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Cowboys, Creatures, and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures by Chris Enss
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Nicholson: A Biography
Marc Eliot - 2013
With twelve Oscar nominations to his credit and legendary roles in films like Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Terms of Endearment, The Shining, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Nicholson creates original, memorable characters like no other actor of his generation. And his personal life has been no less of an adventure—Nicholson has always been at the center of the Hollywood elite and has courted some of the most famous and beautiful women in the world. Relying on years of extensive research and interviews with insiders who know Nicholson best, acclaimed biographer Marc Eliot sheds new light on Nicholson's life on and off the screen. From Nicholson’s working class childhood in New Jersey, where family secrets threatened to tear his family apart, to raucous nights on the town with Warren Beatty and tumultuous relationships with starlets like Michelle Phillips, Anjelica Huston, and Lara Flynn Boyle, to movie sets working with such legendary directors and costars as Dennis Hopper, Stanley Kubrick, Meryl Streep, and Roman Polanski, Eliot paints a sweeping picture of the breadth of Nicholson’s fifty-year career in film, as well as an intimate portrait of his personal life. Equally at home on the bookshelves of serious film historians and fans of compulsively readable Hollywood biographies, Nicholson is both a comprehensive tribute to a film legend and an entertaining look at a truly remarkable life.
WASP Sting
Lee A. Sweetapple - 2016
As a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP), Trudy is one of the most knowledgeable flyers of the P-51 Mustang. She is in full command of one of the fastest airplanes ever made, but she is forbidden from going into combat because of her gender. Trudy is shocked when her dream of going to the front lines is fulfilled. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) needs a pilot to sneak into German-occupied Lithuania and rescue a professor whose work could have international implications. But first, Trudy will have to get there. As Trudy crosses the United States and Canada with her handsome traveling partner, Major Rod Jackson, she sees the many different ways Americans and Canadians are helping on the home front. Her new base of operations in Duxford, England, will also give her a front-row seat to the violent, deadly aerial battles of the European theater. Trudy is determined to fight to protect the Allies, but will she make it out of her first operation alive?
The Making of Don
Krishna Gopalan - 2013
No one involved with the making of the film foresaw the kind of overarching impact it would have, not only in terms of its success at the box office but in spawning a cult phenomenon that would stay strong more than three decades later with its slick theme, fantastic music and unforgettable dialogues, that is what nbecame. The journey of Donwas not an easy one. Shot over four years, it faced several hurdles before making it to the theatres. While the casting and music of Don have now acquired legendary status, there were some close shaves before it all came together: Iftekhars role of the cop was eyed by a big star of the 1960s getting Kalyanji-Anandji to compose the score called for a delicate balancing act, it was only thanks to the shrewd advice of a mentor that the super-successful Khai ke paan Banaras wala was included at the very last minute. And, wonder of wonders, it was not Amitabh Bachchan who was paid the most for the film. Through a fast-paced narrative born out of interviews with the cast and crew and supplemented with rare photographs from the directors archives, The Making of Dontells a tale that is as compelling as the one that finally made it to the big screen. Engaging and captivating, this is the story of one of Bollywoods most memorable classic.
Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong - 2016
NBC executives didn’t think anyone would watch either, but they bought it anyway, hiding it away in the TV dead zone of summer. But against all odds, viewers began to watch, first a few and then many, until nine years later nearly forty million Americans were tuning in weekly.In Seinfeldia, acclaimed TV historian and entertainment writer Jennifer Keishin Armstrong celebrates the creators and fans of this American television phenomenon, bringing readers behind-the-scenes of the show while it was on the air and into the world of devotees for whom it never stopped being relevant, a world where the Soup Nazi still spends his days saying “No soup for you!”, Joe Davola gets questioned every day about his sanity, Kenny Kramer makes his living giving tours of New York sights from the show, and fans dress up in Jerry’s famous puffy shirt, dance like Elaine, and imagine plotlines for Seinfeld if it were still on TV.
Forever Young
Hayley Mills - 2021
The daughter of acclaimed British actor Sir John Mills was still a preteen when she began her acting career and was quickly thrust into the spotlight. Under the wing of Walt Disney himself, Hayley Mills was transformed into one of the biggest child starlets of the 1960s through her iconic roles in Pollyanna, The Parent Trap, and many more. She became one of only twelve actors in history to be bestowed with the Academy Juvenile Award, presented at the Oscars by its first recipient, Shirley Temple, and went on to win a number of awards including a Golden Globe, multiple BAFTAs, and a Disney Legacy Award.Now, in her charming and forthright memoir, she provides a unique window into when Hollywood was still 'Tinseltown' and the great Walt Disney was at his zenith, ruling over what was (at least in his own head) still a family business. This behind-the-scenes look at the drama of having a sky-rocketing career as a young teen in an esteemed acting family will offer both her childhood impressions of the wild and glamorous world she was swept into, and the wisdom and broader knowledge that time has given her. Hayley will delve intimately into her relationship with Walt Disney, as well as the emotional challenges of being bound to a wholesome, youthful public image as she grew into her later teen years, and how that impacted her and her choices--including marrying a producer over 30 years her senior when she was 20! With her regrets, her joys, her difficulties, and her triumphs, this is a compelling read for any fan of classic Disney films and an inside look at a piece of real Hollywood history.
Lime Kiln Road
S.L. Shelton - 2018
All of the victims share a dark secret that dies with them. No one survives... Not until seventeen-year-old Gee.Drugged and wounded, Georgia escapes painting a bloody trail in the snow behind her. In the process of dragging herself to safety, she’s able to save the life of a second teenage victim, Josie. But the first survivors of the maniacal murderer leave detectives with more questions than answers.Gee’s memory blocks may hold the key to stopping a killer who has taken the lives of 12 people. As all parties struggle to find the missing pieces, the killer’s timeline is escalating and he’s straying from his pattern. Can the two victims team up with a local detective to stop the Catoctin Creek killer’s deadly spree? Or won’t they be as lucky the second time around?“A taut game of cat and mouse played on a razor’s edge. One where you’re never sure who is the cat and who is the mouse. Lime Kiln Road comes at you like that car in your rearview mirror that’s been following you for too long, the one that keeps inching closer until it’s riding your bumper and there’s no escape.”~Matthew FitzSimmonsUSA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Authorof The Short Drop, Poisonfeather, and Cold HarborThis novel was originally soft released in September 2018 with a title of Broken Betties. Content, book matter, cover, and title have been updated.
The Trying Game: Get Through Fertility Treatment and Get Pregnant Without Losing Your Mind
Amy Klein - 2020
There are so many ways to be Not Pregnant: You can be young, old, partnered, or unpartnered. Maybe you have endometriosis. Maybe you don’t have enough eggs or your partner doesn’t have enough sperm. Or maybe there’s nothing wrong except you’re Just. Not. Pregnant. Amy Klein has been there. Faced with fertility obstacles, she quickly became an expert. After nine rounds of IVF, four miscarriages, three acupuncturists, two rabbis, and one reproductive immunologist, she finally became a mother. And she wrote about it all for the New York Times Motherlode blog in her “Fertility Diary” column. Now, Amy has written the book she wishes she’d had when she was trying to get pregnant. With advice from medical experts as well as real women, she outlines your options every step of the way, from questions you should ask to advice on getting your mother-in-law to mind her own beeswax. In this comprehensive road map to infertility, you’ll find topics such as: • whether to freeze your eggs • finding (and affording) a clinic • what to expect during your first IVF cycle • baby envy—aka it’s okay to skip your friend’s shower • whether the alternative route—acupuncture, herbs, supplements—is for you • helpful tips, charts, and more! Empowering, compassionate, and down-to-earth, The Trying Game will show you what to expect when you’re not expecting with heart and humanity when you need it the most.
Another Fairy Bastard: Rise of the New Arcana
Ron Randall - 2020
The Opening Kickoff: The Tumultuous Birth of a Football Nation
Dave Revsine - 2014
It’s also America’s most controversial sport, haunted by the specter of life-threatening injuries and plagued by scandal, even among its most venerable personalities and institutions. At the college level, we often tie football’s tales of corruption and greed to its current popularity and revenue potential, and we have vague notions of a halcyon time--before the BCS, power conferences, and huge TV contracts. Perhaps we conjure images of young Ivy Leaguers playing a gentleman’s game, exemplifying the collegial in collegiate. What we don’t imagine is a game described in 1905, not today, as "a social obsession--this boy-killing, man-mutillating, education-prostituting, gladiatorial sport." In The Opening Kickoff, Dave Revsine tells the riveting story of the formative period of American football (1890-1915). It was a time that saw the game’s meteoric rise, fueled by overflow crowds, breathless newspaper coverage and newfound superstars—including one of the most thrilling and mysterious the sport has ever seen. But it was also a period racked by controversy in academics, recruiting, and physical brutality that, in combination, threatened football’s very existence. A vivid storyteller, Revsine brings it all to life in a captivating narrative.
Audrey: The 60s
David Wills - 2012
Audrey: The 60s is a landmark photographic chronicle of her film and fashion career during those tumultuous years. Regarded as one of the most beautiful and best-dressed women in the world, Audrey Hepburn had timeless appeal—and this breathtaking photographic collection compiled by David Wills, author of Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosis, captures this legendary star at the height of her career—from Breakfast at Tiffany’s to the Vogue fashion shoots with world-class photographers that captured her unique, trendsetting style.
Cold Blooded Killers
R.J. Parker - 2013
Under the umbrella of "Rampage Killer", a spree killer, mass murderer, and serial killer has usually become alienated from society and no longer feels any connection with the rest of humanity. They may feel that the world has come crashing down on them and that the only solution is death. They have been ridiculed by society, their peers, classmates, family, and their retaliation is killing...Cold Blooded Killing. Read how Edmund Kemper decapitated his mother's head, used it as a dartboard and then cut out her voice box and placed it in the garbage disposal. They will feel that their own lives are over, and aim to take as many people with them as they can. Once their killing spree is over, they most often either commit suicide, or force the police to use deadly force against them, in other words, suicide by cop. COLD BLOODED KILLERS is a set of 22 stories, ranging from kids who killed their parent(s), to rampage spree killers, school shootings and serial killers.
Enigmas: Alan Turing and the Codebreakers of the World Wars
David Boyle - 2017
Many of those most closely involved in cracking the Enigma code – Alistair Denniston, Frank Birch, Dilly Knox – had wrestled with German naval codes for most of the First World War. By the end of the war they had been successfully cracking a new code every day, from their secret Room 40 at the Old Admiralty Building, in a London blacked out for Zeppelin Raids. The techniques they developed then, the ideas that they came to rely on, the people they came to trust, had been developed the hard way, under intense pressure and absolute secrecy during the First World War. Operation Primrose Operation Primrose tells the story of the capture of U-110 – and with it a working Enigma machine. One of the biggest secrets of the war, the capture of that one machine turned the tide of the war. Turing and his colleagues at Bletchley Park worked tirelessly to crack the code, and with the working Enigma machine they finally had their break-through moment. This book sets the story, and the Enigma cryptographers, in context – at the heart of the Battle of the Atlantic, when it reached its crescendo in the pursuit of the battleship Bismarck the week after U110 was taken. It sets Bletchley Park in its wider context too, at the heart of an intricate and maverick network of naval intelligence, tracking signals and plotting them to divert convoys around waiting U-boats, involving officers like James Bond’s future creator, Ian Fleming. It also sets out the most important context of all, forgotten in so much of the Enigma history: that Britain’s own naval code had already been cracked, and its signals were being read, thanks to the efforts of Turing’s opposite number, the German naval cryptographer, Wilhelm Tranow. An exciting and enthralling true story ‘Operation Primrose’ is an excellently researched piece on the race for naval supremacy in the Second World War. Alan Turing Mathematician, philosopher, codebreaker. Turing was one of the most original thinkers of the last century - and the man whose work helped create the computer-driven world we now inhabit. But he was also an enigmatic figure, deeply reticent yet also strikingly naïve. Turing’s openness about his homosexuality at a time when it was an imprisonable offence ultimately led to his untimely death at the age of only forty-one. Alan Turing: Unlocking the Enigma seeks to find the man behind the science, illuminating the life of a person who is still a shadowy presence behind his brilliant achievements. Turing was instrumental in cracking the Nazi Enigma machines at the top secret code breaking establishment at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. But his achievements were to be tragically overshadowed by his supposedly subversive views and for his sexuality. Praise for David Boyle: ‘The tone of the book may be gloomy but there is plenty of entertainment value …’ - Anne Ashworth, The Times ‘Exhilarating’ - Daily Mail ‘He tells these stories, on the whole persuasively and with some startling asides.
Perfect: Don Larsen's Miraculous World Series Game and the Men Who Made It Happen
Lew Paper - 2009
In an improbable performance that the New York Times called "the greatest moment in the history of the Fall Classic," Larsen, an otherwise mediocre journeyman pitcher, retired twenty-seven straight Dodger batters to clinch a perfect game and, to date, the only postseason no-hitter ever witnessed in major league baseball. Here, Lew Paper delivers a masterful pitch-by-pitch account of that fateful day and the extraordinary lives of the players on the field- seven of whom would later be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Meticulously researched and relying on dozens of interviews, Paper's gripping narrative recreates Larsen's feat in a pitching duel that featured legendary figures such as Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, and Roy Campanella. More than just the story of a single game, Perfect is a window into baseball's glorious past.
Lefty: An American Odyssey
Vernona Gomez - 2012
Told for the first time, this is his remarkable story. Born to a small-town California ranching family, the youngest of eight, Vernon “Lefty” Gomez rode his powerful arm and jocular personality right across America to the dugout of the New York Yankees. Lefty baffled hitters with his blazing fastball, establishing himself as the team’s ace. He vacationed with Babe Ruth, served as Joe DiMaggio’s confidant, and consoled Lou Gehrig the day the “Iron Horse” removed himself from the lineup. He started and won the first-ever All-Star Game, was the first pitcher to make the cover of Time magazine, and barnstormed Japan as part of Major League Baseball’s grand ambassadorial tour in 1934. Away from the diamond, Lefty played the big-city bon vivant, marrying Broadway star June O’Dea and hobnobbing with a who’s who of celebrities, including George Gershwin, Jack Dempsey, Ernest Hemingway, Marilyn Monroe, George M. Cohan, and James Michener. He even scored a private audience with the pope. And even when his pro ball career was done, Lefty wasn’t. He became a national representative for Wilson Sporting Goods, logging over 100,000 miles a year, spreading the word about America’s favorite game, and touching thousands of lives. In 1972 he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Three baseball fields are named for him, and to this day the top honor bestowed each year by the American Baseball Coaches Association is the Lefty Gomez Award. Now, drawing on countless conversations with Lefty, interweaving more than three hundred interviews conducted with his family, friends, competitors, and teammates over the course of a decade, and revealing candid photos, documents, and film clips—many never shown publicly—his daughter Vernona Gomez and her award-winning co-author Lawrence Goldstone vividly re-create the life and adventures of the irreverent southpaw fondly dubbed “El Señor Goofy.” “I’d rather be lucky than good,” Lefty Gomez once quipped—one of many classic one-liners documented here. In the end he was both. A star-studded romp through baseball’s most glorious seasons and America’s most glamorous years, Lefty is at once a long-overdue reminder of a pitcher’s greatness and a heartwarming celebration of a life well-lived.
Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend
Susan Orlean - 2011
Susan Orlean's book--about the dog and the legend--is a poignant exploration of the enduring bond between humans and animals. It is also a richly textured history of twentieth-century entertainment and entrepreneurship. It spans ninety years and explores everything from the shift in status of dogs from working farmhands to beloved family members, from the birth of obedience training to the evolution of dog breeding, from the rise of Hollywood to the past and present of dogs in war.