-out-of-college intern for a minor league baseball team. Madness and charm ensue as Ryan McGee spends the season steeped in sweat, fertilizer, nacho cheese sauce, and pure, unadulterated joy in North Carolina with the Asheville Tourists."A sweet and funny book that reminds us it&’s not just the game itself that draws us. It&’s also the people." —Tom Verducci, MLB Network, Fox & Sports Illustrated, and New York Times bestselling author of The Yankee YearsIn the spring of 1994, Ryan McGee (new college graduate) bombed his coveted interview with ESPN--the only place he ever wanted to work. But he did receive one job offer: to work for $100 a week for the Asheville Tourists, a proud minor league baseball team in the heart of North Carolina&’s Blue Ridge Mountains. McCormick Field, home to the Tourists, had once been graced by Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jackie Robinson. What could go wrong?Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is McGee&’s hilarious, charming memoir of his first summer working in the sporting world. He has since risen the ESPN ranks to national TV, radio, and Internet host, but his time in Asheville still looms large. Among the many jewels of his experience. . . McGee recounts one of the most entertaining on-field brawls you&’ll ever witness (between the fourteen league mascots who had assembled for the all-star game--an eight-foot-tall foam-costumed crustacean, a pudgy red fox, a giant skunk . . . and they were really fighting), as well as the nervous moment he oversaw the game-day entertainer known as "Captain Dynamite and His Exploding Coffin of Death." Most important, McGee details a magical summer of baseball, of learning the ropes, of the ins-and-outs of running a minor league team, and of coming to understand how the pulse of a community can beat gloriously through a minor league ball club.Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is a baseball classic in the making.
Make Life Beautiful
by Syd and McGeeConfidence in your craft is built by learning from one experience at a time. Now you can sharpen your skills, focus on your goals, and achieve your dreams with the inspirational, behind-the-scenes story of Syd and Shea McGee, the stars of the new Netflix series Dream Home Makeover. For the one million-plus followers who turn to Syd and Shea McGee for advice on building a beautiful home and life, Make Life Beautiful is be a behind-the-scenes look into how the couple transformed Shea&’s small room of fabric samples and big dream of becoming a designer into one of the most successful and fastest-growing interior design businesses in the country.Both long-time and new fans will not only gain insight into how the McGees built such a successful company but also be inspired to apply design principles to their lives. Inspirational topics to help readers build an authentic life includeRenovate your lifeVisualize the outcomeListen to your gutElevate the everydayWant to live the best version of your life? Read this book to follow Syd and Shea&’s lead and learn how to Make Life Beautiful.This is an essential book for:EntrepreneursInterior DesignersWorking ParentsCouples Building Family and CareerSelf-Startersand Anyone Chasing Their DreamsPraise for Make Life Beautiful:"Make Life Beautiful is a necessary reminder there is inherent beauty and warmth in all moments. Shea and Syd invite us into endearing conversations filled with wit, humor, creativity and an honesty shining light on the couples beautiful focal points." - Alyssa Rosenheck, interiors and architectural photographer, stylist, and author of the New Southern Style&“In a world of picture perfect, Syd & Shea are a much needed breath of fresh air. It takes courage to admit that things aren&’t always perfect. I applaud them for authentically sharing their story with the world.&” - Mikel Welch, interior designer, lifestyle expert, and TV show host"Make Life Beautiful is raw, honest and motivating. A captivating read as Shea & Syd navigate us through the early days of their relationship, family and growing business. A form of a modern day romance success story. I enjoyed reading about their compelling journey that shaped their design empire we know as Studio McGee. Truly inspiring in every way.&” - Monika Hibbs, Founder and Creative Director of Monika Hibbs and author of Gather at Home"There&’s nothing more beautiful than taking a leap and devoting your life and your heart and your work to helping other people enjoy beauty in their own homes. We&’ve all come to know and love and yearn for the Studio McGee look but hearing the humble &“how's&” behind the empire is even more moving and motivating. This isn&’t about just making your home beautiful—this is about making your LIFE beautiful. Shea and Syd are talented (obviously) but they&’re also dreamers and supporters and risk-takers and pioneers and somehow, still completely down-to-earth. My heart is warm and I&’m now taking notes on more than just mixing patterns.&” - Julia Marcum, Co-Founder of Chris Loves Julia, Good Influnce_r and Proper Tee
David
by Vernon McgeeThe Bible calls David "a man after God's own heart." But what does that really mean and how does that apply to us today? With his unusual warmth, clarity, and simplicity, Dr. McGee takes a look at the life of David, helping readers move beyond the exciting action stories and into the heart of what David's experiences have to teach us. Dr. McGee said, "Perhaps the most familiar Bible story to every boy and girl who has attended Sunday School is that of David and Goliath. It is a thrilling action story. But the greater thrill is the splendid spiritual truths that are applicable to our present-day lives as believers."
Lion Man
by Ian McgeechanIn an era when even the finest rugby coaches have a drastically short shelf-life, Ian McGeechan's longevity and adaptability is staggering. In his 20 years at the highest level of the game he has been at the centre of almost every major story in UK rugby and has worked alongside some of the greatest rugby figures of the era. McGeechan began his career as a player - winning more than thirty caps for Scotland and twice touring with the Lions. As coach to the Scottish national team, he led his country to a famous Grand Slam victory in the 1990 Five Nations tournament. Continued success in management earned him an appointment as head coach to the Lions on four separate occasions, more than any other, and he will again take charge on their 2009 tour to South Africa. Most recently, as coach of Wasps, McGeechan has guided the team to complete dominance in the club game. Now, in this frank and engaging memoir, Ian McGeechan shares his unrivalled insight into the triumphs and tribulations of British rugby and of the progress of the sport over the past two decades. Lion Man offers a unique glimpse into the past, present and future of British rugby from one of the most influential figures in the history of the sport.
My Wilderness: An Alaskan Adventure
by Claudia McgeheeMcGehee's lyrical nonfiction story recounts the 1918-1919 winter spent on Alaska's Fox Island from the point of view of nine-year-old Rocky, son of the painter Rockwell Kent. Vivid scratchboard-style illustrations echo the rugged subject matter with enchantment as Rocky explores the wilderness and becomes accustomed to island life.
New Harmony, Indiana
by J. Pittman Mcgehee John Philip Newell Anne Dale Owen Nancy Mangum Mccaslin Jane Dale Owen Jane Blaffer OwenFor nearly seven decades, Jane Blaffer Owen was the driving force behind the restoration and revitalization of the town of New Harmony, Indiana. In this delightful memoir, Blaffer Owen describes the transformational effect the town had on her life. An oil heiress from Houston, she met and married Kenneth Dale Owen, great-great-grandson of Robert Owen, founder of a communal society in New Harmony. When she visited the then dilapidated town with her husband in 1941, it was love at first sight, and the story of her life and the life of the town became intertwined. Her engaging account of her journey to renew the town provides glimpses into New Harmony's past and all of its citizens--scientists, educators, and naturalists--whose influence spread far beyond the town limits. And there are fascinating stories of the artists, architects, and theologians who became part of Blaffer Owen's life at New Harmony, where, she says, "My roots could sink deeply and spread."
Oh Carol!
by Carol McGiffinCarol McGiffin has been on Loose Women almost since it started over a decade ago, and she is known and adored by their millions of viewers as one of the most-loved presenters on the show. She?s brimming with brilliantly funny anecdotes and controversial opinions, and says all the things everyone thinks but would never dream of saying.Carol is a natural storyteller and over the last few months she?s been in virtual hibernation ? turning down invitations, neglecting her lovely fiancé Mark and spending weeks on end sitting in a wonderful sort of overgrown baby grow known as a Slanket® ? and all this so she could knuckle down and write the story of her life so far; all for you, dear reader, so you can enjoy the magical mystery tour that is The Life and Times of Carol McGiffin, aka Oh, Carol! And she?s lived quite a life! It wasn?t an easy start - growing up on a council estate; struggling to make ends meet; an early criminal career shoplifting mouth organs from Woolworths... It wasn?t all doom and gloom though - Carol discovered her talent for making people laugh early on and she?s been getting into trouble ever since!She will open up about her tempestuous marriage to Chris Evans, and will reveal all about why it eventually broke down; she?ll also talk about her infamous seven years of celibacy and why she?s never been frightened of being single. She?s now found happiness with Mark and she?ll share her secrets for looking fabulous after 40. It?s not how old you are that counts, it?s your outlook on life that keeps you young.As uniquely entertaining, funny and completely outrageous as the lady herself, Oh, Carol! is a must-read for woman everywhere.
Oh, Carol!
by Carol McgiffinCarol McGiffin has been on Loose Women almost since it started over a decade ago, and she is known and adored by their millions of viewers as one of the most-loved presenters on the show. She’s brimming with brilliantly funny anecdotes and controversial opinions, and says all the things everyone thinks but would never dream of saying.Carol is a natural storyteller and over the last few months she’s been in virtual hibernation – turning down invitations, neglecting her lovely fiancé Mark and spending weeks on end sitting in a wonderful sort of overgrown baby grow known as a Slanket® – and all this so she could knuckle down and write the story of her life so far; all for you, dear reader, so you can enjoy the magical mystery tour that is The Life and Times of Carol McGiffin, aka Oh, Carol! And she’s lived quite a life! It wasn’t an easy start - growing up on a council estate; struggling to make ends meet; an early criminal career shoplifting mouth organs from Woolworths... It wasn’t all doom and gloom though - Carol discovered her talent for making people laugh early on and she’s been getting into trouble ever since!She will open up about her tempestuous marriage to Chris Evans, and will reveal all about why it eventually broke down; she’ll also talk about her infamous seven years of celibacy and why she’s never been frightened of being single. She’s now found happiness with Mark and she’ll share her secrets for looking fabulous after 40. It’s not how old you are that counts, it’s your outlook on life that keeps you young.As uniquely entertaining, funny and completely outrageous as the lady herself, Oh, Carol! is a must-read for woman everywhere.
Molly Bannaky
by Alice Mcgill Chris K. SoentpietOn a cold gray morning in 1683, Molly Walsh sat on a stool tugging at the udder of an obstinate cow. When she spilled the milk, she was brought before the court for stealing. Because she could read, Molly escaped the typical punishment of death on the gallows. At the age of seventeen, the English dairymaid was exiled from her country and sentenced to work as an indentured servant in British Colonial America. Molly worked for a planter in Maryland for seven long years. Then she was given an ox hitched to a cart, some supplies-and her freedom. That a lone woman should stake land was unheard of. That she would marry an African slave was even more so. Yet Molly prospered, and with her husband Bannaky, she turned a one-room cabin in the wilderness into a thriving one hundred-acre farm. And one day she had the pleasure of writing her new grandson's name in her cherished Bible: Benjamin Banneker.<P><P> Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Winner
If You Want a Friend in Washington: Wacky, Wild & Wonderful Presidential Pets
by Erin McGillA clever, funny, and informative look at the pets--from Calvin Coolidge's wallaby to Teddy Roosevelt's flying squirrels--that have passed through the White House gates. Perfect for fans of I Am George Washington and So You Want to Be President?President Truman famously said, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." And a dog is what many presidents got. From James Garfield to Calvin Coolidge to Richard Nixon, presidents often found a friend in Fido (in fact, Abe Lincoln's pup was actually named Fido). Others preferred cats, horses, small critters, or even big, ferocious animals like bears and alligators. With a catchy refrain ("If you want a friend in Washington . . . , "), this is a funny, educational book about the animals that have passed through the White House. Whether it's favorite dogs like Barbara Bush's Millie or the Obamas' Bo; Abraham Lincoln's cat, Dixie; Calvin Coolidge's hippo, Billy; or Andrew Jackson's foul-mouthed parrot, Poll, Erin McGill brings to life a menagerie of presidential pets in this entertaining, whimsical, and carefully researched picture book that's perfect for animal lovers and history buffs alike.
Dear Marcus: A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me
by Jerry McgillWhen Jerry McGill was growing up in the housing projects on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 1980s, his future seemed bright: Though times were tough for a family led by a single mother, McGill was a charming, precocious teenager, already excelling as an athlete and a dancer. But everything changed one night when he was thirteen. Walking home from a New Year's party with a friend, McGill was shot in the back by an unknown assailant, who was never caught. Soon after, he learned that he would be wheelchair-bound for life. Written as a letter to the man who shot him, whom he decides to call Marcus, Dear Marcus is a reflection on McGill's childhood, the event that changed his life in an instant, the challenges of living with a disability, and the importance of optimism, forgiveness, and making the most of our gifts. In this direct and intimate attempt to explain to his attacker the repercussions of his deeds--how one man's random decision radically altered the course of another's life--McGill takes us to the streets of New York City in the 1980s, to the hospital where he spent six months recovering, and on his journey to make the most of his new life. He recounts the joys he has experienced traveling the globe and mentoring disabled children, the love and support he has received over the years, and the strengths he has been able to find within himself that he may never have discovered had his life turned out differently. By turns brutally honest and funny, both full of rage and full of heart, Dear Marcus is an inspiring book about the moments in life that shape us--the ones that catch us by surprise, that blindside us, but that present us with opportunities for growth, reflection, compassion, and forgiveness. At some point--to greater or lesser degrees--we will all be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The challenge, though, as Dear Marcus shows us, is not to wallow in despair or blame other people, but to rise up and find strengths within ourselves that we didn't know we had.
Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery
by Joseph McGill Jr. Herb FrazierIn this enlightening personal account, one man tells the story of his groundbreaking project to sleep overnight in former slave dwellings that still stand across the country—revealing the fascinating history behind these sites and shedding light on larger issues of race in America. Joseph McGill Jr., a historic preservationist and Civil War reenactor, founded the Slave Dwelling Project in 2010 based on an idea that was sparked and first developed in 1999. Since founding the project, McGill has been touring the country, spending the night in former slave dwellings—throughout the South, but also the North and the West, where people are often surprised to learn that such structures exist. Events and gatherings are arranged around these overnight stays, and it provides a unique way to understand the often otherwise obscured and distorted history of slavery. The project has inspired difficult conversations about race in communities from South Carolina to Alabama to Texas to Minnesota to New York, and all over the United States.Sleeping with the Ancestors focuses on all of the key sites McGill has visited in his ongoing project and digs deeper into the actual history of each location, using McGill&’s own experience and conversations with the community to enhance those original stories. Altogether, McGill and coauthor Herb Frazier give readers an important unexpected emersion into the history of slavery, and especially the obscured and ignored aspects of that history.
Crying is for Babies: Based on a True Story
by Tricia McGillIn the 1930s medicine was still very much a hit and miss affair. The surgeons were still experimenting and learning about the human body. This at a period when there was little in the way of pain relief. This is one woman’s story about a childhood ruined by such surgeons, whose bad judgement confined an eight-year-old subsequently to bed for three years and left her with a disability to last a lifetime. Nowadays she would have been given bed rest and pain relief, and in no time would have been up and running again. Her strong will, and the love of a close family, saw her through the bad times, enabling her to go on and become the talented, remarkable person she was. I know because this woman was my sister.
Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light
by Patrick McgilliganIn a career that spanned six decades and more than sixty films, Alfred Hitchcock became the most widely recognized director who ever lived. His films -- including The 39 Steps, Notorious, Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds -- set new standards for cinematic invention and storytelling Élan. Since his death, Hitchcock has become crystallized in the public imagination as the macabre Englishman, the sexual obsessive, the Master of Suspense. But this remarkable biography draws on prodigious new research to restore Hitchcock the man -- the ingenious craftsman, the avid collaborator, the constant trickster, provocateur, and romantic. Like Hitchcock's best films, Patrick McGilligan's life of Hitchcock is a drama full of revelation, graced by a central love story, dark humor, and cliff-hanging suspense: a definitive portrait of the most creative, and least understood, figure in film history.
Biografía de Clint Eastwood
by Patrick McgilliganAunque es uno de los rostros más conocidos de nuestra época, Clint Eastwood nunca se ha desprendido de una cierta aura de misterio, sobre todo en lo que a su pasado se refiere. Ahora, Patrick McGilligan, uno de los más respetados biógrafos del mundo del cine, nos ofrece un retrato de cuerpo entero del gran cineasta, un retrato donde por primera vez se descubre al hombre que hay tras la máscara cinematográfica.A través de documentos, manuscritops inéditos y archivos, entrevistas con amigos, familiares y socios que nunca antes habían hablado, el autor nos propone un exhaustivo viaje biográfico a través de los claroscuros de una vida intensa, febril y en agunos momentos inquietante. En este libro ameno y riguroso a un tiempo, asistimos a la lenta metamorfosis de un joven actor de películas de acción que ha acabado por convertirse en uno de los cineastas más premiados y admirados de nuestro tiempo. Y por supuesto, su vida íntima queda también reflejada en estas páginas, sobre todo sus atormentadas relaciones sentimentales y su recurrente paternidad ilegítima.Estamos, en definitiva, ante una de las mejores biografías que se han escrito en los últimos tiempos, un libro iluminador, valiente y polémico.«La mejor y más admirable contribución a la clintología.»Financial Times
Clint Eastwood: Biografía
by Patrick McGilliganDel spaghetti western al cine de autor. La primera gran biografía del polifacético cineasta integral norteamericano. Aunque es uno de los rostros más conocidos de nuestra época, Clint Eastwood nunca se ha desprendido de una cierta aura de misterio, sobre todo en lo que a su pasado se refiere. Ahora, Patrick McGilligan, uno de los más respetados biógrafos del mundo del cine, nos ofrece un retrato de cuerpo entero del gran cineasta, un retrato donde por primera vez se descubre al hombre que hay tras la máscara cinematográfica. A través de documentos, manuscritos inéditos y archivos, entrevistas con amigos, familiares y socios que nunca antes habían hablado, el autor nos propone un exhaustivo viaje biográfico a través de los claroscuros de una vida intensa, febril y en algunos momentos inquietantes. En este libro ameno y riguroso a un tiempo, asistimos a la lenta metamorfosis de un joven actor de películas de acción que ha acabadopor convertirse en uno de los cineastas más premiados y admirados de nuestro tiempo. Y por supuesto, su vida íntima queda también reflejada en estas páginas, sobre todo sus atormentadas relaciones sentimentales y su recurrente paternidad ilegítima. Estamos, en definitiva, ante una de las mejores biografías que se han escrito en los últimos tiempos, un libro iluminador, valiente y polémico. Reseña:«La mejor y más admirable contribución a la clintología.»Financial Times
Film Crazy
by Patrick McgilliganIn Film Crazy, McGilligan shares some of his fascinating interviews with screen luminaries from his salad days as a young journalist working the Hollywood beat. He rides the presidential campaign bus with Ronald Reagan, visits Alfred Hitchcock on the set of the Master of Suspense's last film, "Family Plot," meets George Stevens at the Brown Derby and conducts the last interview with the director of "Shane" and "Giant." Other interview subjects captured for posterity include rough-and-ready pioneer directors William Wellman and Raoul Walsh; likeable actor Joel McCrea; actress - and the only female director of her era - Ida Lupino; French legend Rene Clair; and lowly-contract-writer-turned-studio-mogul Dore Schary. Film Crazy is a must for film students, scholars and professionals.
Funny Man: Mel Brooks
by Patrick McGilliganA deeply textured and compelling biography of comedy giant Mel Brooks, covering his rags-to-riches life and triumphant career in television, films, and theater, from Patrick McGilligan, the acclaimed author of Young Orson: The Years of Luck and Genius on the Path to Citizen Kane and Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light.Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy award–winner Mel Brooks was behind (and sometimes in front the camera too) of some of the most influential comedy hits of our time, including The 2,000 Year Old Man, Get Smart, The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein. But before this actor, writer, director, comedian, and composer entertained the world, his first audience was his family.The fourth and last child of Max and Kitty Kaminsky, Mel Brooks was born on his family’s kitchen table in Brooklyn, New York, in 1926, and was not quite three-years-old when his father died of tuberculosis. Growing up in a household too poor to own a radio, Mel was short and homely, a mischievous child whose birth role was to make the family laugh. Beyond boyhood, after transforming himself into Mel Brooks, the laughs that came easily inside the Kaminsky family proved more elusive. His lifelong crusade to transform himself into a brand name of popular humor is at the center of master biographer Patrick McGilligan’s Funny Man. In this exhaustively researched and wonderfully novelistic look at Brooks’ personal and professional life, McGilligan lays bare the strengths and drawbacks that shaped Brooks’ psychology, his willpower, his persona, and his comedy. McGilligan insightfully navigates the epic ride that has been the famous funnyman’s life story, from Brooks’s childhood in Williamsburg tenements and breakthrough in early television—working alongside Sid Caesar and Carl Reiner—to Hollywood and Broadway peaks (and valleys). His book offers a meditation on the Jewish immigrant culture that influenced Brooks, snapshots of the golden age of comedy, behind the scenes revelations about the celebrated shows and films, and a telling look at the four-decade romantic partnership with actress Anne Bancroft that superseded Brooks’ troubled first marriage. Engrossing, nuanced and ultimately poignant, Funny Man delivers a great man’s unforgettable life story and an anatomy of the American dream of success.Funny Man includes a 16-page black-and-white photo insert.
Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson
by Patrick Mcgilligan"Volatile Jack Nicholson has found the perfect biographer in Patrick McGilligan, who gives us a rich, absorbing portrait of one of the greatest movie stars ever." --Patricia Bosworth No male American film star of the post-Brando era has demonstrated the talent, the charisma, the larger-than-life audacity, and the string of screen triumphs of Jack Nicholson. In Jack's Life, Patrick McGilligan, one of our finest film historians, has produced the definitive biography of this most private and public of stars, from his tangled Dickensian upbringing in New Jersey, his formative years as an actor and screenwriter, his near-accidental breakthrough to stardom in Easy Rider, and his string of great roles in Chinatown, Five Easy Pieces, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Last Detail, The Shining, and other films that mark him as a searching, complex artist. Here as well is the often Rabelaisian life behind the smiling mask, the legendary romances and appetites for sex and drugs, the obsessions with money and control, and the perpetual restlessness.
Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director
by Patrick McgilliganFrom award-winning biographer Patrick McGilligan comes an eye-opening life of the troubled filmmaker behind Rebel Without a Cause. Nicholas Ray spent the glory years of his career creating films that were dark, emotionally charged, and haunted by social misfits and bruised young people consumed by private anguish-from his career-defining debut, They Live by Night (1948), to his enduring masterwork, Rebel Without a Cause (1955); from the noir thriller In a Lonely Place (1950), pairing his second wife, the blond bombshell Gloria Grahame, with Humphrey Bogart, to cult pictures like Johnny Guitar (1954) and Bigger Than Life (1956). Yet his work on-screen is more than matched by the passions and struggles of his personal story-one of the most dramatic lives of any major Hollywood filmmaker. In Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director, Patrick McGilligan offers a revelatory biography of Ray, a man whose troubled life was marked by creative peaks and valleys alike. As a young man, Ray personified the rambling spirit of twentieth-century America, learning from luminaries like Thornton Wilder and Frank Lloyd Wright; mingling with future legends like Elia Kazan, Joseph Losey, and John Houseman; and carousing with musicians like Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie. Notoriously self-destructive but irresistibly alluring-to men and women alike-Ray empathized with the broken and misunderstood, a talent that allowed him to create characters of true complexity on-screen. His youthful association with radical politics nearly killed his nascent film career-until a secret agreement to cooperate with the House Committee on Un-American Activities saved him. His tumultuous second marriage, to Grahame, was shattered after Ray found her in bed with his teenage son from his first marriage. He romanced stars and starlets, including Marilyn Monroe, Shelley Winters, Joan Crawford, and the teenage Natalie Wood, but never enjoyed a stable home life. The triumph of Rebel Without a Cause, his masterpiece of teenage angst, led to a burgeoning partnership with James Dean, but Dean's untimely death devastated the filmmaker, who fell into a spiral of drinking and drug addiction. Less than a decade later, Ray's career was effectively over . . . until the adoration of European critics, and a frantic last-ditch burst of creativity, nearly restored him to glory before his tragic early death in 1979. Meticulously detailed and compulsively readable, this new biography reconstructs the tortuous journey of one of the most enduringly fascinating figures in American film.
Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only
by Patrick McgilliganOscar Micheaux was the Jackie Robinson of film, the black D. W. Griffith: a bigger-than-life American folk hero whose important life story is nearly forgotten today. Now, in a feat of historical investigation and vivid storytelling, one of our greatest film biographers takes on one of the most talented and complex figures in the history of American entertainment. The son of freed slaves, Micheaux grew up in Metropolis, Illinois, then roamed America as a Pullman porter before making his first mark as a homesteader in South Dakota. Disaster and defeat there led him to forge a career publishing a successful series of autobiographical novels. Ever the entrepreneur, when Hollywood failed to bid high enough for film rights to his stories, he answered by forming his own film production company. Going on to produce or direct twenty-two silent and fifteen sound films in his lifetime, Micheaux became the king of the "race cinema" industry at a time when black-produced films had to scrounge for venues in a segregated society. In this groundbreaking new biography, award-winning film historian Patrick McGilligan offers a vivid and fascinating portrait of this little-known pioneer. Part visionary, part raffish Barnum-like showman, Micheaux was both a maverick filmmaker and an inveterate hustler who used every weapon at his disposal to break the color barrier and thrive in a profession he helped to invent. He made a fortune and lost it again, and launched repeated con games that were followed by public arrests and bankruptcies. He eagerly took credit for the work of others-including his unsung-heroine wife. In his desperate later years, he even sunk to plagiarizing his final novel-a discovery McGilligan reveals here for the first time. In this searching exploration, McGilligan tracks down long-lost financial records, unpublished letters, and unmarked pauper's graves, pinpointing Micheaux's birthplace, his tangled personal life, and the circumstances of his tragic death. The result is an epic that bridges a fascinating period in American history, and offers lessons for anyone who would understand the role of black America in forming the culture of our time.
Young Orson
by Patrick Mcgilligan"A remarkable, eye-opening biography . . . McGilligan's Orson is a Welles for a new generation, [a portrait] in tune with Patti Smith's Just Kids."--A. S. Hamrah, BookforumNo American artist or entertainer has enjoyed a more dramatic rise than Orson Welles. At the age of sixteen, he charmed his way into a precocious acting debut in Dublin's Gate Theatre. By nineteen, he had published a book on Shakespeare and toured the United States. At twenty, he directed a landmark all-black production of Macbeth in Harlem, and the following year masterminded the legendary WPA production of Marc Blitzstein's agitprop musical The Cradle Will Rock. After founding the Mercury Theatre, he mounted a radio production of The War of the Worlds that made headlines internationally. Then, at twenty-four, Welles signed a Hollywood contract granting him unprecedented freedom as a writer, director, producer, and star--paving the way for the creation of Citizen Kane, considered by many to be the greatest film in history.Drawing on years of deep research, acclaimed biographer Patrick McGilligan conjures the young man's Wisconsin background with Dickensian richness and detail: his childhood as the second son of a troubled industrialist father and a musically gifted, politically active mother; his youthful immersion in theater, opera, and magic in nearby Chicago; his teenage sojourns through rural Ireland, Spain, and the Far East; and his emergence as a maverick theater artist. Sifting fact from legend, McGilligan unearths long-buried writings from Welles's school years; delves into his relationships with mentors Dr. Maurice Bernstein, Roger Hill, and Thornton Wilder; explores his partnerships with producer John Houseman and actor Joseph Cotten; reveals the truth of his marriage to actress Virginia Nicolson and rumored affairs with actresses Dolores Del Rio and Geraldine Fitzgerald (including a suspect paternity claim); and traces the story of his troubled brother, Dick Welles, whose mysterious decline ran counter to Orson's swift ascent. And, through it all, we watch in awe as this whirlwind of talent--hailed hopefully from boyhood as a "genius"--collects the raw material that he and his co-writer, the cantankerous Herman J. Mankiewicz, would mold into the story of Charles Foster Kane.Filled with insight and revelation--including the surprising true origin and meaning of "Rosebud"--Young Orson is an eye-opening look at the arrival of a talent both monumental and misunderstood.
The Last Pick: The Boston Marathon Race Director's Road to Success
by David J. Mcgillivray Linda Glass Fechter<p>"If you can dream it, it can happen." In this heartening book, Boston Marathon race director and motivational speaker David McGillivray shares the challenges he has overcome to inspire readers to similar triumphs in their own lives. <p>Always the last pick for team sports because of his small stature, David McGillivray drove himself to excel at individual sports. <p>When he was 16, he set himself up for the one "failure" that would motivate the rest of his life. <p>He attempted to run in his first Boston Marathon--without training for the event. Not crossing the finish line could have been a crushing blow. <p>Instead he went on to complete 115 marathons and eventually to become the Boston Marathon's race director. <p>At age 23, McGillivray completed his celebrated 3,452-mile run across the United States to raise money for cancer research. <p>The story of his journey and what he learned about himself will give all readers a new understanding of how to prepare for and achieve success. <p>McGillivray's many accomplishments will convince readers that virtually any goal is possible. <p>This book will motivate them to overcome the mental obstacles that often keep dreams from becoming reality.