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Sam: Coming soon to Disney Plus as Sam - A Saxon
by Samuel MeffireThe extraordinary and exciting story of East Germany's first Black police officer, coming soon to Disney Plus!Samuel Meffire grew up as a Black German in East Germany and, against all odds, became East Germany's first black police officer. In the nineties, marked by upheaval and unrest, he was the face of an anti-racism campaign, received invitations to politicians' receptions, talk shows and numerous media appearances. But as Europe changed, he slipped from being a model policeman into crime himself, eking out his days as a hunted criminal and prisoner. After seven years in prison, Meffire fought his way back to life and once again went to the front lines of social upheaval, but this time not as a police officer, but as a social worker for young people with a serious history of violence, and as a successful indie author of dystopian crime novels.In his memoir, Samuel Meffire gives an intimate insight into his emotional world. In the background and with an almost brutal frankness, he grippingly recounts his life across several continents and, looking back, gives us a fascinating insight into an overlooked period of history.
Sam: Coming soon to Disney Plus as Sam - A Saxon
by Samuel MeffireThe extraordinary and exciting story of East Germany's first Black police officer, coming soon to Disney Plus!Samuel Meffire grew up as a Black German in East Germany and, against all odds, became East Germany's first black police officer. In the nineties, marked by upheaval and unrest, he was the face of an anti-racism campaign, received invitations to politicians' receptions, talk shows and numerous media appearances. But as Europe changed, he slipped from being a model policeman into crime himself, eking out his days as a hunted criminal and prisoner. After seven years in prison, Meffire fought his way back to life and once again went to the front lines of social upheaval, but this time not as a police officer, but as a social worker for young people with a serious history of violence, and as a successful indie author of dystopian crime novels.In his memoir, Samuel Meffire gives an intimate insight into his emotional world. In the background and with an almost brutal frankness, he grippingly recounts his life across several continents and, looking back, gives us a fascinating insight into an overlooked period of history.(P) 2023 Little Brown Book Group Limited for and on behalf of Dialogue Books
Sam: Coming soon to Disney Plus as Sam - A Saxon
by Samuel MeffireThe extraordinary and exciting story of East Germany's first Black police officer, coming soon to Disney Plus!Samuel Meffire grew up as a Black German in East Germany and, against all odds, became East Germany's first black police officer. In the nineties, marked by upheaval and unrest, he was the face of an anti-racism campaign, received invitations to politicians' receptions, talk shows and numerous media appearances. But as Europe changed, he slipped from being a model policeman into crime himself, eking out his days as a hunted criminal and prisoner. After seven years in prison, Meffire fought his way back to life and once again went to the front lines of social upheaval, but this time not as a police officer, but as a social worker for young people with a serious history of violence, and as a successful indie author of dystopian crime novels.In his memoir, Samuel Meffire gives an intimate insight into his emotional world. In the background and with an almost brutal frankness, he grippingly recounts his life across several continents and, looking back, gives us a fascinating insight into an overlooked period of history.
Samba Perdido
by Richard KleinPassado no colorido Rio de Janeiro, Samba Perdido é um livro instigante de memórias do Brasil. Situado nos anos 1960, 1970 e 1980, o livro fornece um poderoso insight de um período em que o pais lutava para sair de uma ditadura e se descobria como uma sociedade livre e democrática. Em paralelo a esse drama, Samba Perdido narra o caminho do autor em obter sua própria identidade brasileira como filho de imigrantes ingleses imersos na complexidade do país. Richard Klein nasceu no Rio de Janeiro em 1962 – o mesmo ano em que os Rolling Stones e os Beatles gravaram seus primeiros singles e no mesmo ano em que o Brasil ganhou a sua segunda Copa do Mundo de futebol. Seu pais judaico-ingleses, haviam se mudado para um florescente Rio de Janeiro logo após a 2ª Guerra Mundial e prosperaram. Eles nunca, entretanto, se adaptaram totalmente à sua nova terra, – e certamente ao futebol ou ao rock and roll. Richard, no entanto, cresceria para amar ambos. Richard mostra, em primeira mão, a vida, a diversão e os excessos da elite de sua geração privilegiada pelo regime militar. Sob uma ótica ao mesmo tempo estrangeira e nacional, o autor surpreende o leitor com piadas, aventuras, reflexões e fatos, ao mesmo tempo que consegue fornecer uma imersão em uma época maravilhosamente conturbada da história brasileira.
Same Kind of Different As Me
by Ronald E. Hall Denver Moore Lynn VincentA dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery. An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel. A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream. A story so incredible no novelist would dare dream it. It begins outside a burning plantation hut in Louisiana . . . and an East Texas honky-tonk . . . and, without a doubt, in the heart of God. It unfolds in a Hollywood hacienda . . . an upscale New York gallery . . . a downtown dumpster . . . a Texas ranch. Gritty with pain and betrayal and brutality, this true story also shines with an unexpected, life-changing love.
Same Kind of Different As Me Movie Edition: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
by Denver Moore Lynn Vincent Ron HallSoon to be a Major Motion Picture A dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery.An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel.A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream.A story so incredible no novelist would dare dream it. It begins outside a burning plantation hut in Louisiana . . . and an East Texas honky-tonk . . . and, without a doubt, inside the heart of God. It unfolds in a Hollywood hacienda . . . an upscale New York gallery . . . a downtown dumpster . . . a Texas ranch.Gritty with betrayal and pain brutality, it also shines with an unexpected, life-changing love.Bonus material in this special movie edition includes:a new epilogue with updates on the authors since the release of the original book;the amazing story behind the movie, how it got made, and the incredible experiences while filming in Jackson, MS;photos from the movie set.
Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
by Denver Moore Lynn Vincent Ron HallA dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery. An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel. A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream. A story so incredible no novelist would dare dream it. It begins outside a burning plantation hut in Louisiana. . . and an East Texas honky-tonk . . .and, without a doubt, in the heart of God. It unfolds in a Hollywood hacienda . . . an upscale New York gallery . . . a downtown dumpster. . . a Texas ranch. Gritty with pain and betrayal and brutality, it also shines with an unexpected, life-changing love. This incredible retelling now includes an interview with the authors and a reader’s guide that is perfect for individual or group study. The most inspirational and emotionally gripping story of faith, fortitude, and friendship I have ever read. A powerful example of the healing, restorative power of forgiveness and the transformational, life changing power of unconditional love. —Mark Clayman, Executive Producer for the Academy Award–nominated The Pursuit of Happyness Denver Moore and Ron Hall’s story is one that moved me to tears. The friendship that forms between these two men at a time when both were in great need is an inspiration to all of us to be more compassionate to everyone we come in contact with. This is truly a wonderful book! —Mrs. Barbara Bush
Same Old Girl: Staying alive, staying sane, staying myself
by Sylvia Patterson'There's no mistaking the writing of Sylvia Patterson' Sunday Times'One of the finest writers in the world' David QuantickHow does the big stuff in life truly change us?In late 2019, Sylvia Patterson was a celebrated pop journalist, still merrily writing about the musical greats. But with the diagnosis of a life-threatening disease, a global pandemic and the collapse of her industry, life was about to take a drastic turn.It was a misadventure that would teach her many things. The power of friendship, the shock of mortality and what happens when love is tested. How a walk in the park, a spontaneous dance and a TV hero can save your life. How your perspective can shift on everything, from work, family and music, to what truly makes you happy. And what really happens when your body, never mind your kitchen, falls apart.The follow-up to the Costa-shortlisted I'm Not with the Band, this is Sylvia's unflinching, poignant and gallows-funny odyssey through the mid-life trials we all face, as she tries to answer the big question: would it all change her, or would she stay that same old girl?
Same Old Girl: Staying alive, staying sane, staying myself
by Sylvia Patterson'There's no mistaking the writing of Sylvia Patterson' Sunday Times'One of the finest writers in the world' David QuantickHow does the big stuff in life truly change us?In late 2019, Sylvia Patterson was a celebrated pop journalist, still merrily writing about the musical greats. But with the diagnosis of a life-threatening disease, a global pandemic and the collapse of her industry, life was about to take a drastic turn.It was a misadventure that would teach her many things. The power of friendship, the shock of mortality and what happens when love is tested. How a walk in the park, a spontaneous dance and a TV hero can save your life. How your perspective can shift on everything, from work, family and music, to what truly makes you happy. And what really happens when your body, never mind your kitchen, falls apart.The follow-up to the Costa-shortlisted I'm Not with the Band, this is Sylvia's unflinching, poignant and gallows-funny odyssey through the mid-life trials we all face, as she tries to answer the big question: would it all change her, or would she stay that same old girl?
Same Old Girl: Staying alive, staying sane, staying myself
by Sylvia Patterson'There's no mistaking the writing of Sylvia Patterson' Sunday Times'One of the finest writers in the world' David QuantickHow does the big stuff in life truly change us?In late 2019, Sylvia Patterson was a celebrated pop journalist, still merrily writing about the musical greats. But with the diagnosis of a life-threatening disease, a global pandemic and the collapse of her industry, life was about to take a drastic turn.It was a misadventure that would teach her many things. The power of friendship, the shock of mortality and what happens when love is tested. How a walk in the park, a spontaneous dance and a TV hero can save your life. How your perspective can shift on everything, from work, family and music, to what truly makes you happy. And what really happens when your body, never mind your kitchen, falls apart.The follow-up to the Costa-shortlisted I'm Not with the Band, this is Sylvia's unflinching, poignant and gallows-funny odyssey through the mid-life trials we all face, as she tries to answer the big question: would it all change her, or would she stay that same old girl?
Sami Hyypiä: From Voikkaa to the Premiership
by Okki Halala Sami HyypiaWhen Gerard Houllier took over as manager of Liverpool FC in 1999, his quest was to bring glory back to Anfield. His prime concern lay with strengthening his defence and to this end he made what is arguably one of his finest signings. Houllier targeted Sami Hyypiä, a relatively unknown player who was at the time captain of the Dutch team Willem II. This candid biography focuses on Hyypiä's eventful journey from the Finnish village of Voikkaa to the heights of the English Premiership, where he has become the inspirational leader of the Liverpool team. It charts his life from childhood and documents his astonishing rise in the game, from youth teams to Finnish senior sides Pallo-Peikot, KUMU and MyPa - as well as his international career - before moving on to his years in Holland and England playing for Willem II and Liverpool respectively. Hyypia reflects on past games in which he competed against the likes of Batistuta, Rivaldo, Van Nistelrooy and Henry, and recalls the Liverpool derbies in which he's played. He also shares his thoughts on the Reds' 2001 UEFA Cup campaign, in which they defeated the mighty Barcelona in the semi-finals before going on the defeat Deportivo Alavés 5-4 in the final to clinch the coveted trophy. In 2001-02 season, during which the team had to contend with the serious illness of their manager, Hyypiä led them to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and second place in the Premiership. Then, in season 2002-03, Liverpool won the Worthington Cup and narrowly missed out on a Champions League place. Featuring exclusive contributions from numerous former and current colleagues and teammates, including Gérard Houllier, Jari Litmanen and Michael Owen, Sami Hyppiä digs deep to reveal all about the man, his views on the game, and his hopes and plans for the future.
Samidha FYBA - SPPU: समिधा एफ.वाय.बी.ए. - सावित्रीबाई फुले पुणे यूनिवर्सिटी
by Sadhana Amteबाबा आमटे यांच्या लोकविलक्षण जीवनाला साथ देत असताना साधनाबाईंनी अपार कष्ट केले, अग्निदिव्ये म्हणावीत अशा प्रसंगांतून निर्भयपणे वाटचाल केली आणि हे सारे सहजतेने व आनंदाने सोसताना त्यांनी स्वतःच्या स्वतंत्र व्यक्तिमत्त्वाचे वैशिष्ट्यही टिकविले. बाबा आमटे यांचे कार्य किती महान आहे याचे अधिक वर्णन करण्याची आवश्यकता नाही. पण त्याचबरोबर त्यांच्या स्वभावात अद्वितीय सहानुभूती आणि जबरदस्त तापटपणा, असामान्य सहृदयता आणि तत्त्वांचा आग्रह धरताना पत्नीच्या होरपळीकडे त्यांनी काही वेळा केलेली डोळेझाक अशी एक विलक्षण विसंगती आहे. बाबांच्या वादळी जीवनात त्यांना साधनाताईंनी जी आयुष्यभर साथ दिली तिची अद्भुतरम्य कहाणी असे या आत्मकथेचे स्वरूप आहे.
Sammy Davis Jr.: A Personal Journey with My Father
by Tracey Davis Nina Bunche PierceNicknamed Mr. Show Business, Sammy Davis Jr. was a consummate performer who sang, danced, and acted on film, television, radio, and the stage for over six decades.<P><P> In this uniquely intimate volume, the entertainment legendOCOs story comes to life through rare family photos and a compelling narrative based on conversations between Sammy Davis Jr. and his daughter, Tracey Davis. The story of a future superstar unfolds beginning with his bittersweet childhood days, raised primarily by his grandmother in Harlem. On the stage by age three, he first became a star in vaudeville with the Will Mastin Trio. Davis was already an up-and-coming performer by the time he was recruited into the Army during World War II. As Tracey Davis candidly relates, it was there that her father first learned to use his talent?singing and dancing?as a weapon against racial bigotry. DavisOCOs career took off in the 1940s through his sheer determination, talent, and the support of friends like Frank Sinatra. With tenderness and humor Tracey describes her fatherOCOs friendship with Sinatra, and how he stood by him when Davis married TraceyOCOs Swedish actress mother. In a time when interracial marriages were forbidden by law in thirty-one states, both bride and groom endured an onslaught of negative press and even death threats. Complete with rare personal and professional photos, "Sammy Davis Jr. " recounts DavisOCOs adventures through the Rat Pack era, and the extraordinary obstacles he overcame to become a 5OCO6OCO, 120-pound legend who across six decades packed in more than forty albums, seven Broadway shows, twenty-three films, and countless nightclub and concert performances. What emerges from the pages of this loving, but utterly frankly written book, is a uniquely personal perspective on one of the greatest pop culture icons of the twentieth century. "
Samson Occom: Radical Hospitality in the Native Northeast (Religion, Culture, and Public Life #48)
by Ryan CarrThe Mohegan-Brothertown minister Samson Occom (1723–1792) was a prominent political and religious leader of the Indigenous peoples of present-day New York and New England, among whom he is still revered today. An international celebrity in his day, Occom rose to fame as the first Native person to be ordained a minister in the New England colonies. In the 1770s, he helped found the nation of Brothertown, where Coastal Algonquian families seeking respite from colonialism built a new life on land given to them by the Oneida Nation. Occom was a highly productive author, probably the most prolific Native American writer prior to the late nineteenth century. Most of Occom’s writings, however, have been overlooked, partly because many of them are about Christian themes that seem unrelated to Native life.In this groundbreaking book, Ryan Carr argues that Occom’s writings were deeply rooted in Indigenous traditions of hospitality, diplomacy, and openness to strangers. From Occom’s point of view, evangelical Christianity was not a foreign culture; it was a new opportunity to practice his people’s ancestral customs. Carr demonstrates Occom’s originality as a religious thinker, showing how his commitment to Native sovereignty shaped his reading of the Bible. By emphasizing the Native sources of Occom’s evangelicalism, this book offers new ways to understand the relations of Northeast Native traditions to Christianity, colonialism, and Indigenous self-determination.
Samuel Adams (SparkNotes Biography Guide)
by SparkNotesSamuel Adams (SparkNotes Biography Guide) Making the reading experience fun! SparkNotes Biography Guides examine the lives of historical luminaries, from Alexander the Great to Virginia Woolf. Each biography guide includes:An examination of the historical context in which the person lived A summary of the person&’s life and achievements A glossary of important terms, people, and events An in-depth look at the key epochs in the person&’s career Study questions and essay topics A review test Suggestions for further reading Whether you&’re a student of history or just a student cramming for a history exam, SparkNotes Biography guides are a reliable, thorough, and readable resource.
Samuel Adams: A Life
by Ira StollIn this stirring biography, Samuel Adams joins the first tier of founding fathers, a rank he has long deserved. With eloquence equal to that of Thomas Jefferson and Tom Paine, and with a passionate love of God, Adams helped ignite the flame of liberty and made sure it glowed even during the Revolution's darkest hours. He was, as Jefferson later observed, "truly the man of the Revolution." In a role that many Americans have not fully appreciated until now, Adams played a pivotal role in the events leading up to the bloody confrontation with the British. Believing that God had willed a free American nation, he was among the first patriot leaders to call for independence from England. He was ever the man of action: He saw the opportunity to stir things up after the Boston Massacre and helped plan and instigate the Boston Tea Party, though he did not actually participate in it. A fiery newspaper editor, he railed ceaselessly against "taxation without representation." In a relentless blizzard of articles and speeches, Adams, a man of New England, argued the urgency of revolution. When the top British general in America, Thomas Gage, offered a general amnesty in June 1775 to all revolutionaries who would lay down their arms, he excepted only two men, John Hancock and Samuel Adams: These two were destined for the gallows. It was this pair, author Ira Stoll argues, whom the British were pursuing in their fateful march on Lexington and Concord. In the tradition of David McCullough's John Adams, Joseph Ellis's The Founding Brothers, and Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin, Ira Stoll's Samuel Adams vividly re-creates a world of ideas and action, reminding us that none of these men of courage knew what we know today: that they would prevail and make history anew. The idea that especially inspired Adams was religious in nature: He believed that God had intervened on behalf of the United States and would do so as long asits citizens maintained civic virtue. "We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection," Adams insisted. A central thesis of this biography is that religion in large part motivated the founding of America. A gifted young historian and newspaperman, Ira Stoll has written a gripping story about the man who was the revolution's moral conscience. Sure to be discussed widely, this book reminds us who Samuel Adams was, why he has been slighted by history, and why he must be remembered.
Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution
by Mark Puls“A brief, sharply focused biography [that] restores Adams to his rightful place as an indispensable provocateur of American liberty” (Kirkus Reviews).Samuel Adams is perhaps the most unheralded and overshadowed of the founding fathers, yet without him there would have been no American Revolution. A genius at devising civil protests and political maneuvers that became a trademark of American politics, Adams astutely forced Britain into coercive military measures that ultimately led to the irreversible split in the empire.Through his remarkable political career, Adams addressed all the major issues concerning America’s decision to become a nation—from the notion of taxation without representation to the Declaration of Independence. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams all acknowledged that they built our nation on Samuel Adams’ foundations. Now, in this riveting biography, his story is finally told and his crucial place in American history is fully recognized.Winner of the 2007 Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award
Samuel Adams: Father of the Revolution
by Ann HeinrichsSamuel Adams is known as the Father of the American Revolution. Young readers will gain insight and knowledge into the buildup to revolution in America and the important role that Samuel Adams played in it and in what came after, the start of a new nation.
Samuel Barber Remembered: A Centenary Tribute
by Peter DickinsonSamuel Barber is one of America's most popular classical composers. His widely beloved works include "Adagio for Strings" and Knoxville: Summer of 1915 . The main source for Samuel Barber Remembered: A Centenary Tribute is a panoply of vivid and eminently readable interviews by Peter Dickinson for a BBC Radio 3 documentary in 1981. The interviewees include Barber's friends, fellow composers, and performers, notably Gian Carlo Menotti, Aaron Copland, William Schuman, Virgil Thomson, soprano Leontyne Price, and pianist John Browning. The book also includes three of the very few interviews extant with Barber himself. Dickinson contributes substantial chapters on Barber's early life and on Barber's reception in England. The book has a foreword by the distinguished composer and admirer of Barber, John Corigliano. Peter Dickinson, British composer and pianist, has written or edited numerous books about twentieth-century music, including CageTalk: Dialogues with and about John Cage (University of Rochester Press) and three books published by Boydell Press: The Music of Lennox Berkeley; Copland Connotations; and Lord Berners: Composer, Writer, Painter.
Samuel Barber: His Life and Legacy (Music in American Life)
by Howard PollackA pivotal twentieth-century composer, Samuel Barber earned a long list of honors and accolades that included two Pulitzer Prizes for Music and the public support of conductors like Arturo Toscanini, Serge Koussevitzky, and Leonard Bernstein. Barber’s works have since become standard concert repertoire and continue to flourish across high art and popular culture. Acclaimed biographer Howard Pollack (Aaron Copland, George Gershwin) offers a multifaceted account of Barber’s life and music while placing the artist in his social and cultural milieu. Born into a musical family, Barber pursued his artistic ambitions from childhood. Pollack follows Barber’s path from his precocious youth through a career where, from the start, the composer consistently received prizes, fellowships, and other recognition. Stylistic analyses of works like the Adagio for Strings, the Violin Concerto, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 for voice and orchestra, the Piano Concerto, and the operas Vanessa and Antony and Cleopatra, stand alongside revealing accounts of the music’s commissioning, performance, reception, and legacy. Throughout, Pollack weaves in accounts of Barber’s encounters with colleagues like Aaron Copland and Francis Poulenc, performers from Eleanor Steber and Leontyne Price to Vladimir Horowitz and Van Cliburn, patrons, admirers, and a wide circle of eminent friends and acquaintances. He also provides an eloquent portrait of the composer’s decades-long relationship with the renowned opera composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Informed by new interviews and immense archival research, Samuel Barber is a long-awaited critical and personal biography of a monumental figure in twentieth-century American music.
Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music
by Barbara B. HeymanSamuel Barber (1910-1981) was one of the most important and honored American composers of the twentieth century. Writing in a great variety of musical forms--symphonies, concertos, operas, vocal music, and chamber music--he infused his works with poetic lyricism and gave tonal language and forms new vitality. His rich legacy includes such famous compositions as the Adagio for Strings, the orchestral song Knoxville: Summer of 1915, three concertos, and his two operas, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Vanessa and Antony and Cleopatra, a commissioned work that opened the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. Generously documented by letters, sketchbooks, original musical manuscripts, and interviews with friends, colleagues and performers with whom he worked, this is the first book to cover Barber's entire career and all of his compositions. The biographical material on Barber is closely interspersed with a discussion of his music, displaying Barber's creative processes at work from his early student compositions to his mature masterpieces. Heyman also provides the social context in which this major composer grew: his education, how he built his career, the evolving musical tastes of American audiences, his relationship to musical giants like Serge Koussevitzky, and the role of radio in the promotion of his music. A testament to the significance of the new Romanticism, Samuel Barber stands as a model biography of an important American musical figure.
Samuel Beckett and the Visual Arts
by Conor CarvilleSamuel Beckett and the Visual Arts is the first book to comprehensively assess Beckett's knowledge of art, art history and art criticism. In his lifetime Beckett thought deeply about visual culture from ancient Egyptian statuary to Dutch realism, from Quattrocento painting to the modernists and after. <P><P>Drawing on a wide range of published and unpublished sources, this book traces in forensic detail the development of Beckett's understanding of painting in particular, as that understanding developed from the late 1920s to the 1970s. In doing so it demonstrates that Beckett's thinking about art and aesthetics radically changes in the course of his life, often directly responding to the intellectual and historical contexts in which he found himself. Moving fluently between art history, philosophy, literary analysis and historical context, Samuel Beckett and the Visual Arts rethinks the trajectory of Beckett's career, and reorients his relationship to modernism, late modernism and the avant-gardes.<P> Draws on a wide range of new sources, both published and unpublished.<P> Demonstrates the changes in Beckett's thinking about art and aesthetics over his career.<P> Reorients Beckett's relationships with modernism, late modernism and the avant-gardes.
Samuel De Champlain (Famous Explorers Ser.)
by Claude HurwiczA biography of the French explorer who founded Quebec, discovered Lake Champlain, and was called the Father of New France.
Samuel Fuller: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)
by Gerald PearyIn the early twentieth century, the art world was captivated by the imaginative, original paintings of Henri Rousseau, who, without formal art training, produced works that astonished not only the public but great artists such as Pablo Picasso. Samuel Fuller (1912–1997) is known as the “Rousseau of the cinema,” a mostly “B” genre Hollywood moviemaker deeply admired by “A” filmmakers as diverse as Jim Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, and John Cassavetes, all of them dazzled by Fuller’s wildly idiosyncratic primitivist style. A high school dropout who became a New York City tabloid crime reporter in his teens, Fuller went to Hollywood and made movies post-World War II that were totally in line with his exploitative newspaper work—bold, blunt, pulpy, excitable. The images were as shocking, impolite, and in-your-face as a Weegee photograph of a gangster bleeding on a sidewalk. Fuller, who made twenty-three features between 1949 and 1989, is the very definition of a “cult” director, appreciated by those with a certain bent of subterranean taste, a penchant for what critic Manny Farber famously labeled as “termite art.” Here are some of the crazy, lurid, comic book titles of his movies: Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss, Verboten!, and Pickup on South Street. Fuller isn’t for everybody. His fans have to appreciate low-budget genre films, including westerns and war movies, and make room for some hard-knuckle, ugly bursts of violence. They also have to make allowance for lots of broad, crass acting, and scripts (all Fuller-written) that can be stiff, sometimes campy, often laboriously didactic. Fuller is for those who love cinema—images that jump, shout, and dance. As he put it in his famous cigar-chomping cameo, acting in Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou (1965): “Film is like a battleground . . . love, hate, violence, death. In a single word: emotion.” After directing, Fuller's greatest skill was conversation. He could talk, talk, talk, from his amazing experiences fighting in World War II to the time his brother-in-law dated Marilyn Monroe, and vivid stories about his moviemaking. Samuel Fuller: Interviews is not only informative about the filmmaker’s career but sheer fun, following the wild, uninhibited stream of Fuller’s chatter. He was an incredible storyteller, and no matter what the interview was, he had stories galore for all sorts of readers, not just for academics and film historians.
Samuel Johnson
by Jeffrey MeyersFord Madox Ford declared Samuel Johnson "the most tragic of all our major literary figures." Blessed with a formidable intellect and a burning passion for ideas, Johnson also struggled throughout his life with mental instability and numerous physical defects. One of the most illustrious figures of the English literary tradition, Johnson made his fame as poet, essayist, critic, dictionary-maker, conversationalist, and all-around larger-than-life personality. His success was all the greater for the adversity he had to overcome in achieving it.Drawing on a lifetime of study of Johnson and his era, as well as a wide array of new archival materials, noted biographer Jeffrey Meyers tells the extraordinary story of one of the great geniuses of English letters. Johnson emerges in his portrait as a mass of contradictions: lazy and energetic, aggressive and tender, melancholy and witty, comforted yet tormented by religion. He was physically repulsive and slovenly in dress and habits, but his social ideas were progressive and humane-he strongly opposed slavery and the imperial exploitation of indigenous peoples. He gave generously to the poor and homeless, rescued prostitutes, and defended criminals who'd been condemned to hang. But these charitable acts could not dispel the darkness that clouded his world: overwhelming guilt and fear of eternal damnation.A masterful portrait of a brilliant and tormented figure, this book reintroduces a new generation of readers to the heroic Dr. Johnson.