The Wright Brothers


Lewis Helfand - 2010
    Or do they? This biography conveys the well-known and the lesser-known facts about Orville and Wilbur's lives, and does so by weaving the biographical information into a wonderful story. The evocative illustrations combine with the storytelling prowess of Lewis Helfand to relate the Wright Brothers' joint biography in a way never done before.

Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman


Leah MooreSmoky Man - 2003
    Over a hundred contributors include Neil Gaiman, Will Eisner, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Gibbons, Denis Kitchen, David Lloyd, Jim Valentino, Sergio Toppi, Bryan Talbot, Steve Parkhouse, Mark Millar, Howard Cruse, James Kochalka, Jos� Villarrubia, Sam Kieth, Dave Sim, Oscar Zarate, DJ Paul Gambaccini, and novelist Darren Shan, to name just a few. The book jacket will feature a new photgraph by Piet Corr and other features will include interviews, biographies, and new and rare photographs.

The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore


George Khoury - 2003
    More than just a tribute book, The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore tells Moore's story, as the reclusive British author speaks enthusiastically and passionately about his life and work in an extensive series of interviews.Moore displays his trademark wit and shares his unique insight on the comics that have shaped his legendary career - from his beginnings on Swamp Thing to the present day success of his own comic book universe in America's Best Comics.Within this tome, readers will find rare strips, scripts, artwork and photographs of the author, most never published before.Also features Moore's closest collaborators elaborating in comic strip form on their relationships with Moore, including Neil Gaiman (New York Times Best Selling Author of American Gods), Dave Gibbons (Artist of Watchmen), Sam Kieth (creator of MTV's The Maxx), Kevin O'Neill, Brian Bolland and others!

White


Bret Easton Ellis - 2019
    The result is both a defense of freedom of speech and a critique of the likeability factor that can impede it.

Cautionary Tales


Stephen Tobolowsky - 2011
    He has played everyone from Ned Ryerson in "Groundhog Day" to Sandy Ryerson in "Glee." He has amused thousands with his true stories on "The Tobolowsky Files" at Slashfilm.com. Here he shares some homespun philosophy and more true stories that prove tales of sex, drugs, and rock and roll are often the most humiliating and almost always the most enjoyable.

The French Revolution A Short History


Robert Matteson Johnston - 1909
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Distrust That Particular Flavor


William Gibson - 2012
    "Wired" magazine sent him to Singapore to report on one of the world's most buttoned-up states. "The New York Times Magazine" asked him to describe what was wrong with the Internet. Rolling Stone published his essay on the ways our lives are all "soundtracked" by the music and the culture around us. And in a speech at the 2010 Book Expo, he memorably described the interactive relationship between writer and reader.These essays and articles have never been collected-until now. Some have never appeared in print at all. In addition, "Distrust That Particular Flavor" includes journalism from small publishers, online sources, and magazines no longer in existence. This volume will be essential reading for any lover of William Gibson's novels. "Distrust That Particular Flavor" offers readers a privileged view into the mind of a writer whose thinking has shaped not only a generation of writers but our entire culture.

The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books


Azar Nafisi - 2014
    In this exhilarating followup, Nafisi has written the book her fans have been waiting for: an impassioned, beguiling and utterly original tribute to the vital importance of fiction in a democratic society. What Reading Lolita in Tehran was for Iran, The Republic of Imagination is for America. Taking her cue from a challenge thrown to her in Seattle, where a skeptical reader told her that Americans don’t care about books the way they did back in Iran, she challenges those who say fiction has nothing to teach us. Blending memoir and polemic with close readings of her favorite American novels—from Huckleberry Finn to The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter—she invites us to join her as citizens of her "Republic of Imagination," a country where the villains are conformity and orthodoxy, and the only passport to entry is a free mind and a willingness to dream.

The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Their Friends


Humphrey Carpenter - 1978
    Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams met regularly to discuss philosophy and read aloud from their works. Carpenter's account brings to life those warm and enchanting evenings where their imaginations ran wild.

Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book


Jordan Raphael - 2003
    Recognized as a dazzling writer, a skilled editor, a relentless self-promoter, a credit hog, and a huckster, Stan Lee rose from his humble beginnings to ride the wave of the 1940s comic books boom and witness the current motion picture madness and comic industry woes. Included is a complete examination of the rise of Marvel Comics, Lee’s work in the years of postwar prosperity, and his efforts in the 1960s to revitalize the medium after it had grown stale.

Marvel Universe


Peter Sanderson - 1986
    Comics insider Peter Sanderson recounts Marvel's main story lines and delves into the lives of major characters, showing how different writers shaped their fates. The illustrations include scenes from ground-breaking stories, showcasing the best work of important Marvel artists.

A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Non-Fiction


Terry Pratchett - 2014
    A Slip of the Keyboard brings together for the first time the finest examples of Pratchett's non fiction writing, both serious and surreal: from musings on mushrooms to what it means to be a writer (and why banana daiquiris are so important); from memories of Granny Pratchett to speculation about Gandalf's love life, and passionate defences of the causes dear to him.With all the humour and humanity that have made his novels so enduringly popular, this collection brings Pratchett out from behind the scenes of the Discworld to speak for himself - man and boy, bibliophile and computer geek, champion of hats, orang-utans and Dignity in Dying.

Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution


Ronin Ro - 2004
    In the 1960's, Kirby joined with Stan Lee to develop many of our best-known and most beloved superheroes, including the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, the Avengers, and the Silver Surfer. Ronin Ro chronicles Kirby's poverty-stricken origins in New York's Lower East Side, his early commercial triumphs and failures, his renowned partnership with Lee, and his revolutionary artistic innovations, tracing the comic book industry from its inauspicious beginnings to its sensational successes.

Comic Wars: How Two Tycoons Battled Over the Marvel Comics Empire--And Both Lost


Dan Raviv - 2002
    In the late 1980s, financier Ronald Perelman, worth billions and riding high after his hostile takeover of the cosmetics firm Revlon, bought Marvel Entertainment–legendary creator of Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and other superheroes–and he had big plans. He not only began churning out more comic books, he also acquired sports cards and other subsidiaries, impressing Wall Street so much that after he took the company public, Marvel’s market value ballooned to over $3 billion. Perelman took advantage of the company’s inflated valuation by selling junk bonds, and personally pocketing nearly $500 million. Meanwhile, Marvel’s bank debt rose to more than $600 million. And then came the collapse of the comic-book and trading-card markets.Enter rival corporate raider, Carl Icahn, who sank a fortune into Marvel’s bonds in an effort to wrest away control of Marvel–and to beat Perelman at his own game. As the competing tycoons went head-to-head, Ike Perlmutter and Avi Arad, two entrepreneurs who ran Toy Biz, a company that depended on Marvel superheroes, realized that their fate hung in the balance. They soon put in motion plans to take control themselves.Bunkered in The Townhouse, his high-security Manhattan corporate headquarters, Perelman had Marvel declare bankruptcy. Icahn, an avid poker player, had to figure out if his foe was bluffing; the Toy Biz entrepreneurs needed to find a way to save the company they loved from ruin; and a team of killer lawyers representing the banks was faced with recouping their colossal debt. Thus, in United States Bankruptcy Court, began the comic war–as ferocious and outlandish as any of Marvel’s tales of good vs. evil.Combining meticulous investigative reporting with entertaining storytelling, Comic Wars exposes the actions and motives of two Goliath-style corporate raiders, two innovative Davids, and some of the world’s most prominent banks. It is the rollicking true tale of a unique Wall Street showdown, of Marvel’s surprising emergence from the ashes of bankruptcy, and of its triumphant reinvention as the producer of such hit Hollywood movies as X-Men and Spider-Man.

The Library at Night


Alberto Manguel - 2006
    He ponders the doomed library of Alexandria and personal libraries of Charles Dickens, Jorge Luis Borges, and others. He recounts stories of people who have struggled against tyranny to preserve freedom of thought—the Polish librarian who smuggled books to safety as the Nazis began their destruction of Jewish libraries; the Afghani bookseller who kept his store open through decades of unrest. Oral “memory libraries” kept alive by prisoners, libraries of banned books, the imaginary library of Count Dracula, a library of books never written.