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Kiss: The Official Authorized Biography
by David Leaf Ken SharpWith unprecedented access to all four members of KISS-including their private archive of 30 years of photographs-here is the complete story of one of the most influential hard rock bands of all time. Dressed like leather-clad rock 'n' roll warriors from another planet and adorned in colorful greasepaint, KISS has sold more than 80 million albums and transfixed audiences around the world. In this shockingly revealing and comprehensive biography, the group unveils all the previously untold details of their struggling birth in New York City, to the breakthrough success of their seminal 1975 album, Alive!, to the triumphant reunion that propelled them right back to the highest ranks of music superstardom.
The Tournament: A Novel of the 20th Century (Text Classics Ser.)
by John ClarkeA novel of the 20th century in which the greatest thinkers and personalities engage in a two-week tennis tournament."If you didn't know better you'd think this city had gone crazy. The streets of Paris are full of celebrities and media, and out at the stadium the crowds are already huge as players pound the practice courts in preparation for the greatest tournament of the modern era. At the airport, where they've opened three more runways and put on extra staff, players and officials have been arriving like migrating birds. From all corners they've come, the stars of the modern game. What a line-up!" --from The TournamentThe most unusual tennis tournament in history is about to start. Albert Einstein is seeded fourth, Chaplin, Freud, and van Gogh are in the top rankings, and seeded first is Tony Chekhov. In all, 128 players--everyone from Louis Armstrong to George Orwell, Gertrude Stein to Coco Chanel--are going to fight it out until the exhilarating final match on center court.The Tournament is a funny, strange, and beguiling book in which, game by game and match by match, the world's most creative thinkers put their tennis skills to the ultimate test. And if you read carefully, you'll be set for life--having learned the cultural history of the 20th century!
The Show I'll Never Forget: 50 Writers Relive Their Most Memorable Concertgoing Experience
by Sean ManningIn The Show I’ll Never Forget, writer Sean Manning has gathered an amazing array of unforgettable concert memories from a veritable A-list of acclaimed novelists, poets, biographers, cultural critics, and songwriters. Their candid, first-person recollections reveal as much about the writers’ lives at the time as they do about the venues where the shows occurred or the artists onstage. Ishmael Reed on Miles Davis Luc Sante on Public Image Ltd. Heidi Julavits on Rush Daniel Handler and Andrew Sean Greer on Metric Diana Ossana on Led Zeppelin Maggie Estep on Einsturzende Neubauten Dani Shapiro on Bruce Springsteen Gary Giddins on Titans of the Tenor! Nick Flynn on Mink DeVille Susan Straight on The Funk Festival Rick Moody on the The Lounge Lizards Jennifer Egan on Patti Smith Harvey Pekar on Joe Maneri Thurston Moore on Glen Branca, Rudolph Grey, and Wharton Tiers Chuck Klosterman on Prince Sigrid Nunez on Woodstock Jerry Stahl on David Bowie Charles R. Cross on Nirvana Marc Nesbitt on The Beastie Boys And many more . . . No matter where your musical taste falls, these often funny, occasionally sad, always thought-provoking essays-all written especially for The Show I’ll Never Forget-are sure to connect with anyone who loves, or has ever loved, live music.
Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil, updated edition
by Ron RosenbaumIn Explaining Hitler, Ron Rosenbaum investigates the meanings and motivations people have attached to Hitler and his crimes against humanity. What does Hitler tell us about the nature of evil? In often dramatic encounters, Rosenbaum confronts historians, scholars, filmmakers, and deniers as he skeptically analyzes the key strains of Hitler interpretation. A balanced and thoughtful overview of a subject both frightening and profound, this is an extraordinary quest, an expedition into the war zone of Hitler theories, "a provocative work of cultural history that is as compelling as it is thoughtful, as readable as it is smart” (New York Times). First published in 1998 to rave reviews, Explaining Hitler became a New York Times-bestseller. This new edition is an update of that classic and a critically important contribution to the study of the twentieth century’s darkest moment.
Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity
by Kerry CohenFor everyone who was that girl.For everyone who knew that girl.For everyone who wondered who that girl was. Kerry Cohen is eleven years old when she recognizes the power of her body in the leer of a grown man. Her parents are recently divorced and it doesn't take long before their lassitude and Kerry's desire to stand out--to be memorable in some way--combine to lead her down a path she knows she shouldn't take. Kerry wanted attention. She wanted love. But not really understanding what love was, not really knowing how to get it, she reached for sex instead. Loose Girl is Kerry Cohen's captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy. The story of addiction--not just to sex, but to male attention--Loose Girl is also the story of a young girl who came to believe that boys and men could give her life meaning. It didn't matter who he was. It was their movement that mattered, their being together. And for a while, that was enough. From the early rush of exploration to the day she learned to quiet the desperation and allow herself to love and be loved, Kerry's story is never less than riveting. In rich and immediate detail, Loose Girl re-creates what it feels like to be in that desperate moment, when a girl tries to control a boy by handing over her body, when the touch of that boy seems to offer proof of something, but ultimately delivers little more than emptiness. Kerry Cohen's journey from that hopeless place to her current confident and fulfilled existence is a cautionary tale and a revelation for girls young and old. The unforgettable memoir of one young woman who desperately wanted to matter, Loose Girl will speak to countless others with its compassion, understanding, and love.
My Week with Marilyn
by Colin ClarkIn 1956 twenty-three-year-old Colin Clark began work as a lowly assistant on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl, the film that united Sir Laurence Olivier with Marilyn Monroe. The blonde bombshell and the legendary actor were ill suited from the start. Monroe, on honeymoon with her new husband, the celebrated playwright Arthur Miller, was insecure, often late, and heavily medicated on pills. Olivier, obsessively punctual, had no patience for Monroe and the production became chaotic. Clark was perceptive in his assessment of what seemed to be going wrong in Monroe's life: too many hangers-on, intense insecurity, and too many pills. Before long, Monroe and Clark spent an innocent week together in the English countryside and Clark became her confidant and ally.
Strings Attached: One Tough Teacher And The Art Of Perfection
by Joanne Lipman Melanie KupchynskyStrings Attached is a powerful memoir about resilience in the face of unspeakable tragedy, an inspiring and poignant tale of how one man transformed his own heartache into a legacy of joy for his students. His students knew Jerry Kupchynsky as "Mr. K"-the fierce Ukrainian-born music teacher who rehearsed them until their fingers almost bled and who made them better than they ever expected to be. Away from the classroom, though, life seemed to conspire against him at every turn. Strings Attached takes you on his remarkable journey, from his childhood on the run in Nazi Germany, to his life in America caring for his disabled wife while raising their two small daughters, to his search for his beloved younger daughter after she mysteriously disappeared-a search that would last for seven years. His unforgettable story is lyrically told in alternating chapters by two childhood friends who reconnected decades later: Melanie Kupchynsky, his daughter, and Joanne Lipman, a former student. Heartbreaking yet ultimately triumphant, Strings Attached is a testament to the astonishing power of hope-and a celebration of the profound impact one person can have on the lives of others.
Chiang Kai Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost
by Jonathan FenbyA history of China during the first half of the twentieth century.
The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir
by Katrina KenisonThe Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition-boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, an attempt to find a deeper sense of place, and a slower pace, in a small New England town. It is a story of mid-life longings and discoveries, of lessons learned in the search for home and a new sense of purpose, and the bittersweet intensity of life with teenagers--holding on, letting go. Poised on the threshold between family life as she's always known it and her older son's departure for college, Kenison is surprised to find that the times she treasures most are the ordinary, unremarkable moments of everyday life, the very moments that she once took for granted, or rushed right through without noticing at all. The relationships, hopes, and dreams that Kenison illuminates will touch women's hearts, and her words will inspire mothers everywhere as they try to make peace with the inevitable changes in store.
Mama Makes Up Her Mind: And Other Dangers of Southern Living
by Bailey WhiteWelcome to the unique world of Bailey White. Her aunt Belle may take you to see her bellowing pet alligator. Her uncle Jimbuddy may appall you with his knack for losing pieces of himself. Most of all, you may succumb utterly to the charms of Bailey's mama, who will take you to a juke joint so raunchy it scared Ernest Hemingway or tuck you into her antique guest bed that has the disconcerting habit of folding up on people while they sleep.White's indelible vignettes of Southern eccentricity have entranced millions who have heard her read them on NPR. Mama Makes Up Her Mind is as sweetly intoxicating as a mint julep and as invigorating as a walk in White's own overgrown garden.
Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain
by Charles R. CrossIt has been twenty years since Kurt Cobain died by his own hand in April 1994; it was an act of will that typified his short, angry, inspired life. Veteran music journalist Charles R. Cross fuses his intimate knowledge of the Seattle music scene with his deep compassion for his subject in this extraordinary story of artistic brilliance and the pain that extinguished it. Based on more than four hundred interviews; four years of research; exclusive access to Cobain's unpublished diaries, lyrics, and family photos; and a wealth of documentation, Heavier Than Heaven traces Cobain's life from his early days in a double-wide trailer outside of Aberdeen, Washington, to his rise to fame, success, and the adulation of a generation. Charles Cross has written a preface for this new edition, in which he recounts some of the events regarding Kurt Cobain and this book in the past two decades since his death.Cobain's health struggles and his tragic final days. More than the history of a rock and roll star, Heavier Than Heaven is a portrait of creative genius and the will to turn pain into art.
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
by Brad StoneThe definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos.Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators--Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg--Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing.THE EVERYTHING STORE will be the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.
The Horse Boy: A Father's Quest to Heal His Son
by Rupert IsaacsonWhen his son Rowan was diagnosed with autism, Rupert Isaacson was devastated, afraid he might never be able to communicate with his child. But when Isaacson, a lifelong horseman, rode their neighbor's horse with Rowan, Rowan improved immeasurably. He was struck with a crazy idea: why not take Rowan to Mongolia , the one place in the world where horses and shamanic healing intersected? THE HORSE BOY is the dramatic and heartwarming story of that impossible adventure. In Mongolia , the family found undreamed of landscapes and people, unbearable setbacks, and advances beyond their wildest dreams. This is a deeply moving, truly one-of-a-kind story--of a family willing to go to the ends of the earth to help their son, and of a boy learning to connect with the world for the first time.
Crosby, Stills & Nash: The Biography
by Dave Zimmer Henry DiltzCrosby, Stills & Nash created some of the most indelible songs and beautiful harmonies of the late 1960s and early 1970s: "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” "Woodstock,” "Teach Your Children. ” This copiously illustrated account of the trio’s personal and musical history tells the story behind the songs. Longtime CSN chronicler Dave Zimmer, with the full cooperation of the band, traces all of the performers from their musical roots to their first song together in L. A. ’s storied Laurel Canyon; from their addition of Neil Young to Woodstock; and through their stormy years of creative conflicts, reunions, and reconciliations. This new edition has been fully reconfigured and updated to celebrate the trio’s 40th anniversary and to accommodate over 300 photos, as well as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s controversial Living with War tour.
I Am Potential: Eight Lessons on Living, Loving, and Reaching Your Dreams
by Patrick Henry Hughes Bryant Stamford Patrick John HughesPatrick Henry Hughes was born with a rare genetic disorder that left him without eyes and physically disabled. But he was blessed with rare musical talent?able to play the piano as a baby. <P><P>Today, at age twenty, he is a nationally known pianist, singer, trumpeter, and marching-band member. With determined optimism, Hughes made ?I am potentialOCO his mantra, defying his disabilities at every turn. In "I Am Potential," Hughes and his father share their extraordinary journey and describe the eight critical lessons at the heart of their success. Simply and candidly written, "I Am Potential" is an inspiration for anyone facing their own challenges.
The Pink Suit: A Novel
by Nicole KelbyA novel based on the true story behind Jacqueline Kennedy's iconic pink suit. On November 22, 1963, the First Lady accompanied her husband to Dallas, Texas dressed in a pink Chanel-style suit that was his favorite. Much of her wardrobe, including the pink suit, came from the New York boutique Chez Ninon where a young seamstress, an Irish immigrant named Kate, worked behind the scenes to meticulously craft the memorable outfits. While the two never met, Kate knew every tuck and pleat needed to create the illusion of the First Lady's perfection. And when the pink suit becomes infamous, Kate's already fragile world--divided between the excess and artistry of Chez Ninon and the traditional values of her insular neighborhood--threatens to rip apart.The Pink Suit is a fascinating look at politics, fashion, and some of the most glamorous women in history, seen through the eyes of a young woman caught in the midst of an American breed of upstairs/downstairs class drama.
In the Best of Families: The Anatomy of a True Tragedy
by Dennis McDougalRonald Reagan's personal attorney Roy Miller was a California success story. The Miller family's friends could never have imagined the horror and darkness that were to follow as Michael, the Miller's youngest son killed and raped his own mother.
Four Years With the Iron Brigade: The Civil War Journals of William R. Ray, Co. F., Seventh Wisconsin Infantry
by Lance Herdegen Sherry MurphyBased on an major recent discovery-the Civil War as seen from the front ranks of a legendary fighting unit
Cabin Pressure: One Man's Desperate Attempt to Recapture His Youth as a Camp Counselor
by Josh WolkWhat happens when a grown man returns to the site of his fondest childhood memories? A wry, clear-eyed, and laugh-out-loud look at the transition to adulthood.Three months before getting married at age thirty-four, Josh Wolk decides to treat himself to a "farewell to childhood" extravaganza: one last summer working at the beloved Maine boys camp where he spent most of the eighties. And there he finds out that there's no better way to see how much you've changed than to revisit a place that hasn't changed at all.In these eight hilarious, uncomfortable, enlightening weeks, Josh readjusts to life teaching swimming and balancing on a thin metal cot in a cabin of shouting, wrestling, wet-willie-dispensing fourteen-year-olds who, contrary to the warnings of doomsaying sociologists, he finds indistinguishable from the rowdy fourteen-year-olds of his day in any way other than their haircuts. With his old camp friends gone, he finds himself working alongside guys who used to be his campers. Moments of feeling cripplingly old are offset by the corrosive insecurities of his youth when he's paired in the cabin with Mitch, the forty-two-year-old jack-of-all-extreme-sports whose machismo intimidated Josh so much fifteen years earlier, and whom their current campers idolize. And throughout all this disorienting regression, Josh's telephone conversations with his fiance, Christine, grow increasingly intense as their often-comical discussions over the wedding become a flimsy cover for her worries that he's not ready to relinquish his death-grip on the comforts of the past.A hilarious and insightful look at the tenacious power of nostalgia, the glory of childhood, and the nervous excitement of taking a leap to the next unknown stage in life, Cabin Pressure will appeal to anyone who's ever been young, wishes he was young again, but knows deep down it probably isnt a good idea.
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven
by Susan Jane GilmanThey were young, brilliant, and bold. They set out to conquer the world. But the world had other plans for them. Bestselling author Susan Jane Gilman's new memoir is a hilarious and harrowing journey, a modern heart of darkness filled with Communist operatives, backpackers, and pancakes. In 1986, fresh out of college, Gilman and her friend Claire yearned to do something daring and original that did not involve getting a job. Inspired by a place mat at the International House of Pancakes, they decided to embark on an ambitious trip around the globe, starting in the People's Republic of China. At that point, China had been open to independent travelers for roughly ten minutes. Armed only with the collected works of Nietzsche, an astrological love guide, and an arsenal of bravado, the two friends plunged into the dusty streets of Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, they quickly found themselves in over their heads. As they ventured off the map deep into Chinese territory, they were stripped of everything familiar and forced to confront their limitations amid culture shock and government surveillance. What began as a journey full of humor, eroticism, and enlightenment grew increasingly sinister-becoming a real-life international thriller that transformed them forever. Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven is a flat-out page-turner, an astonishing true story of hubris and redemption told with Gilman's trademark compassion, lyricism, and wit.
Find Me
by Rosie O'DonnellRosie O'Bonnell shares what she learned through a phone and email relationship with a girl with a tragic story.
Bolt Of Fate: Benjamin Franklin And His Fabulous Kite
by Tom TuckerEvery schoolchild in America knows that Benjamin Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm in the summer of 1752. Electricity from the clouds above traveled down the kite's twine and threw a spark from a key that Franklin had attached to the string. He thereby proved that lightning and electricity were one. What many of us do not realize is that Franklin used this breakthrough in his day's intensely competitive field of electrical science to embarrass his French and English rivals. His kite experiment was an international event and the Franklin that it presented to the world-a homespun, rural philosopher-scientist performing an immensely important and dangerous experiment with a child's toy-became the Franklin of myth. In fact, this sly presentation on Franklin's part so charmed the French that he became an irresistible celebrity when he traveled there during the American Revolution. The crowds and the journalists, and the ladies, cajoled the French powers into joining us in our fight against the British. What no one has successfully proven until now-and what few have suggested-is that Franklin never flew the kite at all. Benjamin Franklin was an enthusiastic hoaxer. And with the electric kite, he performed his greatest hoax. As Tucker shows, it was this trick that may have won the American Revolution.
Driver #8
by Jade Gurss Dale Earnhardt Jr.Dale Earnhardt Jr., with his intensity and wild lifestyle, is a fresh face in the world of NASCAR, and shares the excitement, victory, and heartbreak that filled his rookie year. DRIVER #8 shows the insides of this popular sport: the strategies that go into each race and how they affect the outcome, how the driver needs a strong bond between his team and his spotter, and the pressures of making life-and-death decisions that he encounters behind the wheel.
PacMan: Behind the Scenes with Manny Pacquiao--the Greatest Pound-for-Pound Fighter in the World
by Gary PooleManny Pacquiao, 31, was recently named "Fighter of the Decade” by the Boxing Writers’ Association and is the only fighter ever to capture seven championship belts in seven different weight classes. But few could have imagined that Pacquiao would have ever reached the pinnacle of his sport, considering his background. He ran away from home-a cardboard shack in General Santos City in the Philippines-at age fourteen. After making his way to Manila, and eventually the United States, Pacquiao hooked up with trainer Freddie Roach in 2001, and, from there, his fighting career took off. Named one ofTimemagazine’s "100 Most Influential People in the World” last year, the aptly nicknamed Pac-Man is a fascinating figure who will go down as one of the greatest boxers in history.