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"All Labor Has Dignity"
by Martin Luther King Jr.An unprecedented and timely collection of Dr. King's speeches on labor rights and economic justice. People forget that Dr. King was every bit as committed to economic justice as he was to ending racial segregation. He fought throughout his life to connect the labor and civil rights movements, envisioning them as twin pillars for social reform. As we struggle with massive unemployment, a staggering racial wealth gap, and the near collapse of a financial system that puts profits before people, King's prophetic writings and speeches underscore his relevance for today. They help us imagine King anew: as a human rights leader whose commitment to unions and an end to poverty was a crucial part of his civil rights agenda. Covering all the civil rights movement highlights--Montgomery, Albany, Birmingham, Selma, Chicago, and Memphis--award-winning historian Michael K. Honey introduces and traces King's dream of economic equality. Gathered in one volume for the first time, the majority of these speeches will be new to most readers. The collection begins with King's lectures to unions in the 1960s and includes his addresses during his Poor People's Campaign, culminating with his momentous "Mountaintop" speech, delivered in support of striking black sanitation workers in Memphis. Unprecedented and timely, "All Labor Has Dignity" will more fully restore our understanding of King's lasting vision of economic justice, bringing his demand for equality right into the present.
"Bad News": The Turbulent Life of Marvin Barnes, Pro Basketball's Original Renegade
by Mike Carey Bob CostasMarvin "Bad News" Barnes was considered a future Hall of Fame basketball player before he even graduated from college. A standout at Providence College, where he averaged 20.7 points and 17.9 rebounds per game, he was an All-American with the world at his fingertips.Although Barnes enjoyed two highly successful years in the American Basketball Association with the Spirits of St. Louis (winning Rookie of the Year honors and twice being named an All-Star), his career fizzled in the NBA as he wore out his welcome with the Detroit Pistons, Buffalo Braves, Boston Celtics, and San Diego Clippers in four years. His immaturity, as well as a chronic losing battle with drugs and alcohol, turned a potential superstar into a has-been by 1979. By then, his swagger was gone. So too was his game.Written by Mike Carey, who opened his house to Barnes later in his life, this is the story of a supremely gifted athlete whose self-destructive nature led to him living on the mean streets of East San Diego for three years as a panhandler and pimp. Eventually he would serve a total of five years in prison for various felony charges, including the sale of cocaine.Throughout his life, every time it appeared that "Bad News" had turned the corner, his demons reappeared and succeeded in luring him back into becoming a conniving dope fiend.On September 8, 2014, Barnes finally hit rock bottom, passing away due to acute cocaine and heroin intoxication. He was sixty-two years old.With stories and quotes from Julius Erving, Bill Walton, Larry Brown, Mike D'Antoni, and many others who crossed paths with Barnes, as well as a foreword from former Spirits announcer Bob Costas, "Bad News" is the story of a squandered talent who could never defeat his inner demons.
"Dearest Georg": Love, Literature, and Power in Dark Times
by David Dollenmayer Karen Lauer Vesa CanettiIn 1934, Veza Taubner and Elias Canetti were married in Vienna. Elias describes the arrangement to his brother Georges as a "functional" marriage. Meanwhile, an intense intellectual love affair develops between Veza and Georges, a young doctor suffering fromtuberculosis. Four years later, Veza and Elias flee Nazi-ruled Vienna to London, where they lead an impoverished and extremely complicated marital life in exile. Spanning the major part of Elias's struggle for literary recognition, from 1933, before the publication of his novel, Auto-da-Fé, to 1959, when he finished his monumental Crowds and Power, the Canetti letters provide an intimate look at these formative years through the prism of a veritable love triangle: the newly married Elias has a string of lovers; his wife, Veza, is hopelessly in love with an idealized image of his youngest brother, Georges; and Georges is drawn to good looking men as well as to his motherly sister-in-law. Independently and often secretly, the couple communicates with Georges, who lives in Paris: Veza tells of Elias's amorous escapades and bouts of madness, Elias complains about Veza's poor nerves and depression. Each of them worries about Georges's health-if she could, Veza would kiss away the germs. Georges is an infrequent correspondent, but he diligently stores away the letters from his brother and sister-in-law. In 2003, long after his death, they were accidentally discovered in a Paris basement and comprise not only a moving and insightful document, but real literature.From the Hardcover edition.
"En L'air!" (In The Air) Three Years On And Above Three Fronts [Illustrated Edition]
by Segeant Bert HallSergeant Bert Hall belonged to an elite brotherhood; he was a founded member of the Lafayette Escadrille which fought in the colours of France during the First World War. Highly decorated individually and as a unit; Hall flew alongside the first American aviators such as Kiffin Rockwell, John Thaw, Victor Chapman and Raoul Lufbery.His first autobiography is gritty and adventure filled; recording his time spent in the French Foreign Legion and in the Trenches before his transfer to flying duties with the Lafayette squadron.Author -- Sergeant Hall, Bert, 1886-1948.Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in New York, N.Y., The new library, inc. 1918Original Page Count - 153 pages.Illustrations -- 10 Illustrations.
"F"-It-Less: 18 F-Words to Reframe and Repurpose Your Life
by Shaun RawlsWhat does it take to say &“F-it!&” and really mean it? To walk away from the circumstances that have you stuck in neutral, or worse, headed in the wrong direction? To reroute your life along a smoother path toward success? To live an &“F&”-It-Less life?Shaun Rawls, popular motivational speaker and founder of Atlanta&’s #1 real estate firm, discovered the answers to those questions and more during one of the most trying, yet triumphant periods of his life. After unexpectedly finding love and consequentially navigating a divorce, the life he knew changed. Even when you are the one to implement such change, it can feel like a punch in the gut, especially when those you care about and with whom you share history are affected. In his attempt to minimize disruption to the company and his wife&’s livelihood, Rawls&’ divorce included handing over to her the operational responsibilities of the successful business they had built together. During this transition, he discovered a whole new lexicon of &“F&” words more powerful than the one we all know. Employing each thoughtfully and practically in his life, he began to craft the existence he had always dreamed of. Words such as &“fragmented,&” &“frustrated,&” &“fractured,&” and &“failed&” helped him identify where he was in the moment and to earnestly assess where he&’d gone wrong in the past. In time he enjoyed days that were &“fine&” or even &“fantastic.&” Prioritizing words such as &“float,&” &“family,&” &“faith,&” &“fun,&” and &“freedom&” reminded him of his destination, while words such as &“find,&” &“forgive,&” &“forget,&” &“fix,&” and &“foxhole&” helped him to get there faster. What he now knows is that these F-words can align us with our purpose and goals, enabling us to live a more intentional and rewarding life. In this infinitely empowering book, Rawls encourages you to use these words to examine your own life—to see if it is one you&’ve consciously crafted or one you simply allowed to unfold. To decide whether you&’re living how you really want to or if there is still much roadwork to be done. To truly listen to your heart and gut, and to honestly acknowledge the areas of your life where you&’ve compromised love and happiness for money, safety, security, or—worse—fear. He coaxes you not to let your best life pass you by, but rather to proactively attain the life you really want. By sharing some of his greatest lessons, Rawls, who is happily remarried and enjoying his expanded family and career, aims to help you avoid some of the same landmines he encountered and to live what he refers to as an &“F-it-less&” life—the life we&’re all entitled to discover, explore, and fulfill for ourselves. Saying &“F-it!&” doesn&’t always mean you are giving in or giving up. With the right tools, it can actually mean you are ready to pursue a better life—one of greater ease, meaning, and purpose—a truly &“F&”-It-Less life.
"Facts As I Remember Them": An Autobiography of Rufe LeFors
by Rufe Lefores John Allen PetersonLeFors wanted to get the facts—as he remembered them—straight. With his sharp eye for texture and detail and keen ear for language and timing, he created a narrative that wonderfully captures the flavor of his life and exciting times.
"Fire From the Midst of You": A Religious Life of John Brown
by Louis A. Decaro Jr.Reveals a complex new portrait of John Brown, radical abolitionist and leader of the 1859 raid on Harper's FerryJohn Brown is usually remembered as a terrorist whose unbridled hatred of slavery drove him to the ill-fated raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in 1859. Tried and executed for seizing the arsenal and attempting to spur a liberation movement among the slaves, Brown was the ultimate cause celebre for a country on the brink of civil war.“Fire from the Midst of You” situates Brown within the religious and social context of a nation steeped in racism, showing his roots in Puritan abolitionism. DeCaro explores Brown's unusual family heritage as well as his business and personal losses, retracing his path to the Southern gallows. In contrast to the popular image of Brown as a violent fanatic, DeCaro contextualizes Brown's actions, emphasizing the intensely religious nature of the antebellum US in which he lived. He articulates the nature of Brown's radical faith and shows that, when viewed in the context of his times, he was not the religious fanatic that many have understood him to be. DeCaro calls Brown a “Protestant saint”—an imperfect believer seeking to realize his own perceived calling in divine providence.In line with the post-millennial theology of his day, Brown understood God as working through mankind and the church to renew and revive sinful humanity. He read the Bible not only as God's word, but as God's word to John Brown. DeCaro traces Brown's life and development to show how by forging faith as a radical weapon, Brown forced the entire nation to a point of crisis. “Fire from the Midst of You” defies the standard narrative with a new reading of John Brown. Here is the man that the preeminent Black scholar W.E.B. Du Bois called a "mighty warning" and the one Malcolm X called “a real white liberal.”
"Happiness Is Not My Companion": The Life of General G. K. Warren
by David M. JordanThe valorous but troubled career of the Civil War general best known for defending Little Round Top and averting a Union defeat at Gettysburg.The lieutenant colonel of a New York regiment and rising star in the Army of the Potomac, Gouverneur K. Warren performed heroically at Gettysburg. For his service at Bristoe Station and Mine Run, he was awarded command of the Fifth Corps for the 1864 Virginia campaign.But Warren’s peculiarities of temperament and personality put a cloud over his service at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania and cost him the confidence of his superiors, Grant and Meade. He was summarily relieved of his command by Philip Sheridan after winning the Battle of Five Forks, just eight days before Appomattox. Warren continued as an engineer of distinction in the Army after the war, but he was determined to clear his name before a board of inquiry, which conducted an exhaustive investigation into the battle, Warren’s conduct, and Sheridan’s arbitrary action. However, the findings of the court vindicating Warren were not made public until shortly after his death.For this major biography of Gouverneur Warren, David M. Jordan utilizes Warren’s own voluminous collection of letters, papers, orders, and other items saved by his family, as well as the letters and writings of such contemporaries as his aide and brother-in-law Washington Roebling, Andrew Humphreys, Winfield Hancock, George Gordon Meade, and Ulysses S. Grant. Jordan presents a vivid account of the life and times of a complex military figure.
"He Chose Porn over Me": Women Harmed by Men Who Use Porn
by Melinda Tankard ReistHe chose porn over me. Porn killed my marriage. It killed my trust. It destroyed my sense of self and understanding of true intimacy-CourtneyShattering the popular myth that porn is harmless, the personal accounts of 25 brave women in He Chose Porn over Me reveal the real-life trauma experienced by women at the hands of their porn-consuming partners – men who were supposed to care for them. This confronting but necessary book dares to tell the truth about pornography's destructive impact – about the men who habitually use it and the women and children who are mistreated and discarded as a result.The women in this book were collateral damage in their partner's insatiable greed for porn. Their stories tell of the crushing of intimacy, respect, connection, love. Porn colonised their families, leaving women rejected and scarred. They were subjected to sexual terrorism in their own homes. The men, turbo-charged by pornography, were intoxicated by sexualised power. They didn't care if they lost everything including their partners. In this haunting exposé, pornography is rightfully situated as an insidious tool of violence against women.The contributors, now working to re-build their lives, found a confidante in Melinda Tankard Reist who supported them in the sharing of their experiences in these pages, and to warn other women – don't date men who use porn...As long as pornography exists, we don't stand a chance of creating a fair and equal world. —Carla
"Here, Our Culture Is Hard": Stories of Domestic Violence from a Mayan Community in Belize
by Laura J. MccluskyMarriage among the Maya of Central America is a model of complementarity between a man and a woman. This union demands mutual respect and mutual service. Yet some husbands beat their wives. <P><P> In this pioneering book, Laura McClusky examines the lives of several Mopan Maya women in Belize. Using engaging ethnographic narratives and a highly accessible analysis of the lives that have unfolded before her, McClusky explores Mayan women's strategies for enduring, escaping, and avoiding abuse. Factors such as gender, age inequalities, marriage patterns, family structure, educational opportunities, and economic development all play a role in either preventing or contributing to domestic violence in the village. McClusky argues that using narrative ethnography, instead of cold statistics or dehumanized theoretical models, helps to keep the focus on people, "rehumanizing" our understanding of violence. This highly accessible book brings to the social sciences new ways of thinking about, representing, and studying abuse, marriage, death, gender roles, and violence.
"I Am Murdered": George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation
by Bruce ChadwickHe signed the Declaration of Independence, represented Virginia at the Constitutional Convention, and became America's first professor of law. With his close friend and former pupil Thomas Jefferson, who once described him as a "second father," he wrote an entire new legal code for the State of Virginia. At the age of eighty in 1806, George Wythe was loved, admired, and respected by all who knew him--all but one, that is. In I Am Murdered, celebrated historian Bruce Chadwick tells the grisly, fascinating, and often astounding tale of Wythe's murder and America's very first "trial of the century." Brimming with fascinating details of early nineteenth-century medicine, forensic science, and legal issues, this fast-moving account features compelling portraits of all major players in the case and asks penetrating questions about the many controversies that swirled around the trial. George Wythe lived long enough to accuse his grandnephew George Wythe Sweeney of poisoning him and two other members of his household. Why did three prominent doctors, all friends of Wythe, insist that he hadn't been poisoned at all? Why did Wythe repeatedly refuse to press charges against Sweeney, who had forged Wythe's name on checks and stolen and sold many of his rare and precious books? Wythe's maid, Lydia Broadnax, the sole survivor of the poisoning, was also the only eyewitness to the crime. Her account was entirely credible, and she was widely recognized as an honest, reliable, and honorable woman. Why was she forbidden to testify at the trial? The answers to these questions and many more become lenses through which to view a city and a nation at a crucial and formative period of their history. Among the many distinctive figures you'll meet in this strange and chilling true story are the two attorneys who came to Sweeney's defense. Both had been good friends of Wythe and were certain of the young man's guilt, but each man had a powerful personal motive to work tirelessly for Sweeney's acquittal. One was a former attorney general of the United States, and the other was destined to become the longest-sewing attorney general in American history: Complete with a satisfying account of Wythe's ultimate revenge and a poignant depiction of his deep and abiding friendship with Jefferson, I Am Murdered is part American tragedy, part CSI circa 1806, and all intriguing examination of the unjust death of a Founding Father.
"I Am a Man": Chief Standing Bear's Journey for Justice
by Joe StaritaThe harrowing story of a Native American man’s tragic loss of land and family, and his heroic journey to reclaim his humanity.In 1877, Chief Standing Bear’s Ponca Indian tribe was forcibly removed from their Nebraska homeland and marched to what was then known as Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), in what became the tribe’s own Trail of Tears. A third of the tribe died on the grueling march, including Standing Bear’s only son. “I Am a Man” chronicles what happened when Standing Bear set off on a six-hundred-mile walk to return the body of his son’s body to the Ponca’s traditional burial ground. It chronicles his efforts to reclaim his land and rights, culminating in his successful use of habeas corpus to gain access to the courts and secure his freedoms. This is a story of survival that explores fundamental issues of citizenship, constitutional protection, and the nature of democracy. Joe Starita’s well-researched and insightful account bring this vital piece of American history brilliantly to life.
"I Heard You Paint Houses"
by Charles Brandt"I Heard you Paint Houses" are the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran. <P><P>To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors. In the course of nearly five years of recorded interviews Frank Sheeran confessed to Charles Brandt that he handled more than twenty-five hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa. <P><P>Sheeran learned to kill in the U.S. Army, where he saw an astonishing 411 days of active combat duty in Italy during World War II. After returning home he became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino. <P><P>Eventually he would rise to a position of such prominence that in a RICO suit then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani would name him as one of only two non-Italians on a list of 26 top mob figures. When Bufalino ordered Sheeran to kill Hoffa, he did the deed, knowing that if he had refused he would have been killed himself. <P><P>Sheeran's important and fascinating story includes new information on other famous murders, and provides rare insight to a chapter in American history. Charles Brandt has written a page-turner that is destined to become a true crime classic. <P><P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
"I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer": Letters on Love and Marriage from the World’s First Personal Advice Column
by Mary Beth NortonA fascinating collection of questions and answers—about courtship, marriage, love, and sex—from a seventeenth-century periodical The Athenian Mercury—a one-page, two-sided periodical published in 1690s London—included the world&’s first personal advice column. Acclaimed historian and Pulitzer Prize–finalist Mary Beth Norton&’s &“I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer&” is a remarkable collection of questions and answers drawn from this groundbreaking publication.In these exchanges, anonymous readers look for help with their most intimate romantic problems—about courting, picking a spouse, getting married, securing or avoiding parental consent, engaging in premarital sex and extramarital affairs, and much more. Spouses ask how to handle contentious marriages and tense relationships with in-laws. Some correspondents seek ways to ease a conscience troubled by romantic and sexual misbehavior. The lonely wonder how to meet a potential partner—or how to spark a warmer relationship with someone they already have an eye on. And both men and women inquire about how to extract themselves from relationships turned sour. Many of these concerns will be familiar to readers of today&’s advice columns. But others are delightfully strange and surprising, reflecting forgotten social and romantic customs and using charmingly unfamiliar language in which, for example, &“kissing is a luscious diet,&” a marriage might provide &“much love and moderate conveniency,&” and an &“amorous disposition&” can lead to trouble.Delightful and entertaining, &“I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer&” provides a unique, intriguing, and revealing picture of what has—and hasn&’t—changed over the past three centuries when it comes to love, sex, and relationships.
"I wish to keep a record": Nineteenth-Century New Brunswick Women Diarists and Their World
by Gail CampbellNineteenth-century New Brunswick society was dominated by white, Protestant, Anglophone men. Yet, during this time of state formation in Canada, women increasingly helped to define and shape a provincial outlook. I wish to keep a record is the first book to focus exclusively on the life-course experiences of nineteenth-century New Brunswick women. Gail G. Campbell offers an interpretive scholarly analysis of 28 women’s diaries while enticing readers to listen to the voices of the diarists. Their diaries show women constructing themselves as individuals, assuming their essential place in building families and communities, and shaping their society by directing its outward gaze and envisioning its future. Campbell’s lively analysis calls on scholars to distinguish between immigrant and native-born women and to move beyond present-day conceptions of such women’s world. This unique study provides a framework for developing an understanding of women's worlds in nineteenth-century North America.
"I": The Creation of a Serial Killer
by Jack OlsenThe prize-winning, bestselling journalist provides a fascinating glimpse into the mind of “The Happy Face Killer” in the serial murderer’s own words . . .In February 1990, Oregon State Police arrested John Sosnovke and Laverne Pavlinac for the vicious rape and murder of Taunja Bennet, a troubled twenty-three-year-old barfly who had a mild intellectual disability since birth. There was just one problem. They had the wrong people.And the real killer wasn’t about to let anyone take credit for his kill. Keith Hunter Jesperson was a long-haul truck driver and the murderer of eight women, including Taunja Bennet. As the case wound through police precincts and courts—ending in life sentences for both Sosnovke and Pavlinac—Jesperson began a twisted one-man campaign to win their release. To the editors of newspapers and on the walls of highway rest stops, Jesperson scribbled out a series of taunting confessions. At the end of each admission, Jesperson drew a happy face, earning for himself the grisly sobriquet “The Happy Face Killer.”Based on access to interviews, diaries, court records, and the criminal himself, I: The Creation of a Serial Killer is Jesperson’s chilling story. It chronicles his evolution from angry child to sociopathic murderer, from tormentor of animals to torturer of women. It is also the story of the fate that befell him after two innocent citizens were imprisoned four years for one of his killings.In I: The Creation of a Serial Killer, Edgar Award winner Jack Olsen lets Jesperson tell his story in his own words, offering unprecedented insight into the twisted thought process of a serial murderer.
"Indian" in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power
by Jody Wilson-RaybouldA compelling political memoir of leadership and speaking truth to power by one of the most inspiring women of her generation Jody Wilson-Raybould was raised to be a leader. Inspired by the example of her grandmother, who persevered throughout her life to keep alive the governing traditions of her people, and raised as the daughter of a hereditary chief and Indigenous leader, Wilson-Raybould always knew she would take on leadership roles and responsibilities. She never anticipated, however, that those roles would lead to a journey from her home community of We Wai Kai in British Columbia to Ottawa as Canada’s first Indigenous Minister of Justice and Attorney General in the Cabinet of then newly elected prime minister, Justin Trudeau. Wilson-Raybould’s experience in Trudeau’s Cabinet reveals important lessons about how we must continue to strengthen our political institutions and culture, and the changes we must make to meet challenges such as racial justice and climate change. As her initial optimism about the possibilities of enacting change while in Cabinet shifted to struggles over inclusivity, deficiencies of political will, and concerns about adherence to core principles of our democracy, Wilson-Raybould stood on principle and, ultimately, resigned. In standing her personal and professional ground and telling the truth in front of the nation, Wilson-Raybould demonstrated the need for greater independence and less partisanship in how we govern. “Indian” in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power is the story of why Wilson-Raybould got into federal politics, her experience as an Indigenous leader sitting around the Cabinet table, her proudest achievements, the very public SNC-Lavalin affair, and how she got out and moved forward. Now sitting as an Independent Member in Parliament, Wilson-Raybould believes there is a better way to govern and a better way for politics—one that will make a better country for all.
"It's the Pictures That Got Small": Charles Brackett on Billy Wilder and Hollywood's Golden Age (Film and Culture Series)
by Anthony SlideGolden Age Hollywood screenwriter Charles Brackett was an extremely observant and perceptive chronicler of the entertainment industry during its most exciting years. He is best remembered as the writing partner of director Billy Wilder, who once referred to the pair as "the happiest couple in Hollywood," collaborating on such classics as The Lost Weekend (1945) and Sunset Blvd (1950). In this annotated collection of writings taken from dozens of Brackett's unpublished diaries, leading film historian Anthony Slide clarifies Brackett's critical contribution to Wilder's films and Hollywood history while enriching our knowledge of Wilder's achievements in writing, direction, and style. Brackett's diaries re-create the initial meetings of the talent responsible for Ninotchka (1939), Hold Back the Dawn (1941), Ball of Fire (1941), The Major and the Minor (1942), Five Graves to Cairo (1943), The Lost Weekend, and Sunset Blvd, recounting the breakthrough and breakdowns that ultimately forced these collaborators to part ways. Brackett was also a producer, served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Screen Writers Guild, was a drama critic for the New Yorker, and became a member of the exclusive literary club, the Algonquin Round Table. Slide provides a rare, front row seat to the Golden Age dealings of Paramount, Universal, MGM, and RKO and the innovations of legendary theater and literary figures, such as Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Edna Ferber, and Dorothy Parker. Through Brackett's keen, witty perspective, the political and creative intrigue at the heart of Hollywood's most significant films comes alive, and readers will recognize their reach in the Hollywood industry today.
"It's the Pictures That Got Small": Charles Brackett on Billy Wilder and Hollywood's Golden Age (Film and Culture Series)
by Charles Brackett&“Brackett&’s diaries read like a funnier, better-paced version of Barton Fink.&” —Newsweek Screenwriter Charles Brackett is best remembered as the writing partner of director Billy Wilder, who once referred to the pair as &“the happiest couple in Hollywood,&” collaborating on such classics as The Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard. He was also a perceptive chronicler of the entertainment industry, and in this annotated collection of writings from dozens of Brackett&’s unpublished diaries, film historian Anthony Slide clarifies Brackett's critical contribution to Wilder&’s films and enriches our knowledge of Wilder&’s achievements in writing, direction, and style. Brackett&’s diaries re-create the initial meetings of the talent responsible for Ninotchka, Hold Back the Dawn, Ball of Fire, The Major and the Minor, Five Graves to Cairo, The Lost Weekend, and Sunset Boulevard, recounting the breakthroughs and the breakdowns that ultimately forced these collaborators to part ways. In addition to a portrait of Wilder, this is rare view of a producer who was a president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Screen Writers Guild, a New Yorker drama critic, and a member of the Algonquin Round Table. With insight into the dealings of Paramount, Universal, MGM, and RKO, and legendary figures such as Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Edna Ferber, and Dorothy Parker, this book reveals the political and creative intrigue at the heart of Hollywood&’s most significant films. &“A fascinating look at Hollywood in its classic period, and a unique and indispensable must-have for any movie buff.&” —Chicago Tribune &“This feels as close as we can get to being in the presence of Wilder&’s genius, and he emerges as the cruelest as well as the wittiest of men.&” —The Guardian &“Not only rare insight into their often-stormy partnership but also an insider&’s view of Hollywood during that era.&” —Los Angeles Times &“Very entertaining.&” —Library Journal
"Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye": Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
by David F. Powers Kenneth P. O'DonnellThis classic New York Times bestseller is an illuminating portrait of JFK—from his thrilling rise to his tragic fall—by two of the men who knew him best. As a politician, John Fitzgerald Kennedy crafted a persona that fascinated and inspired millions—and left an outsize legacy in the wake of his murder on November 22, 1963. But only a select few were privy to the complicated man behind the Camelot image. Two such confidants were Kenneth P. O&’Donnell, Kennedy&’s top political aide, and David F. Powers, a special assistant in the White House. They were among the president&’s closest friends, part of an exclusive inner circle that came to be known as the &“Irish Mafia.&” In Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, O&’Donnell and Powers share memories of Kennedy, his extraordinary political career, and his iconic family—memories that could come only from intimate access to the man himself. As they recount the full scope of Kennedy&’s journey—from his charismatic first campaign for Congress to his rapid rise to national standing, culminating on that haunting day in Dallas—O&’Donnell and Powers lay bare the inner workings of a leader who is cherished and mourned to this day, in a memoir that spent over five months on the New York Times bestseller list.
"Just Mary": The Life of Mary Evelyn Grannan
by Margaret Anne HumeJust Mary and Maggie Muggins are names that will arouse memories in those who grew up with CBC radio and television in the 1940s and 1950s. The creator of these and other children’s shows, former Fredericton schoolteacher Mary Grannan, became a radio star when she hit the national airwaves in 1939, her popularity peaking when Maggie Muggins moved to television in 1955. Long before The Friendly Giant and Mr. Dressup appeared, her work helped to shape the legacy of gentle children’s programming on CBC. Building on her broadcasting success, Grannan published over thirty books, most runaway best-sellers. Attired in stylish dress, extravagant hats, and enormous earrings, she made frequent guest appearances at public events across the country. She received the Beaver Award for her broadcasting and was honoured by the International Mark Twain Society and the Institute for Education by Radio at Ohio State University."Just Mary": The Life of Mary Evelyn Grannan is the first biography of this creative and once well-known Canadian woman. Immersing the reader in rich detail while showcasing excerpts of her writings through the years, the book presents an intimate examination of her life journey through previously unreleased personal letters, archives, an abundance of photographs, and interviews with family, friends, colleagues, and former students. This is the private Mary Grannan as the public has never before known her.
"Ladies From Hell,"
by Robert Douglas Pinkerton"With the London-Scottish Regiment During the First World WarThe 'Cockney Jocks' at war in Flanders and FranceThe wide distribution of Scots throughout Britain and the Empire led to the formation new 'Scottish' regiments and the London Scottish, formed in 1859 as a volunteer rifle corps and originally commanded by Lord Elcho, was a primary example. Elcho, anxious to embrace all the fighting men of Scotland into one brotherhood irrespective of their clan origins, uniquely clad the regiment in kilts of 'Hodden Grey,' a traditional hard wearing Scottish homespun cloth devoid of the tartan check and, as he perceived, being a drab colour suited for life on military campaign in the most practical way. Pinkerton, the author of this book was a soldier among the ranks of the regiment who answered the nation's call to arms during the First World War. The regiment was mobilised at the outbreak of hostilities and the 1st battalion had the distinction of being the first Territorials to go into action during operations at Messines in October 1914. Pinkerton takes his readers to war with the London Scottish on the western front where it took part in all the major offensives of the conflict. Predictably this vital account is filled with immediate first hand account action and anecdotes and is essential reading for anyone interested in the war in the trenches the kilted infantry knew."-Leonaur Print VersionAuthor -- Pinkerton, Robert Douglas.Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in New York, The Century co., 1918.Original Page Count - 254 pages.
"Life Is a Jungle" (Book 2: The Rani Adventures)
by Ron SnellIn this delightfully written book, Ron continues his memoir. His parents are Wycliffe translators, who live much as the Machiguenga do. Ron spends much of his time with his Peruvian Indian friends, helping with projects, which often leads to fascinating and hilarious adventures. Ron loves this life, and he writes with a warmth and cleverness that makes this book hard to put down. The other books in this series are available from Bookshare.
"Lincoln's Humor" and Other Essays
by Benjamin P. ThomasThis volume gathers the best previously unpublished and uncollected writings on Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln scholarship by one of his great biographers, Benjamin P. Thomas. A skilled historian and a masterful storyteller himself, Thomas was widely regarded as the greatest Lincoln historian of his generation. With these essays, he combines historical depth with narrative grace in delineating Lincoln's qualities as a humorist, lawyer, and politician. From colorful tall tales to clever barbs aimed at political opponents, Lincoln clothed a shrewd wit in a homespun, backwoods vernacular. He used humor to defuse tension, illuminate a point, put others at ease--and sometimes for sheer fun. From an early reliance on broad humor and ridicule in speeches and on the stump, Lincoln's style shifted in 1854 to a more serious vein in which humor came primarily to elucidate an argument. "If I did not laugh occasionally I should die," he is said to have told his cabinet, "and you need this medicine as much as I do." Thomas brings his deep knowledge of Lincoln to essays on the great man's tumultuous career in Congress, his work as a lawyer, his experiences in the Courts, and his opinions of the South. A gracious survey of Lincoln's early biographers, particularly Ida Tarbell, stands alongside an appreciation of Harry Edward Pratt, a key figure in the early days of the Abraham Lincoln Association. Thomas also assesses Lincoln's use of language and the ongoing significance of the Gettysburg Address. This diverse collection is enhanced by an introduction by Michael Burlingame, himself a leading biographer of Lincoln. Burlingame provides a balanced portrait of Thomas and his circuitous path toward writing history.
"Literchoor Is My Beat": A Life of James Laughlin, Publisher of New Directions
by Ian S. MacNivenA biography—thoughtful and playful—of the man who founded New Directions and transformed American publishingJames Laughlin—poet, publisher, world-class skier—was the man behind some of the most daring, revolutionary works in verse and prose of the twentieth century. As the founder of New Directions, he published Ezra Pound's The Cantos and William Carlos Williams's Paterson; he brought Hermann Hesse and Jorge Luis Borges to an American audience. Throughout his life, this tall, charismatic intellectual, athlete, and entrepreneur preferred to stay hidden. But no longer—in "Literchoor Is My Beat": A Life of James Laughlin, Publisher of New Directions, Ian S. MacNiven has given us a sensitive and revealing portrait of this visionary and the understory of the last century of American letters. Laughlin—or J, as MacNiven calls him—emerges as an impressive and complex figure: energetic, idealistic, and hardworking, but also plagued by doubts—not about his ability to identify and nurture talent but about his own worth as a writer. Haunted by his father's struggles with bipolar disorder, J threw himself into a flurry of activity, pulling together the first New Directions anthology before he'd graduated from Harvard and purchasing and managing a ski resort in Utah. MacNiven's portrait is comprehensive and vital, spiced with Ezra Pound's eccentric letters, J's romantic foibles, and anecdotes from a seat-of-your-pants era of publishing now gone by. A story about the struggle to publish only the best, it is itself an example of literary biography at its finest.