Paul Harvey's America: The Life, Art, and Faith of a Man Who Transformed Radio and Inspired a Nation


Stephen Mansfield - 2009
    Holland present a fascinating look at America’s most popular radio host. You’ll discover how the brutal murder of his father shaped Paul Harvey’s life and career; how a high school teacher helped launch him in radio; the truth behind his brief and controversial career in the Air Force; why he was arrested for breaking into a secure research laboratory during the Cold War; why he proposed to his wife, “Angel,” on their very first date—and why it took her a year to say yes; the important role of faith in his life; and how his immeasurable contributions to broadcast history transformed American culture.

David Niven: The Man Behind the Balloon


Michael Munn - 2009
    Despite his on-screen persona, Niven wasn’t always the perfect gentleman. He was insecure both privately and professionally and used people to get ahead. But he did, he said, ‘at least try to be a decent man.’ He knew he often failed, although it isn’t easy to find people who ever had a bad word to say about him. In this fascinating biography of the star, Munn looks at the funny stories and the sad underlying truth, from his outrageous days with Errol Flynn and their irrevocable split –‘You always know where you are with Flynn. He always lets you down’ – and numerous affairs with stars and prostitutes, to an attempted suicide, his horrific experiences in war-torn France and the breakdown and blame of his second marriage. This compelling text includes interviews with his second wife, Hjordis, John Huston, Rex Harrison, Laurence Olivier, Loretta Young (they discussed marriage once), Niven’s long-time friend Michael Trubshawe, Peter Ustinov, Ava Gardner and many more.

Favre for the Record


Brett Favre - 1997
    Born the son of an indomitable high school football coach in hardscrabble Kiln, Mississippi, Favre has gone on to become the NFL's most valuable player two years running (a feat equaled only by the legendary Joe Montana) and, after twenty-nine years, has brought the Lombardi Trophy back to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Favre has also paid dearly for his devotion to the brutal game of professional football. Priding himself on his ability to withstand incredible levels of physical pain and to continue playing when most players would head to the sidelines, Favre admitted last year to a dependency on Vicodin pain killers. But he faced his problem like he faces opposing defensive linemen, head-on, and voluntarily admitted himself into the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas for drug counseling. In Favre, Brett shares portions of his daily journal written during treatment and will reveal just what it took to break a debilitating habit. In the end, readers will be inspired by this small town son's sacrifice and struggle to make it to the NFL, his unwavering commitment to honor his profession, and his perseverance to realize his dream on his own terms.

Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra


George Jacobs - 2003
    S provides the deepest understanding yet of one of our greatest entertainersAs the right hand of Frank Sinatra from 1953 to 1968, George Jacobs arguably had one of the coolest jobs in the world at the time when Sinatra was the undisputed master of the entertainment universe. Jacobs rose from his humble beginnings in New Orleans to join Sinatra in the mansions of Beverly Hills, the penthouses of Manhattan, the palaces of Europe, the pinnacles of world power. George Jacobs saw it all, did it all.Sinatra took Jacobs with him on the ride of the century, from blacklist Hollywood to gangland Chicago to an emerging Vegas to Camelot, not to mention dolce vita Rome and swinging London. As a member of Sinatra's inner circle, Jacobs drank with Ava Gardner, danced with Marilyn Monroe, massaged John F. Kennedy, golfed with Sam Giancana, and played jazz with the Prince of Monaco while his boss secretly pursued Princess Grace. He also partied with Mia Farrow, but that one cost him his job of a lifetime.Through the ring-a-ding-ding and the stars, royals, politicians, moguls, and mobsters emerged a warm and intimate relationship that reveals a complex Sinatra: vulnerable and arrogant, charismatic and violent, loving and disdainful, confident and painfully self-conscious. Jacobs is no sycophant, but rather a sharp-eyed observer of the highs and lows of his boss's turbulent life. And Mr. S is perhaps the most complete, honest, and intimate portrait of Sinatra ever written.It is an unforgettable trip, and George Jacobs provides a front-and-center seat at the life of an American icon.

Wrestling Observer's Tributes: Remembering Some of the World's Greatest Wrestlers


Dave Meltzer - 2001
    Book by Meltzer, Dave

Lady from Savannah: The Life of Juliette Low


Gladys Denny Shultz - 1988
    is proud to reissue Lady from Savannah in response to widespread demands for a biography of our Founder, Juliette Gordon Low. In truth, however, this is much more than the story of one woman and the organization she started. It is first of all a chronicle of two great American families - the Kinzies who were founders of Chicago and the Gordons whose name is magic to this day in Savannah, Georgia - that in 1860 produced the gallant, willful, exasperating, generous, and wholly lovable Juliette (known as Daisy) Gordon. The narrative of Daisy's marriage to Willy Low also offers insider's view of Edwardian high society in England. The Girl Scouts are most particularly proud that this woman from a background of wealth and privilege was able to envision a youth movement "for the girls of all America," which serves a membership of ever-increasing diversity as the diversity of our country grows.

Ferdinand and Isabella


Malveena McKendrick - 2015
    But the historic landfall of October 1492 was only a secondary event of the year. The preceding January, they had accepted the surrender of Muslim Granada, ending centuries of Islamic rule in their peninsula. And later that year, they had ordered the expulsion or forced baptism of Spain's Jewish minority, a cruel crusade undertaken in an excess of zeal for their Catholic faith. Europe, in the century of Ferdinand and Isabella, was also awakening to the glories of a new age, the Renaissance, and the Spain of the "Catholic Kings" - as Ferdinand and Isabella came to be known - was not untouched by this brilliant revival of learning. Here, from the noted historian Malveena McKendrick, is their remarkable story.

Random Acts of Badness: My Story


Danny Bonaduce - 2001
    Now, the co-star of the 1970s hit television series The Partridge Family, one of the most popular sitcoms in syndication, reveals how he not only survived the hazards of success at an early age, but lived to joke about it. The real Danny is as cheeky and irreverent as the pre-adolescent Danny Partridge he portrayed on television, and he tells his story with outrageous wit and refreshing candor. He talks about stepping into the spotlight at a painfully young age; about life on the set of a hit TV show; and about the relationships he formed off camera with the shows stars and executives. He recounts his life after cancellation and the quick slide from star to tabloid fodder; the numerous ways he medicated himself against the hurt and disappointment; and bottoming out financially and emotionally and even, briefly, criminally. But Danny Bonaduce bounced back, and here he tells the incredible story of his journey to personal redemption, including a one-night stand that led to a lifelong commitment, a new family, a successful career, and a new lease on life. As hilarious as it is touching, and told in Bonaduces own irrepressible voice, Random Acts of Badness is a story about a Hollywood prodigy that concludes not in tragedy, but in triumph, and about a career and a life that are not ending, but just beginning.

Fire And Rain: The James Taylor Story


Ian Halperin - 2000
    When he was seventeen years old, his demons led him to a Massachusetts mental institution where he confronted them the only way he knew how, by writing his first songs. Thirty years later, Taylor's songs are among the most popular in the annals of music, but the demons are still with him. But unlike many of his contemporaries who faced a similar struggle, Taylor managed to emerge as an inspirational figure. Fire and Rain traces this remarkable path, including his troubled marriage to pop star Carly Simon and the premature alcoholism-related death of his brother: Taylor's ten-month stay in the exclusive private psychiatric institution where he finished high school; His self-imposed exile to England where he submitted some of his music to the Beatles' Apple Records, which signed him to his first record contract in 1968. Paul McCartney mentored Taylor's early career; The story behind his second album, Sweet Baby James, which contained the song "Fire and Rain" about the hopelessness of mental illness and suicide; As Taylor's fame increased, so did his problems with heroin, alcohol, and mental illness. In the seventies, the singer nearly fell over the edge many times.

The Eternal Summer: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Hogan in 1960, Golf's Golden Year


Curt Sampson - 1992
    Here was Arnold Palmer, the workingman's hero, "sweating, chain-smoking, shirt-tail flying"; Ben Hogan, the greatest player of the fifties, a perfectionist battling twin demons of age and nerves; and, making his big-time debut, a crew-cut college kid who seemed to have the makings of a champion: twenty-year-old Jack Nicklaus.        And of course, the rest: Ken Venturi, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Doug Sanders, Gary Player, and the many other colorful characters who chased around a little white ball--and a dream.        Would Palmer win the mythical Grand Slam of golf? Could Hogan win one more major tournament? Was Nicklaus the real thing? Even more than an intimate portrait of these men and their exciting times, The Eternal Summer is also an entertaining, perceptive, and hypnotically readable exploration of professional golf in America.

News Junkie


Jason Leopold - 2006
    His reporting about Enron’s bankruptcy and the controversy surrounding it was being used by NPR, he was hot on the trail of a possible connection to an Army Secretary, and he was one of the few reporters granted an interview with Enron President Jeff Skilling. And then it all came crashing down.When Salon was forced to take down Leopold’s article about Army Secretary Thomas E. White’s role in the Enron bankruptcy, his world began to unravel. Ostracized from the mainstream media, slipping into a deep depression, with no prospects on the horizon, Jason Leopold was forced to start from scratch.News Junkie is Jason’s story, an addict to the core, he traded an early life of drugs and crime for the equally addictive world of breaking news. From the top of the reporting world to its dregs and back again, Leopold takes us on a journey through some of the biggest events of the recent past, all the while letting us into his inner struggles.With an unforgettable array of characters, from weepy editors and love-starved politicos to steroid-pumped mobsters who intimidate the author into selling drugs and stolen goods, News Junkie shows how a man once fueled by raging fear and self-hatred transforms his life, regenerated by love, sobriety and a new, harmonious career with the media.

The Story Behind "In Broad Daylight"


Harry N. MacLean - 2013
    MacLean tells the story of how he came to write his Edgar Award-winning book in his new true crime short, “The Story Behind 'In Broad Daylight.'” MacLean had doors slammed in his face, guns pulled on him, and was bitten by a dog. Eventually, he won over the closed community of Skidmore, Mo. The inhabitants shared with him the reign of terror Ken Rex McElroy inflicted for twenty years in Northwest Missouri, and information about his murder on the main street of Skidmore in 1981. Despite 45 witnesses, the case remains unsolved. MacLean tells the story in his book “In Broad Daylight,” first published in 1988.“The Story Behind 'In Broad Daylight'” brings the book up to date and includes several previously unpublished pictures. It also answers many questions about the killing itself, such as who was involved, and what has become of them. The author discusses the nature of the moral consequences of the killing for the town and those involved in the killing. MacLean describes the breakthrough events when key characters agreed to speak with him, and he realized he would finally get the story.“In Broad Daylight” was a New York Times bestseller for 12 weeks and was made into a movie starring Brian Denehey, Cloris Leachman and Chris Cooper. It was re-released as an e-book on Amazon on July 10, the 31st anniversary of the killing.Praise for Harry N. MacLean’s The Story Behind In Broad Daylight“A riveting behind the scenes look at an author in pursuit of the story about the bully who brought down a town and paid for his sins with his life.”—Diane Fanning, author of “Mommy’s Little Girl”“Honest and intriguing. The riveting backstory of MacLean's true crime classic...a can't miss read!”"— Kathryn Casey, bestselling author of “Deadly Little Secrets”“The Edgar Award winner takes readers right where they want to go—inside the story.”—Gregg Olsen, bestselling author of “”Fear Collector”“To understand and truly experience any story in its absolute wholeness, one must go ‘behind the scenes’ and learn the mechanics of what made it so riveting in the first place. Here, Harry MacLean takes us on a thrill ride into the crazy world beyond one of the most compelling true-crime stories of our time.”— M. William Phelps, star of the hit Investigation Discovery series “Dark Minds" and national bestselling author of 23 books, including “Nathan Hale and his latest, “Kiss of the She-Devil”

Chasing Moonlight


Brett Friedlander - 2009
    But what's the real story of Moonlight Graham? In Chasing Moonlight, the authors follow Graham's life from his youth spent with his younger brother, Frank Porter Graham, who became the president of the University of North Carolina and a United States Senator; through his career as a medical student in Baltimore and New York while he played baseball at the same time; through his minor league successes in Scranton, Pennsylvania; to his one and a half innings in a major league game. In Graham's Minnesota years, the authors reveal a man whose pioneering research on children's blood pressure is still used at institutions such as the Mayo Clinic and whose quiet philanthropy made him beloved in his community.

Face the Nation: My Favorite Stories from the First 50 Years of the Award-Winning News Broadcast


Bob Schieffer - 2004
     With his critically acclaimed memoir This Just In, Schieffer proved himself a natural storyteller, a gifted writer able to capture the workings of television news with remarkable wit and insight. Now Schieffer focuses his keen reporter's eye on 50 years of Face the Nation's live broadcasts and the historic moments the program has captured. From its 1954 debut, an interview with Senator Joe McCarthy the day before the Senate debate that would condemn him, to the broadcast's 1957 groundbreaking interview with a candid and controversial Nikita Khrushchev; from the brilliant analysis of communism made by guest Martin Luther King Jr. to the sometimes stunning, always revealing interviews with each sitting president; from the heroic and moving coverage of the terrorist attacks of September 11 to the revolutionary coverage of the war in Iraq, Schieffer shares unforgettable anecdotes about the guests, the stories and the events captured by the venerable public affairs program. Marked by the author's candid personal observations and wise, good humor, and featuring a special companion DVD of broadcast highlights created by CBS News for this edition, Bob Schieffer's look at 50 years of Face the Nation shines an entertaining and nostalgic light on America's presidents, culture, foreign policy and domestic affairs.

Girl Next Door: The Life and Career of Jeanne Crain


Rupert Alistair - 2017
    This is written in such a manner that once you start, it is difficult to put down until you finish." In 1949, Jeanne Crain was the # 1 box-office draw in Hollywood based on the money her movies made that year. Her controversial film, Pinky, was not only financially successful, but it earned Crain an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. The beautiful star had a blossoming career, loving husband and, eventually, seven children, but along with the accomplishments and money were disappointments. Her career became stagnant at her home studio, 20th Century-Fox; the relationship between her mother and her husband was contentious to say the least, and her idyllic marriage was marred by public betrayal. Through the glorious times, as well as the darker ones, Jeanne Crain moved forward with beauty, grace and dignity. Her life was an interesting Cinderella-story. With a gorgeous face and petite figure, she claimed her place in classic film history. Her fame was at its highest during the post-war era, when being one of America’s top sweethearts in Hollywood was a peak position, and in the 1940s and '50s, she was everyone's favorite, Girl Next Door.