- Table View
- List View
Neymar: A Soccer Dream Come True
by Mina JavaherbinThis narrative non-fiction picture book about the sensational rising soccer star Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior is perfect reading for young soccer fans.Born in Brazil, Neymar Jr. grew up imagining that he might one day become a famous soccer player. Now his dream has come true. Using playful, child-friendly language, deep knowledge of the sport, and passion for it author, Mina Javaherbin, brings to life Neymar's childhood and professional career for young soccer fans to enjoy. Her text is accompanied by Paul Hoppe's modern, colorful illustrations.
NFL Confidential: True Confessions from the Gutter of Football
by Johnny AnonymousMeet Johnny Anonymous. No, that’s not his real name. But he is a real, honest-to-goodness pro football player. A member of the League. A slave, if you will, to the NFL. For the millions of you out there who wouldn’t know what to do on Sundays if there wasn’t football, who can’t imagine life without the crunch of helmets ringing in your ears, or who look forward to the Super Bowl more than your birthday, Johnny Anonymous decided to tell his story.Written during the 2014–2015 season, this is a year in the life of the National Football League. This is a year in the life of a player—not a marquee name, but a guy on the roster—gutting it out through training camp up to the end of the season, wondering every minute if he’s going to get playing time or get cut. Do you want to know how players destroy their bodies and their colons to make weight? Do you wonder what kind of class and racial divides really exist in NFL locker rooms? Do you want to know what NFL players and teams really think about gay athletes or how the League is really dealing with crime and violence against women by its own players? Do you wonder about the psychological warfare between players and coaches on and off the field? About how much time players spend on Tinder or sexting when not on the field? About how star players degrade or humiliate second- and third-string players?What players do about the headaches and memory loss that appear after every single game? This book will tell you all of this and so much more. Johnny Anonymous holds nothing back in this whip-smart commentary that only an insider, and a current player, could bring.Part truth-telling personal narrative, part darkly funny exposé, NFL Confidential gives football fans a look into a world they’d give anything to see, and nonfans a wild ride through the strange, quirky, and sometimes disturbing realities of America’s favorite game. Here is a truly unaffiliated look at the business, guts, and glory of the game, all from the perspective of an underdog who surprises everyone—especially himself.JOHNNY ANONYMOUS is a four-year offensive lineman for the NFL. Under another pseudonym, he’s also a contributor for the comedy powerhouse Funny Or Die.You can pretty much break NFL players down into three categories.Twenty percent do it because they’re true believers. They’re smart enough to do something else if they wanted, and the money is nice and all, but really they just love football. They love it, they live it, they believe in it, it’s their creed. They would be nothing without it. Hell, they’d probably pay the League to play if they had to! These guys are obviously psychotic.Thirty percent of them do it just for the money. So they could do something else—sales, desk jockey, accountant, whatever—but they play football because the money is just so damn good. And it is good.And last of all, 49.99 percent play football because, frankly, it’s the only thing they know how to do. Even if they wanted to do something “normal,” they couldn’t. All they’ve ever done in their lives is play football—it was their way out, either of the hood or the deep woods country. They need football. If football didn’t exist, they’d be homeless, in a gang, or maybe in prison.Then there’s me.I’m part of my own little weird minority, that final 0.01 percent. We’re such a minority, we don’t even count as a category. We’re the professional football players who flat-out hate professional football.
The NFL Off-Camera: An A–Z Guide to the League's Most Memorable Players and Personalities
by Bob AngeloDuring his four-decade career at NFL Films, writing and directing segments for weekly highlight shows and national telecasts, Bob Angelo saw and heard things that never made their way into his productions. Now, in The NFL Off-Camera, Angelo mines the thousands of interviews he conducted to compile a revealing collection of short, insightful essays profiling his favorite—and least favorite—pro football players, coaches, team owners, executives, and broadcasters—all of whom he interacted with personally. Angelo effuses about his meeting with the larger-than-life Jim Brown and appreciates the trash talking John Randle. He poignantly reflects on “Bullet” Bob Hayes, the world's fastest man who “could not outrun his demons,” and showcases the mercurial Duane Thomas and the free-wheeling Tony Siragusa. The NFL Off-Camera reveals why Angelo sparred with Hall-of-Fame player turned broadcaster Frank Gifford and demonstrates why Super Bowl champion head coach Sean Payton is his “least favorite person in pro football.” From Jared Allen to Jim Zorn, The NFL Off-Camera explores nearly 100 of the game’s outsized personalities and debunks some of football's most enduring myths. Angelo’s original, unfiltered look at Pro Football is as hard-hitting and exciting as any one of his NFL Films.
The NFL's Top 100
by Boomer Esiason James BuckleyThey are the names that football fans will never forget. They played for the Chicago Bears. The New York Giants. The Pittsburgh Steelers. They were quarterbacks, wide receivers, and running backs. <P><P>Some played for five or six seasons, others for as many as eighteen or nineteen. Some started their careers back in the early days of the NFL, while others are still active today. They are our heroes. They are the NFL's top 100, the greatest players of all time.In this stunning, full-color companion to the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players series, readers will relive the physical feats and hard-won triumphs of those who have most memorably dominated the gridiron. An insightful narrative accompanies more than 200 spectacular photos of such inspiring players as Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus, Peyton Manning, Joe Namath, and many others. And with the help of an introduction that explains the criteria used and the selection process, readers will not only learn who the best players are, they'll learn why they are as well.A must-have collector's item for every football fan, The NFL's Top 100 is the definitive collection of football's finest.
Ngangk Waangening
by Rhonda Marriot, Doreen Nelson, Tracy ReibelThis is a unique book of Noongar and Yaatji mothers' accounts of their birthing experiences. These Elder and Senior women have generously shared their stories as a legacy for their families and communities, and as an educational tool for midwives.
Niall Quinn: The Autobiography
by Niall QuinnWhen Niall Quinn learned he was going to the 2002 World Cup with Ireland, it seemed the perfect climax to his international career. Yet even before the competition had started, Quinn was caught up in the most emotionally draining events of his career, as Ireland's World Cup campaign was rocked by Roy Keane's sudden departure. All his efforts at mediation failed, leaving him exhausted. As he worked to find a solution, Quinn looked back on his life and career, and saw echoes of his current situation. In this fascinating autobiography, updated for this edition, he recalls the all-night drinking sessions with Tony Adams and Paul Merson, the gambling, the good times and the bad. It is a remarkable story, brilliantly told.
Niall Quinn: The Autobiography
by Niall QuinnWhen Niall Quinn learned he was going to the 2002 World Cup with Ireland, it seemed the perfect climax to his international career. Yet even before the competition had started, Quinn was caught up in the most emotionally draining events of his career, as Ireland's World Cup campaign was rocked by Roy Keane's sudden departure. All his efforts at mediation failed, leaving him exhausted. As he worked to find a solution, Quinn looked back on his life and career, and saw echoes of his current situation. In this fascinating autobiography, updated for this edition, he recalls the all-night drinking sessions with Tony Adams and Paul Merson, the gambling, the good times and the bad. It is a remarkable story, brilliantly told.
Nicanor Parra, rey y mendigo
by Rafael GumucioEl gran autor chileno Rafael Gumucio ha escrito una biografía conmovedora sobre uno de los grandes poetas en lengua hispana. «Esta no es una biografía de Parra. Esta es una biografía con Parra. Es una biografía contra Parra. Parra es en este libro apenas un abrigo, una máscara más.»Rafael Gumucio Cuando Nicanor Parra obtuvo el premio Cervantes 2012, la literatura en español reveló al público uno de sus secretos mejor guardados. Desde mucho antes, su casa en Las Cruces se había convertido en un lugar de peregrinación para una generación entera de jóvenes escritores chilenos. Allí acudió por primera vez Rafael Gumucio con apenas treinta y dos años dispuesto a comentar sus libros con el octogenario antipoeta. Pero Parra solo quería hablar de una de las tantas columnas que el autor de Memoriasprematuras publicaba en los periódicos: «Supe en ese instante que no le importaban mis libros ni mi prosa, que yo pensaba ingenuamente me habían llevado hasta aquí. Le gustaba una columna de entre las miles que había escrito, y era esa y nada más. Con eso basta y sobra». Gumucio siguió visitando a Parra asiduamente, pero en aquel primer encuentro quedó sellada la textura que tendría la relación entre ambos: Parra proyectaría su sombra apabullante cargada de inteligencia y de talento, y Gumucio se debatiría bajo esa sombra entre la admiración, el desconcierto y el terror: «Vive en el infierno, pienso, o en el purgatorio, ese señor que hace chistes todo el tiempo, que camina como si bailara y odia el patetismo existencial o cualquier tipo de gravedad. No descansa nunca, aunque esté tranquilamente sentado frente al ventanal que da al mar». Partiendo de una tarea de documentación monumental, apelando a sus propios recuerdos y a la memoria de su relación con Parra, Gumucio escribió un libro cuyo título -Nicanor Parra, rey y mendigo- condensa la complejidad inabarcable de uno de los más grandes poetas de habla hispana, una biografía conmovedora que echa luz sobre cada uno de los momentos de la vida de un hombre irrepetible. La crítica ha dicho...«Rafael Gumucio es una de las voces narrativas más sólidas de la última horneada chilena.»El Mundo «Su cercanía con el antipoeta convierte a esta suerte de diario en una lectura encantadora de principio a fin. Estando lejos de ser una biografía definitiva -si es que las hay-, Nicanor Parra, rey y mendigo será una pieza central para la siguiente generación de biógrafos de Nicanor.»Christopher Domínguez Michael, Letras libres «Rafael Gumucio presenta una biografía poco tradicional del antipoeta, [...] es capaz de atrapar los guiños de un hombre que nunca envejeció: sus gestos vehementes, sus frases exageradas, sus muletillas para interpelar a sus visitantes con tal o cual poeta o escritor.»Joaquín Castillo, El libero «En la biografía destaca la mirada de Gumucio. Personal y aguda, sin duda, su propia versión, atravesada por los lugares que visita y marcaron la vida de Parra [...] también por personas que lo conocieron de cerca.»Pablo Sheng, Revista lecturas
Nica's Dream: The Life and Legend of the Jazz Baroness
by David KastinThe first biography of the legendary Rothschild heiress who reigned as New York's "Jazz Baroness." It's a misty night in 1950s New York. A silver Rolls-Royce screeches to a stop at the neon-lit doorway of a 52nd Street jazz club. Behind the wheel is a glamorous brunette, a chinchilla stole draped over her shoulder and a long cigarette holder clinched in her teeth. After taking a pull from a small silver flask, she glides past the bouncer into the murky depths of the Three Deuces. The Jazz Baroness has arrived. Raised in fairy-tale splendor, Kathleen Annie Pannonica Rothschild de Koenigswarter (known as "Nica") piloted her own plane across the English Channel, married a French baron, fought in the French Resistance, and had five children. Then she heard a recording of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight." Inspired by the liberating spirit of jazz, Nica left her family, moved to Manhattan, and began haunting the city's nightclubs. The tabloids first splashed her name across the headlines after Charlie Parker died in her hotel suite--a scandal that cast a dark shadow over the rest of her life. She retreated from the public eye, but through her ongoing ministrations to Monk and dozens of other musicians she became a legend. Nearly a score of jazz compositions have been written in her honor, including two of the most beloved classics of the genre: Horace Silver's "Nica's Dream" and Monk's "Pannonica." Nica's Dream traces the story of a fascinating woman across her thirty-year reign as the Jazz Baroness, but it also explores a transformative era in twentieth-century American culture. Based on interviews with musicians, family members, historians, and artists, David Kastin's probing biography unwraps the life of this enigmatic figure and evokes the vibrancy of New York during the birth of bebop, the first stirrings of the Beat Generation, and the advent of abstract expressionism.
Niccolò Machiavelli: An Intellectual Biography
by Corrado VivantiA colorful, comprehensive, and authoritative account of Machiavelli's life and thoughtThis is a colorful, comprehensive, and authoritative introduction to the life and work of the Florentine statesman, writer, and political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527). Corrado Vivanti, who was one of the world's leading Machiavelli scholars, provides an unparalleled intellectual biography that demonstrates the close connections between Machiavelli's thought and his changing fortunes during the tumultuous Florentine republic and his subsequent exile. Vivanti's concise account covers not only Machiavelli's most famous works—The Prince, The Discourses, The Florentine Histories, and The Art of War—but also his letters, poetry, and comic dramas. While setting Machiavelli's life against a dramatic backdrop of war, crisis, and diplomatic intrigue, the book also paints a vivid human portrait of the man.
A Nice Girl Like Me
by Rosie BoycottRosie Boycott wasn't a typical 1960's Cheltenham Ladies College girl. By the age of 21 she had co-founded the feminist magazine Spare Rib and the feminist publishing house Virago, whilst experimenting with drugs, sex and booze. But she wanted more: more experience, more travel, more passion. An epic motorcycle trip through Asia with her boyfriend John Steinbeck Jr. ended in a Thai jail. But drugs weren't her real problem. Alcohol was. Drinking seemed to defeat the demons in her psyche - until it became clear that drinking was her biggest demon of all. How had a nice country girl turned into a drunk? Now a well-known journalist, ex-newspaper editor and chairman of the London Food Board, Rosie made it from the top to the bottom and back again. In this account of her life, she never shirks from the truth about herself - and in her honesty she gives hope to other women with addictions, addressing the hellish predicament of the alcoholic woman with passion and candour.
Nice Guys Finish Last
by Leo Durocher Ed Linn“I believe in rules. Sure I do. If there weren't any rules, how could you break them?” The history of baseball is rife with colorful characters. But for sheer cantankerousness, fighting moxie, and will to win, very few have come close to Leo “the Lip” Durocher. Following a five-decade career as a player and manager for baseball’s most storied franchises, Durocher teamed up with veteran sportswriter Ed Linn to tell the story of his life in the game. The resulting book, Nice Guys Finish Last, is baseball at its best, brimming with personality and full of all the fights and feuds, triumphs and tricks that made Durocher such a success—and an outsized celebrity. Durocher began his career inauspiciously, riding the bench for the powerhouse 1928 Yankees and hitting so poorly that Babe Ruth nicknamed him “the All-American Out.” But soon Durocher hit his stride: traded to St. Louis, he found his headlong play and never-say-die attitude a perfect fit with the rambunctious “Gashouse Gang” Cardinals. In 1939, he was named player-manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers—and almost instantly transformed the underachieving Bums into perennial contenders. He went on to manage the New York Giants, sharing the glory of one of the most famous moments in baseball history, Bobby Thomson’s “shot heard ’round the world,” which won the Giants the 1951 pennant. Durocher would later learn how it felt to be on the other side of such an unforgettable moment, as his 1969 Cubs, after holding first place for 105 days, blew a seemingly insurmountable 8-1/2-game lead to the Miracle Mets. All the while, Durocher made as much noise off the field as on it. His perpetual feuds with players, owners, and league officials—not to mention his public associations with gamblers, riffraff, and Hollywood stars like George Raft and Larraine Day—kept his name in the headlines and spread his fame far beyond the confines of the diamond. A no-holds-barred account of a singular figure, Nice Guys Finish Last brings the personalities and play-by-play of baseball’s greatest era to vivid life, earning a place on every baseball fan’s bookshelf.
A Nice Little Place on the North Side: A History of Triumph, Mostly Defeat, and Incurable Hope at Wrigley Field
by George Will"George Will on baseball. Perfect. "--Los Angeles Times In A Nice Little Place on the North Side, leading columnist George Will returns to baseball with a deeply personal look at his hapless Chicago Cubs and their often beatified home, Wrigley Field, as it turns one hundred years old. Baseball, Will argues, is full of metaphors for life, religion, and happiness, and Wrigley is considered one of its sacred spaces. But what is its true, hyperbole-free history? Winding beautifully like Wrigley's iconic ivy, Will's meditation on "The Friendly Confines" examines both the unforgettable stories that forged the field's legend and the larger-than-life characters--from Wrigley and Ruth to Veeck, Durocher, and Banks--who brought it glory, heartbreak, and scandal. Drawing upon his trademark knowledge and inimitable sense of humor, Will also explores his childhood connections to the team, the Cubs' future, and what keeps long-suffering fans rooting for the home team after so many years of futility. In the end, A Nice Little Place on the North Side is more than just the history of a ballpark. It is the story of Chicago, of baseball, and of America itself.
Nice To Meet You
by Jessie JOne of the most inspiring talents to emerge from British pop culture, Jessie J's message is loud and clear: be strong, be determined and never shy away from Who You Are. An international sensation and a multi-award-winning superstar, she took the music industry by storm, selling 11 million singles and 2.5 million albums worldwide. In this fully illustrated and highly personal book, Jessie J tells her own story in her own words with all the strength, honesty and passion you would expect. This is Jessie J's real story, opening the doors on the individuality and unique voice that have made her an inspiration to young women around the world. She talks openly about her health issues and a heart condition, her thoughts on body images and how she discovered her own identity whilst breaking into one of the world's most competitive industries. The bold and intimate tale of this young woman will shock and enthral as she delivers her personal message with an unshakable confidence and modesty that will cement her place in pop culture as a much-loved star.
A Nice Tuesday: A Memoir
by Pat JordanThe poignant and hilarious true story of a middle-aged pitcher's return to the mound a quarter-century after his big league dreams went up in smoke One of baseball's original "bonus babies," Pat Jordan signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1959--and then proceeded to struggle mightily in the minor leagues over the next three years. Depressed and frustrated, he gave up on baseball and eventually discovered his true calling as one of American's greatest sportswriters. But the unfulfilled promise of his youth continued to haunt Jordan, until, at the ripe old age of fifty-six, he resolved to get back into shape and rediscover his fastball. Come hell or high water, he would pitch again, this time for the Waterbury (Connecticut) Saints, an independent minor league team made up of players half his age. Eloquent, honest, and delightfully bawdy, A Nice Tuesday is the sequel to Jordan's acclaimed memoir, A False Spring, and the unforgettable chronicle of a sports comeback unlike any other.
Nice Work, Franklin!
by Suzanne Tripp JurmainAs one of our most inspirational and determined presidents, Franklin Roosevelt overcame his disability to lead the country out of the Great Depression.Franklin Roosevelt idolized his cousin Teddy Roosevelt. He started wearing eyeglasses like Teddy, he spoke like Teddy, and he held the same public offices as Teddy. But then one day his life changed—he got sick. He developed polio and he could no longer walk. But Franklin also had Teddy&’s determination, so after physical therapy and hard work, he ran for governor of New York and won. Then a different kind of sickness, the Great Depression, spread across the country: Banks were closing, and thousands lost their jobs. Franklin said that if you have a problem, solve it. If one solution doesn&’t work, try another but above all TRY SOMETHING. So Franklin ran for president, and on Inauguration Day, he made it clear that together they would conquer this sickness. He got to work creating jobs and slowly America started getting better. Suzanne Tripp Jurmain and Larry Day of George Did It and Worst of Friends fame are teamed up again to tell the story of how our only disabled president saved himself and then saved the country.
Nice Work, Franklin!
by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain Larry DayFranklin Roosevelt idolized his cousin Teddy Roosevelt. He started wearing eyeglasses like Teddy, he spoke like Teddy, and he held the same public offices as Teddy. But then one day his life changed—he got sick. He developed polio and he could no longer walk. But Franklin also had Teddy’s determination.
Niche: A Memoir in Pastiche
by Momus"Diarist, novelist, satirist, lyricist beyond peer."* In Niche: A Memoir in Pastiche, Nick Currie, a.k.a. Momus, presents the story of his life, career, and conquests on the margins of multiple music and art scenes.Momus—named for the ancient Greek god of mockery, and described by The Guardian as “the David Bowie of the art-pop underground”—has recorded over thirty albums for labels like 4AD and Creation, published half a dozen works of speculative fiction, and written articles for The New York Times, Wired, ArtForum, Frieze, and The Wire. An unknown band called Pulp once asked him to produce their next album. (He said no.) An unknown band called Of Montreal once invited him to go on tour with them. (He said no.) He’s collaborated with fans Vampire Weekend and with the Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merrit. He’s had an impression of his penis preserved by the notorious Cynthia Plaster Caster. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Probably you haven’t. This is his story. Or, rather, stories.Rather than one avuncular tell-all relayed in his own voice, Momus has structured the narrative of his life as a typically atypical mockery of the rock-bio oral history. Instead of using living witnesses, Momus assumes the voices of 217 dead authors and artists and forces them to speak for and about him. From these dramatic monologues—sometimes unreliable, often comical—there gradually emerges a picture of one eccentric star’s life across three continents and in his own, remarkable, niche."Herein is spun the tale of the immortally fabulous life and glittering times of our dodgy Anthropocene’s greatest still-living songwriter, as related by a chorus of eerie, mocking, sometimes supportive, often judgmental post-mortem Raudive voices in a séance spanning centuries of ectoplasmic ‘I told you so.’ Here is why Momus may one day be canonized the first saint of a religion yet to be dreamed . . . Read, be enlightened, and pretend you always knew." *—Grant Morrison, comic book writer and superfan
Nicholas: Epic Journey From Saint to Santa Claus
by Jeremy SealA historical investigation into the transformation of Saint Nicholas. The author often writes from the perspective of a saint protecting his own interests.
Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty
by Robert K. MassieThe story of the love that ended an empireIn this commanding book, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert K. Massie sweeps readers back to the extraordinary world of Imperial Russia to tell the story of the Romanovs' lives: Nicholas's political naïveté, Alexandra's obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin, and little Alexis's brave struggle with hemophilia. Against a lavish backdrop of luxury and intrigue, Massie unfolds a powerful drama of passion and history--the story of a doomed empire and the death-marked royals who watched it crumble.BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Robert K. Massie's Catherine the Great.
Nicholas Cooke
by Stephanie CowellStephani Cowell's debut novel artfully imagines an authentic reality that takes place in Elizabethan England. At just five years old, Nick looks on as his father is hanged as a thief. A series of resulting events result in Nick having to flee to London. Nick takes up with Will Shakespeare and becomes a successful leading actor.
Nicholas Karamzin and Russian Society in the Nineteenth Century
by J. Laurence BlackNicholas Karamzin (1766-1826) was a remarkably active thinker and writer during a time that was trying to all Europeans. A first-hand witness to the French Revolution, Napoleonic suzerainty over Europe, the burning of Moscow, and the Decembrist revolt in St. Petersburg, he presented in his voluminous correspondence and published writings a world view that recognized the weaknesses of the Russian Empire and at the same time foresaw the dangers of both radical change and rigid autocracy. Russian conservatism owes much to this man, even though he would have agreed with very few of those who came after him and were called conservative: he supported autocracy, but was committed to enlightenment; he abhorred constitutions. The fact that his writing had lasting significance has rarely been challenged, but the social and political nature of that contribution has never before been demonstrated. Previous studies of Karamzin have dealt with his literary career. This monograph focuses on the final third of his life, on his career at court (1816-26) and on the cultural heritage he left to the Russian Empire. As the historian of Russia most widely read by his and later generations, his historical interpretations mirrored and helped shape the image Russians had of themselves. Professor Black's study of Karamzin is crucial to any examination of Russia's enlightenment, conservatism, historical writing, and national self-consciousness.
Nicholas Miraculous: The Amazing Career of the Redoubtable Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler
by Michael RosenthalTo those who loved him, like Teddy Roosevelt, he was "Nicholas Miraculous," the fabled educator who had a hand in everything; to those who did not, like Upton Sinclair, he was "the intellectual leader of the American plutocracy," a champion of "false and cruel ideals." Ezra Pound branded him "one of the more loathsome figures" of the age. Whether celebrated or despised, Nicholas Murray Butler (1862–1947) was undeniably an irresistible force who helped shape American history. With wit and irony, Michael Rosenthal traces Butler's rise to prominence as president of Columbia University, which he presided over for forty-four years and developed into one of the world's most distinguished institutions of research and teaching. Butler also won the Nobel Peace Prize and headed both the Carnegie Endowment and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among innumerable other organizations. In 1920, he sought the Republican nomination for president, managing to garner more votes on the first ballot than the eventual winner, Warren Harding. Rosenthal's richly detailed, elegantly crafted narrative captures the mania and genius that propelled Butler to these extraordinary achievements and more. Thick with social, cultural, and political history, Nicholas Miraculous recreates Butler's prodigious career and the dynamic age that nourished him.
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.
Nichols and May: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)
by Robert E. KapsisIn the late 1950s, Mike Nichols (1931–2014) and Elaine May (b. 1932) soared to superstar status as a sketch comedy duo in live shows and television. After their 1962 breakup, both went on to long and distinguished careers in other areas of show business—mostly separately, but sporadically together again. In Nichols and May: Interviews, twenty-seven interviews and profiles ranging over more than five decades tell their stories in their own words. Nichols quickly became an A-list stage and film director, while May, like many women in her field, often found herself thwarted in her attempts to make her distinctive voice heard in projects she could control herself. Yet, in recent years, Nichols’s work as a filmmaker has been perhaps unfairly devalued, while May’s accomplishments, particularly as a screenwriter and director, have become more appreciated, leading to her present widespread acceptance as a groundbreaking female artist and a creative genius of and for our time. Nichols gave numerous interviews during his career, and editor Robert E. Kapsis culled hundreds of potential selections to include in this volume the most revealing and those that focus on his filmmaking career. May, however, was a reluctant interview subject at best. She often subverted the whole interview process, producing instead a hilarious parody or even a comedy sketch—with or without the cooperation of the sometimes-oblivious interviewer. With its contrasting selection of interviews conventional and oddball, this volume is an important contribution to the study of the careers of Nichols and May.