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The Last Sultan
by Robert GreenfieldThe Last Sultan is the definitive biography of a man who changed popular culture throughout the world. As the founder and head of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun signed and/or recorded many of the greatest musical artists of all time, among them Ruth Brown; Big Joe Turner; Ray Charles; Bobby Darin; Sonny and Cher; Eric Clapton; Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Led Zeppelin; the Rolling Stones; Bette Midler; and Kid Rock. Working alongside his older brother, Nesuhi, one of the preeminent jazz producers of all time, and the legendary Jerry Wexler, who produced great soul artists like Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, and Aretha Franklin, Ertegun transformed Atlantic Records from a small independent record label into a hugely profitable multinational corporation. In successive generations, he also served as a mentor to record-business tyros like Phil Spector, David Geffen, and Lyor Cohen. Brilliant, cultured, and irreverent, Ertegun was as renowned for his incredible sense of personal style and nonstop A-list social life as his work in the studio. Born into great privilege as the son of a high-ranking Turkish diplomat during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, Ertegun spent his life bringing the black-roots music he loved to the world. A larger-than-life figure, always hip, Ertegun lived in the grand manner but was never happier than when he found himself in some down-and-out joint listening to music late at night. Blessed with impeccable taste and brilliant business acumen, he brought rock 'n' roll into the mainstream while creating the music that became the sound track for the lives of multiple generations. With supporting characters like Steve Ross, Henry Kissinger, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jann Wenner, and a host of others, The Last Sultan is the fascinating story of a man who always lived by his own rules.
Stones Touring Party: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones
by Robert GreenfieldA journalist who rode along with the Rolling Stones on their 1972 US tour chronicles what he witnessed on and off the stage.The Rolling Stones’ 1972 tour of the United States was perhaps their best—and certainly most notorious—ever. Their previous visit in 1969 had ended in the nightmare of Altamont; now, three years later, they had just recorded their two finest albums, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street, and were musically in their prime—if also personally at their most dissolute and debauched.Robert Greenfield, one of America’s finest writers, went along for the ride and came back with a riveting account of high living, excess and rock & roll fury, from the Playboy Mansion to the jail cells of Rhode Island. This was an extended tour Party, capital P, to which all America’s hip, rich and glitzy were invited, from Truman Capote to Stevie Wonder, Annie Liebowitz to Hugh Hefner. The result has been acclaimed as one of the all-time classic music books.Previously published as STP: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones, this reissue uses the original title and features a new introduction by the author.Praise for Stone’s Touring Party“A compelling account of the Stones trashing America during 1972. . . . Greenfield was allowed the kind of access journalists can only dream of today.” —The Times (UK)“One of the greatest rock books ever written.” —GQ“Exceptionally well-written and highly readable.” —Jerry Hopkins, Los Angeles Times“Unsparing in its picture of the calculation and lyrical decadence behind the tour.” —John Rockwell, New York Times“Skip this review and rush right down to your local bookstore and get a copy . . . reads like the best fiction.” —Ed War, Creem
True West: Sam Shepard's Life, Work, and Times
by Robert GreenfieldA revelatory biography of the world-famous playwright and actor Sam Shepard, whose work was matched by his equally dramatic life, including collaborations with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan as well as tumultuous relationships with Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, and Jessica Lange&“Robert Greenfield&’s vivid, clear-eyed biography captures both the man and the myth—and, perhaps most important, the writer, who sang a new kind of song in American theater.&”—Michael Schulman, author of Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep True West: Sam Shepard&’s Life, Work, and Times is the story of an American icon, a lasting portrait of Sam Shepard as he really was, revealed by those who knew him best. This sweeping biography charts Shepard&’s long and complicated journey from a small town in Southern California to become an internationally known playwright and movie star. The only son of an alcoholic father, Shepard crafted a public persona as an authentic American archetype: the loner, the cowboy, the drifter, the stranger in a strange land. Despite his great critical and financial success, he seemed, like so many of his characters, to remain perpetually dispossessed.Much like Robert Greenfield&’s biographies of Jerry Garcia and Timothy Leary, this book delves deeply into Shepard&’s life as well as the ways in which his work illuminates it. True West takes readers through the world of downtown theater in Lower Manhattan in the early sixties; the jazz scene at New York&’s Village Gate; fringe theater in London in the seventies; Bob Dylan&’s legendary Rolling Thunder tour; the making of classic films like Zabriskie Point, Days of Heaven, and The Right Stuff; and Broadway productions of Buried Child, True West, and Fool for Love.For this definitive biography, Greenfield interviewed dozens of people who knew Shepard well, many of whom had never before spoken on the record about him. While exploring his relationships with Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Jessica Lange across the long arc of his brilliant career, Greenfield makes the case for Shepard as not just a great American writer but a unique figure who first brought the sensibility of rock &’n&’ roll to theater.
Washington
by Meg GreenfieldA national bestseller and a timeless classic on the ways and mores of our nation's capitol
Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir
by Eloise Greenfield Lessie Jones LittleChildhood memories of three black women - grandmother, mother, and daughter - who grew up between the 1880s and 1950s.
How They Got Over: African Americans and the Call of the Sea
by Eloise Greenfield Jan GilchristAfrican Americans have been drawn to the sea for hundreds of years. In this collection of biographies, Eloise Greenfield examines how that connection to the sea has influenced generations of African Americans -- from a shipbuilder-businessman during the American Revolution to the first woman and African American to hold the highest-ranking position in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps. The lives of the extraordinary men and women included here create a stirring image of the powerful tie between African Americans and the water that has both bound them and set them free. Jan Spivey Gilchrist's artwork is as evocative as the profiles of the people it illustrates.
Paul Robeson (Crowell Biographies)
by Eloise GreenfieldA biography of the black man who became a famous singer, actor, and spokesman for equal rights for his people.
Rosa Parks
by Eloise GreenfieldA chapter book biography for early readers about one of the women who sparked the Civil Rights movement, by legendary author Eloise Greenfield and with illustrations by Gil Ashby. <p><p>When Rosa Parks was growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, she hated the unfair rules that black people had to live by—like drinking out of special water fountains and riding in the back of the bus. Years later, Rosa Parks changed the lives of African American in Montgomery—and all across America—starting with one courageous act. How could one quiet, gentle woman have started it all? This is her story.
Ten Minutes from Home: A Memoir
by Beth GreenfieldIn the tradition of such powerful personal memoirs as "My Lobotomy" by Howard Dully comes a beautifully written, wry, and funny memoir of growing up and moving forward after a shattering loss.
The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life
by Amy Butler GreenfieldAn inspiring true story, perfect for fans of Hidden Figures, about an American woman who pioneered codebreaking in WWI and WWII but was only recently recognized for her extraordinary contributions.Elizebeth Smith Friedman had a rare talent for spotting patterns and solving puzzles. These skills led her to become one of the top cryptanalysts in America during both World War I and World War II. She originally came to code breaking through her love for Shakespeare when she was hired by an eccentric millionaire to prove that Shakespeare's plays had secret messages in them. Within a year, she had learned so much about code breaking that she was a star in the making. She went on to play a major role decoding messages during WWI and WWII and also for the Coast Guard's war against smugglers. Elizebeth and her husband, William, became the top code-breaking team in the US, and she did it all at a time when most women weren't welcome in the workforce. Amy Butler Greenfield is an award-winning historian and novelist who aims to shed light on this female pioneer of the STEM community.
Boy Alone
by Karl Taro GreenfeldKarl Taro Greenfeld knew from an early age that his little brother, Noah, was not like other children. He couldn't crawl, and he had trouble making eye contact or interacting with his family. As Noah grew older, his differences became even more pronounced--he was unable to communicate verbally, use the toilet, or tie his shoes, and despite his angelic demeanor, he often had violent outbursts. No doctor, social worker, or specialist could pinpoint what was wrong with Noah beyond a general diagnosis: autism. The boys' parents, Josh and Foumi, dedicated their lives to caring for their younger son with myriad approaches--a challenging, often painful experience that the devoted father detailed in a bestselling trilogy of books. Now, for the first time, acclaimed journalist Karl Taro Greenfeld speaks out about growing up in the shadow of his autistic brother, revealing the complex mix of rage, confusion, and love that defined his childhood. Boy Alone is his brutally honest memoir of the hopes, dreams, and realities of life with a mentally disabled sibling. Seamlessly weaving together the social history of autism and autism research--as the Greenfelds lived through it in seeking treatment for Noah--with the deeply affecting story of two very different boys growing up side by side, this book raises crucial philosophical questions: Can relationships exist without language? How should aging parents care for a nonverbal, violent child, and then a grown man who is not self-sufficient? Is there anything that can be done to help an extremely autistic child or adult become a member of mainstream society? Haunting, tragic, and unforgettable, this chronicle of autism is a beautiful, wholly original exploration of what it means to be a family, a brother, and a person.
Standard Deviations: Growing Up and Coming Down in the New Asia
by Karl Taro Greenfeld"I was twenty-three and I had set off for Asia to become a writer, intrigued by lurid tales of booms, busts, drugs, sex, violence, magic. There was a wicked sorcery in Asia, in the economic profligacy of the early nineties, in the way financiers and businessmen took a rapidly wiring and developing continent and looted billions, like a titanic parlor trick converting all that wealth into abandoned office complexes and half-completed shopping malls. . . . I wanted it all--the money, the sex, the drugs. And to this day I believe that if I am honest with myself, despite all I have learned the hard way over the past decade, I would still want it all again, the fucking and the getting loaded and the scheming to get enough money to pay for that life."In the late 1980s, not long out of college, Karl Taro Greenfeld found himself stranded in New York, a failed writer before his career had even begun. His Jewish-American father angrily cut off support; his Japanese mother suggested he go to Japan to teach English. He did, accepting a job with no more promise than he'd had before. But he stayed in Asia for the next several years, working his way through a series of journalistic posts, watching a culture erupt before his eyes and facing his own demons. Through a series of vividly imagistic stories that range from the rigidly journalistic to the deeply intimate, Standard Deviations recounts Greenfeld's experiences--both professional and personal--during Asia's wild ride at the end of the twentieth century. Whether drinking Japanese cough syrup to get high with other Western expatriates, visiting a free-sex ashram in Bombay, or watching a former high school pal self-destruct as an equity analyst in Jakarta, Greenfeld evokes the spirit of a continent in flux at an explosive "bubble" economy's end--and a man confronting his own identity and aspirations.Raunchy, insightful, eloquent and moving, Standard Deviations is an uncompromising work of cultural observation and self-exploration.From the Hardcover edition.
March Forth
by Trevor Greene Debbie GreeneAt the age of forty-one, Trevor Greene, a journalist and a reservist in the Canadian Forces, was deployed to Afghanistan, leaving behind his fiance, Debbie, and his young daughter, Grace. On March 4, 2006, while meeting with village elders in a remote village in Kandahar Province, Trevor removed his helmet, confident that a centuries-old pact would protect him from harm. Without warning, a teenage boy under the influence of the Taliban walked up to him and landed a rusty axe in his skull, nearly splitting his brain in two. Initially, Debbie was told that Trevor would not survive. When he did, she was told that he would never be able to communicate or move on his own. But after years of rehabilitation, setbacks and crises, Trevor not only learned how to talk and move again, but in July 2010, he stood up at his wedding, Debbie at his side and Grace carrying their rings down the aisle as their flower girl. March Forth is a remarkable story of love told in two voices: first in Trevor's, up until the attack; then in Debbie's, as she works tirelessly to rehabilitate her fiance. Together, Trevor and Debbie have written the next chapter in their remarkable story.
Mom's List
by St. John GreeneAs inspiring as The Last Lecture, an unforgettable memoir that reminds us all to live each day with adventure and joy For Kate Greene, nothing was as important as her two little boys, Reef and Finn, and her loving husband, St. John, known as "Singe." Together, they shared a wonderfully happy family life--until Kate was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer. During her final days, Kate created what she called Mum's List. She included simple things like "look for four-leaf clovers" and "take them for walks along mummy's favorite beach." The list became Singe's rock. Mom's List is the book that Singe never wanted to write, but--in sharing the wisdom and inspiration that buoyed him during his darkest hours--he pays tribute to his beloved wife and the life she dreamed of for their sons after she was gone.
Heart of Atlanta: Five Black Pastors and the Supreme Court Victory for Integration
by Ronnie GreeneThe Heart of Atlanta Supreme Court decision stands among the court's most significant civil rights rulings. In Atlanta, Georgia, two arch segregationists vowed to flout the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the sweeping slate of civil rights reforms just signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Pickrick restaurant was run by Lester Maddox, soon to be governor of Georgia. The other, the Heart of Atlanta motel, was operated by lawyer Moreton Rolleston Jr. After the law was signed, a group of ministry students showed up for a plate of skillet-fried chicken at Maddox's diner. At the Heart of Atlanta, the ministers reserved rooms and walked to the front desk. Lester Maddox greeted them with a pistol, axe handles, and a mob of White supporters. Moreton Rolleston refused to accept the Black patrons. These confrontations became the centerpiece of the nation's first two legal challenges to the Civil Rights Act. In gripping detail built from exclusive interviews and original documents, Heart of Atlanta reveals the saga of the case's rise to the U.S. Supreme Court, which unanimously rejected the segregationists. Heart of Atlanta restores the legal cases and their heroes to their proper place in history.
Real Birth: Women Share Their Stories
by Robin GreeneIntimate and intensely personal, the forty-five first-person narratives contained in Real Birth: Women Share Their Stories offer readers a window into the complex and emotionally exciting experience of childbirth. Women from a full range of socioeconomic backgrounds and circumstances recount the childbirth choices they've made and the ways those choices have played themselves out in the real life contexts of their everyday lives. Readers meet women from all over the country who speak to us directly--no interviewer intrudes, no judgments intrude, and no single method of childbirth is advocated. Instead, these women offer us their candid experiences, presented clearly and unflinchingly. Medically reviewed by physicians Dr. Richard Randolph for the first edition and Dr. Deborah Morris for this second edition, Real Birth offers readers a plethora of correct information as well the kind of real scoop that other books and health care professionals are often reluctant to reveal. The result is a well-grounded book that reaches across the boundaries of childbirth literature. Real Birth is introduced by Ariel Gore, journalist, editor, writer, and founding editor/publisher of Hip Mama, an Alternative Press Award-winning publication about the culture of motherhood. Also included are an extensive glossary of medical terms, a thoroughly researched selective bibliography, and a list of resources of interest to pregnant women and new moms.
Edith Sitwell: Avant Garde Poet, English Genius
by Richard GreeneFor the better part of forty years, Edith Sitwell's poetry has been neglected by critics. But born into a family of privileged eccentrics, Edith Sitwell was highly regarded by her contemporaries: the great writers and artists of the day who attended her unlikely London literary salon. Her quips and anecdotes were legendary and her works like English Eccentrics confirmed her comic genius, while later she established herself as the quintessential poet of the Blitz.This masterly biography, meticulously researched and drawing on many previously unseen letters, firmly places Edith Sitwell in the literary tradition to which she belongs.
Edith Sitwell: Avant garde poet, English genius
by Richard GreeneFor the better part of forty years, Edith Sitwell's poetry has been neglected by critics. But born into a family of privileged eccentrics, Edith Sitwell was highly regarded by her contemporaries: the great writers and artists of the day who attended her unlikely London literary salon. Her quips and anecdotes were legendary and her works like English Eccentrics confirmed her comic genius, while later she established herself as the quintessential poet of the Blitz.This masterly biography, meticulously researched and drawing on many previously unseen letters, firmly places Edith Sitwell in the literary tradition to which she belongs.
Graham Greene: A Life in Letters
by Richard GreeneThere have been a number of Graham Greene biographies, but none has captured his voice, his loves, hates, family and friends-intimate and writerly-or his deep understanding of the world, like this astonishing collection of letters. Graham Greene is one of the few modern novelists who can be called great. In the course of his long and eventful life (1904--1991), he wrote tens of thousands of letters to family, friends, writers, publishers and others involved in his various interests and causes. A Life in Letters presents a fresh and engrossing account of his life, career and mind in his own words. Meticulously chosen and engagingly annotated, this selection of letters-many of them seen here for the first time-gives an entirely new perspective on a life that combined literary achievement, political action, espionage, exotic travel and romantic entanglement.In several letters, the individuals, events or places described provide the inspiration for characters, episodes or locations found in his later fiction. The correspondence describes his travels in Mexico, Africa, Malaya, Vietnam, Haiti, Cuba, Sierra Leone, Liberia and other trouble spots, where he observed the struggles of victims and victors with a compassionate and truthful eye. The volume includes a vast number of unpublished letters to authors Evelyn Waugh, Auberon Waugh, Anthony Powell, Edith Sitwell, R.K. Narayan and Muriel Spark, and to other more notorious individuals such as the double-agent Kim Philby. Some of these letters dispute previous assessments of his character, such as his alleged anti-Semitism or obscenity, and he emerges as a man of deep integrity, decency and courage. Others reveal the agonies of his romantic life, especially his relations with his wife, Vivien Greene, and with one of his mistresses, Catherine Walston. The letters can be poignant, despairing, amorous, furious or amusing, but the sheer range of experience contained in them will astound everyone who reads this book.From the Hardcover edition.
Russian Roulette: 'A brilliant new life of Graham Greene' - Evening Standard
by Richard GreeneProbably the greatest British novelist of his generation, Graham Greene's own story was as strange and compelling as those he told of Pinkie the Mobster, Harry Lime, or the Whisky Priest. A restless traveller, he was a witness to many of the key events of modern history - including the origins of the Vietnam War, the Mau Mau Rebellion, the betrayal of the double-agent Kim Philby, the rise of Fidel Castro, and the guerrilla wars of Central America.Traumatized as a boy and thought a Judas among his schoolmates, Greene tried Russian Roulette and attempted suicide. He suffered from bipolar illness, which caused havoc in his private life as his marriage failed, and one great love after another suffered shipwreck, until in his later years he found constancy in a decidedly unconventional relationship.Often called a Catholic novelist, his works came to explore the no man's land between belief and unbelief. A journalist, an MI6 officer, and an unfailing advocate for human rights, he sought out the inner narratives of war and politics in dozens of troubled places, and yet he distrusted nations and armies, believing that true loyalty was a matter between individuals.A work of wit, insight, and compassion, this new biography of Graham Greene, the first undertaken in a generation, responds to the many thousands of pages of lost letters that have recently come to light and to new memoirs by those who knew him best. It deals sensitively with questions of private life, sex, and mental illness; it gives a thorough accounting for the politics of the places he wrote about; it investigates his involvement with MI6 and the Cambridge five; above all, it follows the growth of a writer whose works changed the lives of millions.
The Unquiet Englishman: A Life Of Graham Greene
by Richard GreeneA vivid, deeply researched account of the tumultuous life of one of the twentieth century’s greatest novelists, the author of The End of the Affair. One of the most celebrated British writers of his generation, Graham Greene’s own story was as strange and compelling as those he told of Pinkie the Mobster, Harry Lime, or the Whisky Priest. A journalist and MI6 officer, Greene sought out the inner narratives of war and politics across the world; he witnessed the Second World War, the Vietnam War, the Mau Mau Rebellion, the rise of Fidel Castro, and the guerrilla wars of Central America. His classic novels, including The Heart of the Matter and The Quiet American, are only pieces of a career that reads like a primer on the twentieth century itself. The Unquiet Englishman braids the narratives of Greene’s extraordinary life. It portrays a man who was traumatized as an adolescent and later suffered a mental illness that brought him to the point of suicide on several occasions; it tells the story of a restless traveler and unfailing advocate for human rights exploring troubled places around the world, a man who struggled to believe in God and yet found himself described as a great Catholic writer; it reveals a private life in which love almost always ended in ruin, alongside a larger story of politicians, battlefields, and spies. Above all, The Unquiet Englishman shows us a brilliant novelist mastering his craft. A work of wit, insight, and compassion, this new biography of Graham Greene, the first undertaken in a generation, responds to the many thousands of pages of letters that have recently come to light and to new memoirs by those who knew him best. It deals sensitively with questions of private life, sex, and mental illness, and sheds new light on one of the foremost modern writers.
It Must Have Been Moonglow: Reflections on the First Years of Widowhood
by Phyllis GreeneIn December 1998, after fifty-six years of marriage, Phyllis Greene went from being part of the lifelong unit of "PhyllisandBod" to being just plain Phyllis. To deal with her feelings, she began keeping a journal. It Must Have Been Moonglow chronicles the emotional roller coaster of her first years alone in a collection of brief essays, like diary entries, that capture the sadness, the humor, and the triumphs widows encounter. She writes about the challenges presented by a quiet, empty house and how best to fill the hours. With wit and insight, she muses about the logistics of an evening out with a group of single, older women, none of whom drive very well; about handling the check when going to dinner with a couple; about marketing for one; and about the miracle of friendships on the Internet and the blessings of family. This is an intimate, candid, and engaging memoir, not about grief but about inspiration and strength.
A Drinkable Feast: A Cocktail Companion to 1920s Paris
by Philip GreeneA history of the Lost Generation in 1920s Paris told through the lens of the cocktails they lovedIn the Prohibition era, American cocktail enthusiasts flocked to the one place that would have them--Paris. In this sweeping look at the City of Light, cocktail historian Philip Greene follows the notable American ex-pats who made themselves at home in Parisian cafes and bars, from Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein to Picasso, Coco Chanel, Cole Porter, and many more.A Drinkable Feast reveals the history of more than 50 cocktails: who was imbibing them, where they were made popular, and how to make them yourself from the original recipes of nearly a century ago. Filled with anecdotes and photos of the major players of the day, you'll feel as if you were there yourself, walking down the boulevards with the Lost Generation.
To Have and Have Another
by Philip GreeneIn To Have and Have Another, Ernest Hemingway enthusiast and cocktail connoisseur Philip Greene delves deeper into the author’s drinking habits than ever before, offering dozens of authentic recipes for drinks directly connected with the novels, history and folklore, and colorful anecdotes about the man himself. With this cocktail companion, you will be able to fully enjoy Hemingway’s works beyond the limits of the imagination—pick up this book and taste how “cool and clean” and “civilized” Frederic Henry’s martini was in A Farewell to Arms, or sip a Bloody Mary, a drink rumored to be named by Hemingway himself! .
To Have and Have Another Revised Edition: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion
by Philip GreeneErnest Hemingway is nearly as famous for his drinking as he is for his writing. Throughout his collected works, Papa's sensuous explorations of the delights of imbibing engaged both his characters and his readers. In To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion, Philip Greene, cocktail historian, spirits consultant, and cofounder of the Museum of the American Cocktail, offers us a view of Papa through the lens Papa himself preferred--the bottom of a glass. A bartender's manual for Hemingway enthusiasts, this revised and expanded volume offers a unique take on Hemingway's oeuvre that privileges the tastes, smells, and colors of the cocktails he enjoyed and the drinks he placed so prominently in his stories they were nearly characters themselves. To Have and Have Another delivers fascinating and lively background on the various drinks, their ingredients, their histories, and the characters--real and fictional--associated with them. From the Hardcover edition.ted with them. From the Hardcover edition.