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Dancing the Afrofuture: Hula, Hip-Hop, and the Dunham Legacy
by Halifu Osumare<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman",serif">A Black dancer chronicles her career as a scholar writing the stories of global hip-hop and Black culture <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none">Dancing the Afrofuture is the story of a dancer with a long career of artistry and activism who transitioned from performing Black dance to writing it into history as a Black studies scholar. Following the personal journey of her artistic development told in Dancing in Blackness, Halifu Osumare now reflects on how that first career—which began during the 1960s Black Arts Movement—has influenced her growth as an academic, tracing her teaching and research against a political and cultural backdrop that extends to the twenty-first century with Black Lives Matter and a potent speculative Afrofuture. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:normal">Osumare describes her decision to step away from full-time involvement in dance and community activism to earn a doctorate in American studies from the University of Hawai‘i. She emulated the model of her mentor Katherine Dunham by studying and performing hula, and her research on hip-hop youth culture took her from Hawai‘i to Africa, Europe, and South America as a professor at the University of California, Davis. Throughout her scholarly career, Osumare has illuminated the resilience of African-descendant peoples through a focus on performance and the lens of Afrofuturism. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:normal">Respected for her work as both professional dancer and trailblazing academic, Osumare shares experiences from her second career that show the potential of scholarship in revealing and documenting underrecognized stories of Black dance and global pop culture. In this memoir, Osumare dances across several fields of study while ruminating on how the Black past reveals itself in the Afro-present that is transforming into the Afrofuture. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a University of California, Davis Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Professorship Award.
Dancing Through It
by Jenifer RingerA behind-the-curtains look at the rarefied world of classical ballet from a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet In her charming and self-effacing voice, Jenifer Ringer covers the highs and lows of what it's like to make it to the top in the exclusive, competitive ballet world. From the heart-pounding moments waiting in the wings before a performance to appearing on Oprah to discuss weight and body image among dancers, Dancing Through It is moving and revelatory. Raised in South Carolina, Ringer led a typical kid's life until she sat in on a friend's ballet class, an experience that would change her life forever. By the age of twelve she was enrolled at the elite Washington School of Ballet and soon moved to the School of American Ballet. At sixteen she was a professional dancer at the New York City Ballet in Manhattan, home of the legendary George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Ringer takes us inside the dancer's world, detailing a typical day, performance preparation, and the extraordinary pressures that these athletes face. Ringer shares exhilarating stories of starring in Balanchine productions, working with the famous Peter Martins, and of meeting her husband and falling in love at the New York City Ballet. Ringer also talks candidly of Alistair Macauley's stinging critique of her weight in his 2010 New York Times review of The Nutcracker that ignited a public dialogue about ballet and weight. She unflinchingly describes her personal struggles with eating disorders and body image, and shares how her faith helped her to heal and triumph over these challenges.
Dancing to the Music in My Head: Memoirs of the People's Idol
by Sanjaya Malakar Alan GoldsherSanjaya Malakar, the most popular contestant on Season Six of American Idol, gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at his meteoric rise to fame on one of the most-watched shows on television.Despite finishing in seventh position, Sanjaya Malakar was the most talked about contestant on the sixth season of the television phenomenon American Idol. Best known for his flamboyant hairstyles and screaming young fans, Sanjaya quickly became a household name. His unique style, soft-spoken demeanor, and ingenious song selections made him a fixture on numerous entertainment programs and magazines and led to a huge and devoted fanbase that still remains today.Here, in Dancing to the Music in My Head, he takes fans behind the scenes and reveals what it's like to star on one of television's most popular shows, and how the experience forever changed his life. In his own words, he shares how he soared from obscurity to worldwide fame, from waiting on line amongst thousands of hopefuls to touring with the Top Ten finalists all across the country and being named one of Time magazine's Most Influential People of the Year in 2007. From attending a dinner at the White House to being the subject of parody on Saturday Night Live, Sanjaya has captured national attention in a way that far exceeds that of most ordinary suburban teenagers.
Dancing to the Precipice: The Life of Lucie de la Tour du Pin, Eyewitness to an Era
by Caroline MooreheadA life of Lucie Dillon, Madame de la Tour du Pin by the biographer of Bertrand Russell, Freya Star, Iris Origo and Martha Gellhorn.
Dancing to the Precipice
by Caroline MooreheadHer canvases were the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette; the Great Terror; America at the time of Washington and Jefferson; Paris under the Directoire and then under Napoleon; Regency London; the battle of Waterloo; and, for the last years of her life, the Italian ducal courts. Like Saint-Simon at Versailles, Samuel Pepys during the Great Fire of London, or the Goncourt brothers in nineteenth-century France, Lucie Dillon--a daughter of French and British nobility known in France by her married name, Lucie de la Tour du Pin--was the chronicler of her age. La Rochefoucauld called her "a cultural jewel." The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire favored her for his dinner companion in Paris. Napoleon requested she attend Josephine. Her friends included Talleyrand, Madame de StaËl, Chateaubriand, Lafayette, and the Duke of Wellington, with whom she played as a child. She witnessed firsthand the demise of the French monarchy, the wave of Revolution and the Reign of Terror, and the precipitous rise and fall of Napoleon. She spent two years as an ÉmigrÉ in the newly independent United States (on a farm in Albany) but was also a familiar of Regency London. A shrewd, determined woman in a turbulent age of men, Lucie de la Tour du Pin watched, listened, reflected--and wrote it all down, mixing politics and court intrigue, social observation and the realities of everyday existence, to offer a fascinating chronicle of her era. In this compelling biography, Caroline Moorehead illuminates the extraordinary life and remarkable achievements of this strong, witty, elegant, opinionated, and dynamic woman who survived personal tragedy, including the loss of six children, and periods of extreme danger, exile, poverty, and illness. Meticulously researched, brilliantly written, and vastly entertaining, Moorehead's chronicle of Lucie's life is an incomparable social history of her times.
Dancing to the Precipice
by Caroline MooreheadHer canvases were the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette; the Great Terror; America at the time of Washington and Jefferson; Paris under the Directoire and then under Napoleon; Regency London; the battle of Waterloo; and, for the last years of her life, the Italian ducal courts. Like Saint-Simon at Versailles, Samuel Pepys during the Great Fire of London, or the Goncourt brothers in nineteenth-century France, Lucie Dillon--a daughter of French and British nobility known in France by her married name, Lucie de la Tour du Pin--was the chronicler of her age.La Rochefoucauld called her "a cultural jewel." The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire favored her for his dinner companion in Paris. Napoleon requested she attend Josephine. Her friends included Talleyrand, Madame de Staël, Chateaubriand, Lafayette, and the Duke of Wellington, with whom she played as a child. She witnessed firsthand the demise of the French monarchy, the wave of Revolution and the Reign of Terror, and the precipitous rise and fall of Napoleon. She spent two years as an émigré in the newly independent United States (on a farm in Albany) but was also a familiar of Regency London. A shrewd, determined woman in a turbulent age of men, Lucie de la Tour du Pin watched, listened, reflected--and wrote it all down, mixing politics and court intrigue, social observation and the realities of everyday existence, to offer a fascinating chronicle of her era.In this compelling biography, Caroline Moorehead illuminates the extraordinary life and remarkable achievements of this strong, witty, elegant, opinionated, and dynamic woman who survived personal tragedy, including the loss of six children, and periods of extreme danger, exile, poverty, and illness. Meticulously researched, brilliantly written, and vastly entertaining, Moorehead's chronicle of Lucie's life is an incomparable social history of her times.
Dancing with Angels
by Alan NicholsStephen Than Myint Oo has been to prison, suffered torture and released without conviction. The shadow of his prison record followed him for years, even while studying theology. But his faith and a slowly emerging commitment to democracy and civil society were ignited by an experience of angels, which reinforced a mission plan he had as Archbishop of Myanmar for a tiny Anglican minority within a Buddhist country to take their place in the nation. This is his story.
Dancing with Bees: A Journey Back to Nature
by Brigit Strawbridge HowardA naturalist’s passionate dive into the world of bees of all stripes--what she has learned about them, and what we can learn from them Brigit Strawbridge Howard was shocked the day she realised she knew more about the French Revolution than she did about her native trees. And birds. And wildflowers. And bees. The thought stopped her—quite literally—in her tracks. But that day was also the start of a journey, one filled with silver birches and hairy-footed flower bees, skylarks, and rosebay willow herb, and the joy that comes with deepening one’s relationship with place. Dancing with Bees is Strawbridge Howard’s charming and eloquent account of a return to noticing, to rediscovering a perspective on the world that had somehow been lost to her for decades and to reconnecting with the natural world. With special care and attention to the plight of pollinators, including honeybees, bumblebees, and solitary bees, and what we can do to help them, Strawbridge Howard shares fascinating details of the lives of flora and fauna that have filled her days with ever-increasing wonder and delight.
Dancing with Cuba: A Memoir of the Revolution
by Alma GuillermoprietoIn 1970 a young dancer named Alma Guillermoprieto left New York to take a job teaching at Cuba's National School of Dance. For six months, she worked in mirrorless studios (it was considered more revolutionary); her poorly trained but ardent students worked without them but dreamt of greatness. Yet in the midst of chronic shortages and revolutionary upheaval, Guillermoprieto found in Cuba a people whose sense of purpose touched her forever. In this electrifying memoir, Guillermoprieto-now an award-winning journalist and arguably one of our finest writers on Latin America- resurrects a time when dancers and revolutionaries seemed to occupy the same historical stage and even a floor exercise could be a profoundly political act. Exuberant and elegiac, tender and unsparing, Dancing with Cuba is a triumph of memory and feeling.
Dancing with Death: The True Story of a Glamorous Showgirl, Her Wealthy Husband, and a Horrifying Murder
by Shanna HoganA former stripper turned suburban housewife is exposed as a brutal killer in this shocking true crime tale of a loving husband beheaded in Phoenix.Phoenix, Arizona, 2004. Marjorie Orbin filed a missing person&’s report on her husband, Jay. She claimed that the successful art dealer had left town on business after celebrating their son&’s birthday more than a month before. But no one believed that Jay would abandon the family he loved. Authorities suspected foul play . . . As the search for Jay made local headlines, Marjorie&’s story starting coming apart. Why did she wait so long before going to police? If Jay was away on business, why were there charges made to his credit card in Phoenix? Then, the unthinkable happened. Jay&’s headless, limbless torso was discovered on the outskirts of the Phoenix desert—and all evidence pointed to Marjorie as the killer. The investigation revealed surprising details about her life—six previous marriages, an ongoing affair with a man from her gym, and alleged ties to the New York mafia.
Dancing with Demons
by Penny Valentine Vicki WickhamDusty Springfield made her name in the 60s with a string of top ten hits. Her unique singing style and distinctive bouffant blonde look made her famous throughout the world. Despite a period in the wilderness during the 70s and 80s, she was back at the top in the 90s until her death from cancer in March l999.Born an Irish Catholic in l939, her background set her almost schizophrenically at odds with herself as she realised her sexuality and moved further into the rock world. Both Penny Valentine and Vicki Wickham knew Dusty well, as friend and manager for much of her career. As well as charting her gay relationships, this book also looks candidly at the period of her greatest self-destruction while living in Los Angeles in the 80s. Covering every area of her career with honesty and affection, Dusty is brought vividly to life.
Dancing with Demons
by Penny Valentine Vicki WickhamDusty Springfield made her name in the 60s with a string of top ten hits. Her unique singing style and distinctive bouffant blonde look made her famous throughout the world. Despite a period in the wilderness during the 70s and 80s, she was back at the top in the 90s until her death from cancer in March l999.Born an Irish Catholic in l939, her background set her almost schizophrenically at odds with herself as she realised her sexuality and moved further into the rock world. Both Penny Valentine and Vicki Wickham knew Dusty well, as friend and manager for much of her career. As well as charting her gay relationships, this book also looks candidly at the period of her greatest self-destruction while living in Los Angeles in the 80s. Covering every area of her career with honesty and affection, Dusty is brought vividly to life.
Dancing with Georges Perec: Embodying Oulipo (ISSN)
by Leslie SatinThis book explores the relationship of the life and work of the remarkable Parisian-Jewish writer Georges Perec (1936–1983) to dance."Dancing" addresses art-making parallels and their personal and sociocultural contexts, including Perec’s childhood loss of his parents in the Holocaust and its repercussions in the significance of the body, everydayness, space, and attention permeating his work. This book, emerging from the author Leslie Satin’s perspective as a dancer and scholar, links Perec’s concerns with those of dance and demonstrates that Perec’s work has implications for dance and how we think about it. Moreover, it is framed as a performative autobiographical enactment of the author's relationship to Perec, periodically linking their written, danced, and imagined lives.This exploration will be of great interest to dancers, dance scholars, and dance students interested in contemporary experimental dance and contemporary dance.
Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice
by George LakeyA memoir of a Quaker activist and master storyteller on his involvement in struggles for peace, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, labor justice, and the environment, whose life will be the subject of a new documentary film coming in 2022.From his first arrest in the Civil Rights era to his most recent during a climate justice march at the age of 83, George Lakey has committed his life to a mission of building a better world through movements for justice. Lakey draws readers into the center of history-making events, telling often serious stories with playfulness and intimacy. In this memoir, he describes the personal, political, and theoretical—coming out as bisexual to his Quaker community while known as a church leader and family man, protesting against the war in Vietnam by delivering medical supplies through the naval blockade in the South China Sea, and applying his academic study of nonviolent resistance to creative tactics in direct action campaigns. From strategies he learned as a young man facing violence in the streets to risking his life as an unarmed bodyguard for Sri Lankan human rights lawyers, Lakey recounts his experience living out the tension between commitment to family and mission. Drawing strength from his community to fight cancer, survive painful parenting struggles, and create networks to help prevent activist burnout, this book shows readers how to find hope in even the darkest times through strategic, joyful activism.
Dancing with Lewy: A Father-Daughter Dance, Before and After Lewy Body Dementia Came to Live With Us
by Nancy R. PolandA woman recounts dementia’s toll on her family and shares lessons she learned that can provide help and hope to caregivers tending to their own loved ones.Within Dancing with Lewy, readers meet Lee and Nancy. Lee was born into a large farming family just before the Great Depression. He was a World War II Veteran, self-made businessman, artist, poet, and a man who would give a stranger his last nickel. Lee’s third daughter, Nancy, is practical, organized, pragmatic, a writer, and equals her father in a passion for life. Nancy was determined to take the helm when Lee’s mind began “dancing” with Lewy body dementia even though he resolved to remain independent while his mind slipped away. Within Dancing with Lewy, readers also meet God as the one who carried the family through this storm and offered grace to the weariness of the family.This memoir is written through Nancy’s eyes while original poetry by Lee is woven throughout to provide readers a glimpse into his outlook to life. In Part I of Dancing with Lewy,Nancy revisits Lee’s young life, her own years growing up with her dad, and the toll dementia took on their family. She shares the pain of grief when her mom died of cancer and her dad became even more confused. In Part II, she shares the lessons she learned along the way and offers hope for caregivers tending to their loved one(s) who have a debilitating illness.Nancy offers practical advice for caregivers such as how to:Get legal documents in orderFind community resourcesChoose a nursing home and partner with the staffTreat their loved one with respect and dignity
Dancing with Max: A Mother and Son Who Broke Free
by Emily Colson Charles W. ColsonMeet a remarkable young man. Max doesn't communicate like we do. But he communicates better than we do about the most important things. Max doesn't think like we do. But his actions reflect deep spiritual truths. With candor and wit, Emily Colson shares about her personal battles and heartbreak when, as a suddenly single mother, she discovers her only child has autism. Emily illuminates the page with imagery making you laugh, making you cry, inspiring you to face your own challenges. Chuck Colson, in his most personal writing since Born Again, speaks as a father and grandfather. It is a tender side Max brings out of his grandfather, a side some haven't seen. As Emily recalls her experiences, we discover that Max's disability does not so much define who he is, but reveals who we are. Dancing with Max is not a fairy tale with a magical ending. It's a real life story of grace and second chances and fresh starts in spite of life's hardest problems. And Max? Max will make you fall in love with life all over again, leaving you dancing with joy.
Dancing with Merce Cunningham
by Marianne Preger-SimonDancing with Merce Cunningham is a buoyant, captivating memoir of a talented dancer’s lifelong friendship with one of the choreographic geniuses of our time. Dancing with Merce Cunningham is a buoyant, captivating memoir of a talented dancer’s lifelong friendship with one of the choreographic geniuses of our time. Marianne Preger-Simon’s story opens amid the explosion of artistic creativity that followed World War II. While immersed in the vibrant arts scene of postwar Paris during a college year abroad, Preger-Simon was so struck by Merce Cunningham’s unconventional dance style that she joined his classes in New York. She soon became an important member of his brand new dance troupe—and a constant friend. Through her experiences in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Preger-Simon offers a rare account of exactly how Cunningham taught and interacted with his students. She describes the puzzled reactions of audiences to the novel non-narrative choreography of the company’s debut performances. She touches on Cunningham’s quicksilver temperament—lamenting his early frustrations with obscurity and the discomfort she suspects he endured in concealing his homosexuality and partnership with composer John Cage—yet she celebrates above all his dependable charm, kindness, and engagement. She also portrays the comradery among the company’s dancers, designers, and musicians, many of whom—including Cage, David Tudor, and Carolyn Brown—would become integral to the avant-garde arts movement, as she tells tales of their adventures touring in a VW Microbus across the United States. Finally, reflecting on her connection with Cunningham throughout the latter part of his career, Preger-Simon recalls warm moments that nurtured their enduring bond after she left the dance company and, later, New York. Interspersed with her letters to friends and family, journal entries, and correspondence from Cunningham himself, Preger-Simon’s memoir is an intimate look at one of the most influential companies in modern American dance and the brilliance of its visionary leader.
Dancing with Myself
by Billy IdolIn this original memoir following Billy Idol from his childhood in England to his fame at the height of the punk-pop revolution, the iconic superstar tells the real story behind the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll that he is famous for. A member of the punk rock revolution whose music crossed over into the pop mainstream during the 1980s, Billy Idol is a rock 'n' roll legend. Dancing with Myself will cover the events and the people who shaped his life, his music, and his career, including accounts of his childhood both in England and the U.S., his year at Sussex University, his membership in the Bromley Contingent, his period spent hanging out with the Sex Pistols, his time in Siouxsie and the Banshees, Chelsea, and Generation X. Idol also tackles his successful solo career, which involved collaboration with Steve Stevens and, ultimately, some of the most influential, ground-breaking music videos ever seen on MTV. In Dancing with Myself, Idol renders detailed accounts of his life's highs and lows with the unapologetically in-your-face attitude and exuberance that made him famous. In part a survivor's story Dancing with Myselfis equally a very funny and always riveting account of one man's creative drive.
Dancing with Myself
by Billy Idol"I am hopelessly divided between the dark and the good, the rebel and the saint, the sex maniac and the monk, the poet and the priest, the demagogue and the populist. Pen to paper, I've put it all down, every bit from the heart.I'm going out on a limb here, so watch my back." --Billy Idol An early architect of punk rock's sound, style, and fury, whose lip-curling sneer and fist-pumping persona vaulted him into pop's mainstream as one of MTV's first megastars, Billy Idol remains, to this day, a true rock 'n' roll icon.Now, in his long-awaited autobiography, Dancing with Myself, Idol delivers an electric, searingly honest account of his journey to fame--from his early days as front man of the pioneering UK punk band Generation X to the decadent life atop the dance-rock kingdom he ruled--delivered with the same in-your-face attitude and fire his fans have embraced for decades. Beyond adding his uniquely qualified perspective to the story of the evolution of rock, Idol is a brash, lively chronicler of his own career.A survivor's tale at its heart, this sometimes chilling and always riveting account of one man's creative drive joining forces with unbridled human desire is unmistakably literary in its character and brave in its sheer willingness to tell. With it, Billy Idol is destined to emerge as one of the great writers among his musical peers.
Dancing With Myself
by Billy IdolIn this bold and candid memoir, music legend Billy Idol shares his life story—from his childhood in England to his rise to fame during the height of the punk-pop revolution—revealing intimate details about the sex, drugs, and rock and roll that he is so fabulously famous for—all told in his own utterly indelible voice.<P> An integral member of the punk rock revolution whose music crossed over into ’80s pop mainstream—and one of MTV’s first stars—Billy Idol remains an iconic music legend. Now, in his long-awaited Dancing With Myself, he delivers a lively, candid account of his journey to fame—including intimate and unapologetic details about his life’s highs and lows—all rendered with the in-your-face attitude and exuberance his fans have embraced. Idol brings to life the key events that shaped his life, his music, and his career, including his early childhood in England, his year at Sussex University, and his time spent hanging out with the Sex Pistols and as a member of punk bands Chelsea and Generation X.<P> He shares outtakes from his wildly and unexpectedly successful solo career and stories behind his string of popular hits, including “White Wedding,” “Eyes Without a Face,” and “Rebel Yell,” which involved close collaboration with Steve Stevens and ultimately led to the creation of some of the most groundbreaking music videos ever seen.<P> Dancing With Myself is both a tale of survival and a celebration of the heady days when punk was born—a compelling and satisfying insider’s tale from a man who made music history firsthand.
Dancing with Ophelia: Reconnecting Madness, Creativity, and Love (Excelsior Editions)
by Jeanne Ellen Petrolle"Twenty-two years ago, I lost my mind." So begins Jeanne Ellen Petrolle's fascinating personal narrative about her mental illness and recovery. Drawing on literature, art, and philosophy, Petrolle explores a unique understanding of madness that allowed her to achieve lasting mental health without using long-term psychiatric drugs.Traditionally, Western literature, art, and philosophy have portrayed madness through six concepts created from myth—Escape into the Wild, Flight from a Scene of Terror, Visit to the Underworld, Dark Night of the Soul, Spiritual Passion, and Fire in the Mind. Rather than conceptualizing madness as "illness," a mythopoetic concept assumes that madness contains symbolic meaning and offers valuable insight into human concerns like love, desire, sex, adventure, work, fate, spirituality, and God. Madness becomes an experience that unleashes extraordinary creativity by generating the spiritual insight that fuels artistic productivity and personal transformation. By weaving her personal experiences with the life stories and work of surrealist painter Leonora Carrington and modernist novelist Djuna Barnes, Petrolle shows how poetic thinking about severe mental distress can complement strategies for managing mental illness. This approach allowed her, and hopefully others, to produce better long-term treatment outcomes.
Dancing with Rose: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer
by Lauren KesslerOne journalist's riveting... and surprisingly hopeful... in-the-trenches view of Alzheimer's Nearly five million people in the United States are living with Alzheimer's. Like many children of Alzheimer's sufferers, Lauren Kessler, an accomplished journalist, was devastated by the disease that seemed to erase her mother's identity even before claiming her life. But suppose people with Alzheimer's are not slates wiped blank. Suppose they experience friendship and loss, romance and jealousy, joy and sorrow? To better understand this debilitating condition, Kessler enlists as a bottom-of-the-rung caregiver at an Alzheimer's facility and learns lessons that challenge what we think we know about the disease. A compelling, clear-eyed, and emotionally resonant narrative, Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer's offers a new optimistic look at what the disease can teach us and a much-needed tonic for those faced with providing care for someone they love.
Dancing with the Devil: Sex, Espionage And The U. S. Marines : The Clayton Lonetree Story
by Rodney BarkerIn this riveting account of one of the most notorious spy cases in Cold War history, Rodney Barker, the author of The Broken Circle and The Hiroshima Maidens, uncovers startling new facts about the head-line-making sex-for-secrets marine spy scandal at the American embassy in Moscow. This is a nonfiction book that reads with all the excitement of an espionage novel.Although national security issues made the case an instant sensation--at one point government officials were calling it "the most serious espionage case of the century"--the human element gave it an unusual pathos, for it was not just secret documents that were at issue, but love, sex, marine pride, and race It began when a Native American marine sergeant named Clayton Lonetree, who was serving as a marine security guard at the American embassy in Moscow, fell in love with a Russian woman, who then recruited him as a spy for the KGB. Soon the story expanded to involve the CIA, diplomats on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and the United States Navy's own investigative service, and before it was over a witch hunt would implicate more marines and ruin many reputations and careers. In the end, charges were dropped against everyone except Lonetree, who after a long and dramatic court-martial was sentenced to thirty years in prison. But so many questions were left unanswered that the scandal would be thought of as one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Cold War. Not any longer. In the process of researching his book, investigative writer Rodney Barker gained access to all the principal characters in this story. He interviewed key U.S. military and intelligence personnel, many of whom were unhappy with the public records and trial, and spoke out with astonishing candor. He traveled to Russia to track down and interview KGB officers involved in the operation, including the beautiful and enigmatic Violetta Seina, who lured Lonetree into the "honey-trap"--only to fall in love with him. And he succeeded in penetrating the wall of silence that has surrounded Clayton Lonetree since his arrest and reports the sergeant's innermost thoughts. A provocative aspect of this story that Barker explores in depth is whether justice was served in Lonetree's court-martial--or whether he was used as a face-saving scapegoat after a majority security failure, or doomed by conflicts within his defense team, between his military attorney and his civilian lawyer William Kunstler, or victimized by an elaborate and devious KGB attempt to cover the traces of a far more significant spy: Aldrich Ames, the "mole" at the very heart of the CIA. Above all, this is a book about Clayton Lonetree, one man trapped by his own impulses and his upbringing, in the final spasms of the Cold War, a curiously touching, complex, and ultimately sympathetic figure who did, in fact, sacrifice everything for love.
Dancing with the Devil: The True Story of an Undercover Agent's War on Crime
by Louis Diaz Neal HirschfeldIN AMERICAN GANGSTER, THE FEDS TOOK DOWN INFAMOUS HEROIN DEALER FRANK LUCAS. BUT THE KINGPIN BEHIND LUCAS'S CRIMINAL REIGN, LEROY "NICKY" BARNES, REMAINED "MR. UNTOUCHABLE." UNTIL ONE UNDERCOVER AGENT PROVED TOUGH ENOUGH--OR CRAZY ENOUGH--TO INFILTRATE HIS DOMAIN AND NAIL THE MOST DANGEROUS DRUG CZAR IN AMERICAN HISTORY. Growing up in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where physical violence was a daily reality at home, at school, and on the streets, Louis Diaz had what it took to survive--and to one day become what he vowed to be: a man of uncompromising principles who is "compassionate on the inside, fierce on the outside." These were the qualities, along with his street fighter's steely nerves and hair-trigger temper, that drove Diaz from his savage beginnings and early forays in organized crime to become one of the DEA's bravest undercover agents--the man who was instrumental in taking down some of the nation's and the world's most notorious crime rings. In an unforgettable and utterly engaging first-person narrative, Diaz tells his gritty, colorful, painful, and even humorous life story--a story with all the raw emotional power and bare-knuckle action of Wiseguy or Serpico. From his headline-making cases of Nicky Barnes and the Medellín cartel . . . to his account of outwitting a key villain linked to the record-breaking heist known as The Great English Train Robbery . . . to his all-out confrontations with murderous gunrunners and drug dealers on the mean streets of New York . . . to leading commando raids on clan-destine cocaine labs inside the Bolivian jungles, Dancing with the Devil is an explosive memoir that stands as a classic of true-crime literature.
Dancing with the Devil
by Gretchen RoseThis is a wildly entertaining tale and an inspiration to anyone who ever felt stuck in a job or relationship that seemed impossible to escape. Dancing With The Devil is a fast-paced narrative that alternates between the hilarious, pathetic, existential and hopeful. It is a wildly entertaining tale and an inspiration to anyone who ever felt stuck in a job or relationship that seemed impossible to escape.