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The Search for Sam Goldwyn (Hollywood Legends Series)
by Carol EastonSam Goldwyn's career spanned almost the entire history of Hollywood. He made his first film, The Squaw Man, in 1913, and he died in 1974 at the age of ninety-one. In the many years between, he produced an enormous number of films--including such classics as Wuthering Heights, Street Scene, Arrowsmith, Dodsworth, The Little Foxes, and The Best Years of Our Lives--and worked with many luminaries--Gary Cooper, Ronald Colman, Laurence Olivier, George Balanchine, Lillian Hellman, Howard Hawks, John Ford, Eddie Cantor, Busby Berkeley, Danny Kaye, Merle Oberon, and Bob Hope among them. When Samuel Goldfisch was born in the Warsaw ghetto, he was penniless; when Sam Goldwyn died in Los Angeles, he was worth an estimated $19 million. The Search for Sam Goldwyn locates the real Sam Goldwyn and shatters the "hostile conspiracy of silence" that protected his legend. In writing Goldwyn's story, Carol Easton has given us a fine examination of "the civilization known as Hollywood" and how Goldwyn himself shaped that culture.
The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers
by Marcia Gay HardenIn this lyrical and deeply moving memoir, one of America&’s most revered actresses weaves stories of her adventures and travels with her mother, while reflecting on the beautiful spirit that persists even in the face of her mother&’s struggle with Alzheimer&’s disease.Marcia Gay Harden knew at a young age that her life would be anything but ordinary. One of five lively children born to two Texas natives—Beverly, a proper Dallas lady, and Thad, a young naval officer—she always had a knack for storytelling, role-playing, and adventure. As a military family, the Hardens moved often, and their travels eventually took them to Yokohama, off the coast of Japan, during the Vietnam War era. It was here that Beverly, amid the many challenges of raising her family abroad, found her own self-expression in ikebana, the ancient Japanese art of flower arranging. Using the philosophy of ikebana as her starting point, Marcia Gay Harden intertwines the seasons of her mother&’s life with her own journey from precocious young girl to budding artist in New York City to Academy Award-winning actress. With a razor-sharp wit, as well as the kind of emotional honesty that has made her performances resonate with audiences worldwide, Marcia captures the joys and losses of life even as her precious mother gracefully strives to maintain her identity while coming to grips with Alzheimer&’s disease. Powerful and incredibly stirring, The Seasons of My Mother illustrates the unforgettable vulnerability and beauty of motherhood, as Marcia does what Beverly can no longer do: she remembers.
The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13 3/4
by Tez Ilyas'Essential...A complex blend of overexcited Adrian Mole-like anecdotes mixed with shocking moments of racism and insights into Muslim religious practices' Sunday TimesThe hilarious and pubescent debut book from your favourite British Muslim comedian (that's Tez Ilyas, by the way) is coming to a shop near you. You may know and love Tez from his stand-up comedy, his role as Eight in Man Like Mobeen, his Radio 4 series TEZ Talks, or panel shows such as Mock the Week and The Last Leg. Where you won't know him from is 1997 when he was 13 ¾. (But now you will - because that's what the book is about.) In this suitably dramatic rollercoaster of a teenage memoir, Tez takes us back to where it all began: a working class, insular British Asian Muslim community in his hometown of post-Thatcher Blackburn. Meet Ammi (Mum), Baji Rosey (the older sister), Shibz (the fashionable cousin), Was (the cool cousin), Shiry (the cleverest cousin) and a community with the most creative nicknames this side of Top Gun.Running away from shotgun-wielding farmers, successfully dodging arranged marriages, getting mugged, having front row seats to race riots and achieving formative sexual experiences doing stomach crunches in a gym, you could say life was fairly run of the mill. But with a GCSE pass rate of 30% at his school, his own fair share of family tragedy around the corner and 9/11 on the horizon, Tez's experiences of growing up as a British Muslim wasn't the fun, Jihad-pursuing affair the media wants you to believe. Well ... not always.At times shalwar-wettingly hilarious and at others searingly sad, The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13¾ shows 90s Britain at its best, and its worst.
The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13 3/4
by Tez IlyasThe hilarious and pubescent debut book from your favourite British Muslim comedian (that's Tez Ilyas, by the way) is coming to a shop near you. You may know and love Tez from his stand-up comedy, his role as Eight in Man Like Mobeen, his Radio 4 series TEZ Talks, or panel shows such as Mock the Week and The Last Leg. Where you won't know him from is 1997 when he was 13 ¾. (But now you will - because that's what the book is about.) In this suitably dramatic rollercoaster of a teenage memoir, Tez takes us back to where it all began: a working class, insular British Asian Muslim community in his hometown of post-Thatcher Blackburn. Meet Ammi (Mum), Baji Rosey (the older sister), Shibz (the fashionable cousin), Was (the cool cousin), Shiry (the cleverest cousin) and a community with the most creative nicknames this side of Top Gun.Running away from shotgun-wielding farmers, successfully dodging arranged marriages, getting mugged, having front row seats to race riots and achieving formative sexual experiences doing stomach crunches in a gym, you could say life was fairly run of the mill. But with a GCSE pass rate of 30% at his school, his own fair share of family tragedy around the corner and 9/11 on the horizon, Tez's experiences of growing up as a British Muslim wasn't the fun, Jihad-pursuing affair the media wants you to believe. Well ... not always.At times shalwar-wettingly hilarious and at others searingly sad, The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13¾ shows 90s Britain at its best, and its worst.
The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13 3/4 (Karen Pirie #71)
by Tez Ilyas'Essential...A complex blend of overexcited Adrian Mole-like anecdotes mixed with shocking moments of racism and insights into Muslim religious practices' Sunday TimesThe hilarious and pubescent debut book from your favourite British Muslim comedian (that's Tez Ilyas, by the way) is coming to a shop near you. You may know and love Tez from his stand-up comedy, his role as Eight in Man Like Mobeen, his Radio 4 series TEZ Talks, or panel shows such as Mock the Week and The Last Leg. Where you won't know him from is 1997 when he was 13 ¾. (But now you will - because that's what the book is about.) In this suitably dramatic rollercoaster of a teenage memoir, Tez takes us back to where it all began: a working class, insular British Asian Muslim community in his hometown of post-Thatcher Blackburn. Meet Ammi (Mum), Baji Rosey (the older sister), Shibz (the fashionable cousin), Was (the cool cousin), Shiry (the cleverest cousin) and a community with the most creative nicknames this side of Top Gun.Running away from shotgun-wielding farmers, successfully dodging arranged marriages, getting mugged, having front row seats to race riots and achieving formative sexual experiences doing stomach crunches in a gym, you could say life was fairly run of the mill. But with a GCSE pass rate of 30% at his school, his own fair share of family tragedy around the corner and 9/11 on the horizon, Tez's experiences of growing up as a British Muslim wasn't the fun, Jihad-pursuing affair the media wants you to believe. Well ... not always.At times shalwar-wettingly hilarious and at others searingly sad, The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13¾ shows 90s Britain at its best, and its worst.
The Secret History of Magic: The True Story of the Deceptive Art
by Peter Lamont Jim SteinmeyerPull back the curtain on the real history of magic – and discover why magic really matters If you read a standard history of magic, you learn that it begins in ancient Egypt, with the resurrection of a goose in front of the Pharaoh. You discover how magicians were tortured and killed during the age of witchcraft. You are told how conjuring tricks were used to quell rebellious colonial natives. The history of magic is full of such stories, which turn out not to be true. Behind the smoke and mirrors, however, lies the real story of magic. It is a history of people from humble roots, who made and lost fortunes, and who deceived kings and queens. In order to survive, they concealed many secrets, yet they revealed some and they stole others. They engaged in deception, exposure, and betrayal, in a quest to make the impossible happen. They managed to survive in a world in which a series of technological wonders appeared, which previous generations would have considered magical. Even today, when we now take the most sophisticated technology for granted, we can still be astonished by tricks that were performed hundreds of years ago. The Secret History of Magic reveals how this was done. It is about why magic matters in a world that no longer seems to have a place for it, but which desperately needs a sense of wonder.
The Secret Life of John le Carre
by Adam SismanThe extraordinary secret life of a great novelist, which his biographer could not publish while le Carré was alive. Secrecy came naturally to John le Carré, and there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep. Adam Sisman's definitive biography, published in 2015, provided a revealing portrait of this fascinating man; yet some aspects of his subject remained hidden.Nowhere was this more so than in his private life. Apparently content in his marriage, the novelist conducted a string of love affairs over five decades. To these relationships he brought much of the tradecraft that he had learned as a spy - cover stories, cut-outs and dead letter boxes. These clandestine operations brought an element of danger to his life, but they also meant deceiving those closest to him. Small wonder that betrayal became a running theme in his work.In trying to manage his biography, the novelist engaged in a succession of skirmishes with his biographer. While he could control what Sisman wrote about him in his lifetime, he accepted that the truth would eventually become known. Following his death in 2020, what had been withheld can now be revealed.The Secret Life of John le Carré reveals a hitherto-hidden perspective on the life and work of the spy-turned-author and a fascinating meditation on the complex relationship between biographer and subject. “Now that he is dead,” Sisman writes, “we can know him better.”
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe
by J. Randy TaraborrelliFrom New York Times bestselling author J. Randy Taraborrelli comes the definitive biography of the most enduring icon in popular American culture. When Marilyn Monroe became famous in the 1950s, the world was told that her mother was either dead or simply not a part of her life. However, that was not true. In fact, her mentally ill mother was very much present in Marilyn's world and the complex family dynamic that unfolded behind the scenes is a story that has never before been told...until now. In this groundbreaking book, Taraborrelli draws complex and sympathetic portraits of the women so influential in the actress' life, including her mother, her foster mother, and her legal guardian. He also reveals, for the first time, the shocking scope of Marilyn's own mental illness, the identity of Marilyn's father and the half-brother she never knew, and new information about her relationship with the Kennedy's-Bobby, Jack, and Pat Kennedy Lawford. Explosive, revelatory, and surprisingly moving, this is the final word on the life of one of the most fascinating and elusive icons of the 20th Century.
The Secret Life of Siegfried and Roy: How the Tiger Kings Tamed Las Vegas
by Henrietta Tiefenthaler Jimmy Lavery Jim Mydlach Louis MydlachFrom their humble beginnings in war-torn Germany, larger than life Tiger Kings Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn roared into Las Vegas and tamed Sin City like no other act before them. Their mind-blowing illusions captivated the world and broke box-office records. In just one decade at The Mirage, their magical extravaganza—featuring rare white tigers, lions, and elephants—grossed an astounding half billion dollars. Then, in one tragic instant, their world came crashing down. On October 3, 2003, Roy Horn was savagely attacked on stage by his 600-pound white tiger, Mantecore. Beating back death's icy grip after he literally “died” on the operating table, dark-haired Roy fought for survival as his blond doppelganger Siegfred watched and prayed. Suddenly, the show was over...or was it? In The Secret Life of Siegfried and Roy, three members of their inner circle—Jimmy Lavery, Jim Mydlach, and Louis Mydlach—unravel the story behind the famous duo's onstage act and personal drama. Louis—at Roy's side throughout his traumatic recovery—describes in detail the agonies of rehabilitating the partially paralyzed performer. Louis' father, Jim—head of security for the magicians—and Jimmy Lavery, a show consultant to the pair, provide additional insights about the ultimate showmen, as they masterfully hid a lifetime of secrets. In this compelling read, the authors reveal that the lives of Siegfried & Roy was their ultimate illusion.
The Secret Life of the Movies
by Simon BrewGet ready to spot hundreds of things you've never seen before across a wide range of films, in this brand new book from the creator of Den Of Geek. From the small references and inspirations, through to clues, hidden meanings and moments in frame that you may have simply missed, this indispensable guide is both a love letter to cinema, and a jam-packed treasure trove that no film fan will want to miss!
The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham: A Biography
by Selina HastingsHe was a brilliant teller of tales, one of the most widely read authors of the twentieth century, and at one time the most famous writer in the world, yet W. Somerset Maugham’s own true story has never been fully told. At last, the fascinating truth is revealed in a landmark biography by the award-winning writer Selina Hastings. Granted unprecedented access to Maugham’s personal correspondence and to newly uncovered interviews with his only child, Hastings portrays the secret loves, betrayals, integrity, and passion that inspired Maugham to create such classics as The Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage.Hastings vividly presents Maugham’s lonely childhood spent with unloving relatives after the death of his parents, a trauma that resulted in shyness, a stammer, and for the rest of his life an urgent need for physical tenderness. Here, too, are his adult triumphs on the stage and page, works that allowed him a glittering social life in which he befriended and sometimes fell out with such luminaries as Dorothy Parker, Charlie Chaplin, D. H. Lawrence, and Winston Churchill.The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham portrays in full for the first time Maugham’s disastrous marriage to Syrie Wellcome, a manipulative society woman of dubious morality who trapped Maugham with a pregnancy and an attempted suicide. Hastings also explores Maugham’s many affairs with men, including his great love, Gerald Haxton, an alcoholic charmer and a cad. Maugham’s courageous work in secret intelligence during two world wars is described in fascinating detail—experiences that provided the inspiration for the groundbreaking Ashenden stories. From the West End to Broadway, from China to the South Pacific, Maugham’s restless and remarkably productive life is thrillingly recounted as Hastings uncovers the real stories behind such classics as “Rain,” The Painted Veil, Cakes & Ale, and other well-known tales.An epic biography of a hugely talented and hugely conflicted man, The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham is the definitive account of Maugham’s extraordinary life.From the Hardcover edition.
The Secret Lives of Taylor Swift’s Cats
by Sue ChefYOU LOVED TAYLOR'S VERSION, NOW IT'S TIME FOR TAYLOR'S CATS' SIDE OF THE STORY.Meet Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson, and Benjamin Button - Taylor Swift's three cats. By day, they live the ultra-pampered, fame-adjacent lives that ordinary humans could only dream of. But by night, they live the ultra-pampered, fame-adjacent lives that humans could only dream of.Yet behind the calm exterior-of adoring Instagram posts, Time Magazine covers and internet lore (often self-penned), these beloved pets act as Taylor's behind-the-scenes fixers and have been essential in her rise to global musical dominance.Meredith, Olivia, and Benjamin, or the MOB for short, are three of the richest, most powerful, and most misunderstood cats in the world, who have bravely agreed to tell their story for the first time. In The Secret Diaries of Taylor Swift's Cats, the trio takes us through the cat flap and head-first into the intimate life of one Taylor Alison Swift.From sofas to scratching posts, on planes, planes, and aeroplanes, the Mob reflect on their international careers as mentors, advisers, sounding boards, and all-round odd-job merchants in service of Swift, having a paw in everything from merch choices to the all-important lyrics. Their judgement means everything: a faint miaow is considered high praise, a disgusted walk-out a code red. And with the Swift economy now generating enough capital to cause geopolitical panics, one ... paw out of place could mean the end of it all.
The Secret Lives of Taylor Swift’s Cats
by Sue ChefYOU LOVED TAYLOR'S VERSION, NOW IT'S TIME FOR TAYLOR'S CATS' SIDE OF THE STORY.Meet Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson, and Benjamin Button - Taylor Swift's three cats. By day, they live the ultra-pampered, fame-adjacent lives that ordinary humans could only dream of. But by night, they live the ultra-pampered, fame-adjacent lives that humans could only dream of.Yet behind the calm exterior-of adoring Instagram posts, Time Magazine covers and internet lore (often self-penned), these beloved pets act as Taylor's behind-the-scenes fixers and have been essential in her rise to global musical dominance.Meredith, Olivia, and Benjamin, or the MOB for short, are three of the richest, most powerful, and most misunderstood cats in the world, who have bravely agreed to tell their story for the first time. In The Secret Diaries of Taylor Swift's Cats, the trio takes us through the cat flap and head-first into the intimate life of one Taylor Alison Swift.From sofas to scratching posts, on planes, planes, and aeroplanes, the Mob reflect on their international careers as mentors, advisers, sounding boards, and all-round odd-job merchants in service of Swift, having a paw in everything from merch choices to the all-important lyrics. Their judgement means everything: a faint miaow is considered high praise, a disgusted walk-out a code red. And with the Swift economy now generating enough capital to cause geopolitical panics, one ... paw out of place could mean the end of it all.
The Secret Of Chess
by Lyudmil TsvetkovLearn the secrets of chess from the only person able to beat the world number 1 chess engine Stockfish. Learn chess 5 times easier through pattern recognition. Attain deep chess knowledge in an intuitive way through a wealth of diagrams(more than 500). Read about topics no other chess author has ever discussed in the past. This book is an entertaining story, combining in one all the elements of positional evaluation in chess. Learn things from the future of chess. Learning straight from the author who has contributed a lot for the development of the strongest chess engine on Earth, Stockfish.
The Secret Song of Shelby Rey: A Novel
by Rayne LackoFor fans of Gayle Forman and Sarah Dessen, a musically gifted teen in 2008 Los Angeles gets caught up in the tumultuous world of a narcissistic rock star and his brilliant but heroin-addicted bandmate. A story of love, music, addiction, and self-discovery from the author of A Song For The Road Eighteen-year-old Shelby Rey has a secret superpower: she can hear people&’s deepest emotions and truths, in song form, just by touching them. But in a world where everyone guards their secrets, her gift feels more like a curse. Life has been hard since she lost her dad, but it reaches a new low when she gets kicked out by her drug-addicted mom. Shelby&’s life hits a turning point, however, when she meets Zac Wyatt, a chart-topping rock star with a hidden side only she can hear. Swept into his world of fame and music, Shelby forms an electrifying connection with Zac that she can&’t resist. But darkness lurks beneath the spotlight. Zac&’s jealousy of his bandmate Stanford, a troubled musical genius, threatens to destroy everything—and when Shelby uncovers Stanford&’s devastating truth, she faces an impossible choice that could shatter their world. In a whirlwind of love, betrayal, heartbreak, and injustice, Shelby must find the courage to listen to her own inner song.
The Secret to Happy: How to build resilience, banish self-doubt and live the life you deserve
by Vicky PattisonThe debut self-help book from Vicky Pattison, on how to quash your inner doubts, overcome fear and live a happier life."If there's any woman out there who is feeling like they're going through things on their own, or they're worried that they're not achieving what they should be, or feeling or looking how they should, I want this book to let you know you're not alone."In over a decade on television, Vicky Pattison has had her fair share of ups and downs, from her rise to fame on Geordie Shore to her public break-up with her fiancé, her body confidence issues and debilitating anxiety. In The Secret to Happy, Vicky opens up about her darkest moments and shares the pearls of wisdom and hard-won lessons she's picked up along the way - to overcoming heartbreak, ending toxic relationships and managing her mental health - to help you find inner strength, accept imperfections and be true to yourself.Brave, honest and insightful, with Vicky's trademark Geordie humour, The Secret to Happy is an empowering and uplifting guide to help you find your own kind of happiness, whatever that looks like.
The Secret to Happy: How to build resilience, banish self-doubt and live the life you deserve
by Vicky PattisonThe debut self-help book from Vicky Pattison, on how to quash your inner doubts, overcome fear and live a happier life."If there's any woman out there who is feeling like they're going through things on their own, or they're worried that they're not achieving what they should be, or feeling or looking how they should, I want this book to let you know you're not alone."In over a decade on television, Vicky Pattison has had her fair share of ups and downs, from her rise to fame on Geordie Shore to her public break-up with her fiancé, her body confidence issues and debilitating anxiety. In The Secret to Happy, Vicky opens up about her darkest moments and shares the pearls of wisdom and hard-won lessons she's picked up along the way - to overcoming heartbreak, ending toxic relationships and managing her mental health - to help you find inner strength, accept imperfections and be true to yourself.Brave, honest and insightful, with Vicky's trademark Geordie humour, The Secret to Happy is an empowering and uplifting guide to help you find your own kind of happiness, whatever that looks like.
The Secret to Happy: How to build resilience, banish self-doubt and live the life you deserve
by Vicky PattisonTHE IMMEDIATE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe debut self-help book from Vicky Pattison, on how to quash your inner doubts, overcome fear and live a happier life."If there's any woman out there who is feeling like they're going through things on their own, or they're worried that they're not achieving what they should be, or feeling or looking how they should, I want this book to let you know you're not alone."In over a decade on television, Vicky Pattison has had her fair share of ups and downs, from her rise to fame on Geordie Shore to her public break-up with her fiancé, her body confidence issues and debilitating anxiety. In The Secret to Happy, Vicky opens up about her darkest moments and shares the pearls of wisdom and hard-won lessons she's picked up along the way - to overcoming heartbreak, ending toxic relationships and managing her mental health - to help you find inner strength, accept imperfections and be true to yourself.Brave, honest and insightful, with Vicky's trademark Geordie humour, The Secret to Happy is an empowering and uplifting guide to help you find your own kind of happiness, whatever that looks like.
The Secrets of My Life
by Caitlyn JennerTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERIn this remarkable memoir - written with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Buzz Bissinger during her pivotal first years of rebirth - Caitlyn Jenner reflects on her past as she looks to her future. With poignancy and humour, Caitlyn writes about her confusion growing up, the temporary triumph of the Olympics as Bruce Jenner, and the noose of being endlessly described as the ultimate in manhood. She reveals her sense of shame and deceit she felt as she got older, as she went to great lengths to tell lies to conceal her true self. She also delves into her life in the public eye; her marriages and her troubled relationships with her children; what lead to her decision to becoming Caitlyn, and how the transgender community and the world has embraced her new life. Written with a searing honesty, this books shows you the real and true Caitlyn.
The Secrets of My Life
by Caitlyn JennerIn this remarkable memoir - written with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Buzz Bissinger during her pivotal first years of rebirth - Caitlyn Jenner reflects on her past as she looks to her future.With poignancy and humour, Caitlyn writes about her confusion growing up, the temporary triumph of the Olympics as Bruce Jenner, and the noose of being endlessly described as the ultimate in manhood. She reveals her sense of shame and deceit she felt as she got older, as she went to great lengths to tell lies to conceal her true self. She also delves into her life in the public eye; her marriages and her troubled relationships with her children; what lead to her decision to becoming Caitlyn, and how the transgender community and the world has embraced her new life. Written with a searing honesty, this books shows you the real and true Caitlyn.Read by Erin Bennett with a special introduction read by Caitlyn Jenner.(p) 2017 Hachette Audio
The Security Breach Files: An AFK Book (Five Nights At Freddy's)
by Scott CawthonEverything fans will want to know about the newest Five Night's at Freddy's game "Security Breach", in a deluxe hardcover!A deep dive into the newest Five Nights at Freddy's game is presented here in a giant hardcover that will make the perfect addition to any fan’s library. From the newest animatronics to the deepest maps and easter eggs, everything is laid out in awesome detail that will deepen the knowledge of even the most enthusiastic player. A must-have for Freddy Fans!
The Seduction of Space: Cruising French Cinema
by Jules O'DwyerA bold and far-reaching new study of French queer cinema reimagines the relationship between sexuality and space Spatiality has long been a crucial and potent lens for understanding French culture and aesthetics. While canonical greats of French cinema such as Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, and Louis Malle invoked the notion of flânerie to explore ideas of modernism, spatial exploration, and urban sociality, Jules O&’Dwyer demonstrates how a more recent generation of French queer filmmakers continues to engage with—and contest—this legacy by focusing attention on the cognate practice of cruising. Through the work of Jacques Nolot, Sébastien Lifshitz, Christophe Honoré, Vincent Dieutre, Alain Guiraudie, and others, The Seduction of Space draws film theory, queer studies, and spatial inquiry into close proximity to examine the politics of cruising and the gendering of space. Making the case that cinema not only documents the queer spaces of the past but continues to produce them, O&’Dwyer maps the relationships between sex and spatiality as he takes up such varied topics as public sex in the porn theater, racial eroticization in the banlieue, and the ecocritical valences of rural cruising. Foregrounding the crucial role that spatiality plays in shaping the parameters of France&’s visual cultures and political imaginary, The Seduction of Space is both an urgent queer reconceptualization of this tradition and a clarion call for film scholars to tarry with the politics of sexuality in all its messiness. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.
The Selected Correspondence of Aaron Copland
by Aaron Copland Wayne Shirley Elizabeth Bergman CristThis is the first book devoted to the correspondence of composer Aaron Copland, covering his life from age eight to eighty-seven. The chronologically arranged collection includes letters to many significant figures in American twentieth-century music as well as Copland's friends, family, teachers, and colleagues. Selected for readability, interest, and the light they cast upon the composer's thoughts and career, the letters are carefully annotated and each published in its entirety. Copland was a gifted and natural letter writer who revealed much more about himself in his letters than in formal writings in which he was conscious of his position as spokesman for modern music. The collected letters offer insights into his music, personality, and ideas, along with fascinating glimpses into the lives of such other well-known musicians as Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Chávez, William Schuman, and Virgil Thomson.
The Selected Letters of Elia Kazan
by Elia KazanThis collection of nearly three hundred letters gives us the life of Elia Kazan unfiltered, with all the passion, vitality, and raw honesty that made him such an important and formidable stage director (A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman), film director (On the Waterfront, East of Eden), novelist, and memoirist. Elia Kazan's lifelong determination to be a "sincere, conscious, practicing artist" resounds in these letters--fully annotated throughout--in every phase of his career: his exciting apprenticeship with the new and astonishing Group Theatre, as stagehand, stage manager, and actor (Waiting for Lefty, Golden Boy) . . . his first tentative and then successful attempts at directing for the theater and movies (The Skin of Our Teeth, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) . . . his cofounding in 1947 of the Actors Studio and his codirection of the nascent Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center . . . his innovative and celebrated work on Broadway (All My Sons, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, J.B.) and in Hollywood (Gentleman's Agreement, Splendor in the Grass, A Face in the Crowd, Baby Doll) . . . his birth as a writer. Kazan directed virtually back-to-back the greatest American dramas of the era--by Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams--and helped shape their future productions. Here we see how he collaborated with these and other writers: Clifford Odets, Thornton Wilder, John Steinbeck, and Budd Schulberg among them. The letters give us a unique grasp of his luminous insights on acting, directing, producing, as he writes to and about Marlon Brando, James Dean, Warren Beatty, Robert De Niro, Boris Aronson, and Sam Spiegel, among others. We see Kazan's heated dealings with studio moguls Darryl Zanuck and Jack Warner, his principled resistance to film censorship, and the upheavals of his testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. These letters record as well the inner life of the artist and the man. We see his startling candor in writing to his first wife, his confidante and adviser, Molly Day Thacher--they did not mince words with each other. And we see a father's letters to and about his children. An extraordinary portrait of a complex, intense, monumentally talented man who engaged the political, moral, and artistic currents of the twentieth century. From the Hardcover edition.
The Self in Performance: Autobiographical, Self-Revelatory, and Autoethnographic Forms of Therapeutic Theatre
by Susana Pendzik, Renée Emunah and David Read JohnsonThis book is the first to examine the performance of autobiographical material as a theatrical form, a research subject, and a therapeutic method. Contextualizing personal performance within psychological and theatrical paradigms, the book identifies and explores core concepts, such as the function of the director/therapist throughout the creative process, the role of the audience, and the dramaturgy involved in constructing such performances. It thus provides insights into a range of Autobiographic Therapeutic Performance forms, including Self-Revelatory and Autoethnographic Performance. Addressing issues of identity, memory, authenticity, self-reflection, self-indulgence, and embodied self-representation, the book presents, with both breadth and depth, a look at this fascinating field, gathering contributions by notable professionals around the world. Methods and approaches are illustrated with case examples that range from clients in private practice in California, through students in drama therapy training in the UK, to inmates in Lebanese prisons.