I believe the more successful an actor becomes, the more chances he should take. An actor never stops learning." John Garfield Before there was Brando and James Dean, there was John Garfield. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, young Jacob Julius Garfinkle's talent and charisma carried him from membership in some of the Bronx's toughest street gangs to the boards of the prestigious American Laboratory Theater. As mercurial as he was talented, Garfield chafed at what he deemed "unfair" casting choices in New York and headed west to Hollywood, scoring an Academy Award nomination for his very first film role. Strong-willed, and with a gambler's bravado, Garfield was one of the first Hollywood stars to buck the studio system and start his own independent production company before being caught up in the career-jeopardizing web of McCarthyism.Author Larry Swindell tells the tortured tale of this cult movie icon, whose incredible talent and turbulent lifestyle made his tragically short life so compelling decades after his death.
One of the greatest movie stars ever, Gary Cooper set the standard for the strong, silent type in a career that spanned from the Hollywood's Silents to the Golden Age. Films like High Noon and Sergeant York made Cooper famous, but his private life was just as legendary. This book pulls back the curtain on the life and legacy of this American icon.
With his debonair good looks and French accent, it's no wonder female moviegoers of the 1930s and 1940s fell in love with Charles Boyer. His film performances in Europe made him a star, and Hollywood soon fell under Boyer's spell. His mystique extended beyond the screen, as his work with the French Underground in WWII made him a real-life hero.
Larry Morrow is one of Cleveland's most popular celebrities. In this book he tells stories from a lifetime in radio--how he got into broadcasting, early days in Detroit, the exciting times at Cleveland's AM powerhouse WIXY 1260 in the 1960s and '70s, and his long on-air runs at WERE AM and WQAL FM. He tells about many interesting celebrities he interviewed and unusual promotions he was involved in. Morrow was named "Mr. Cleveland" by mayor George Voinovich for his decades of tireless effort promoting his adopted city, and he has been selected as master of ceremonies for most major Cleveland events in the past three decades, including Cleveland's bicentennial celebration. He is in great demand as a public speaker and a communications teacher.
“Trumbo emerges from this well-rounded biography as a larger-than-life figure, not unlike the characters he scripted for the screen.” —Publishers Weekly James Dalton Trumbo is widely recognized as a screenwriter, playwright, and author, but he is also remembered as one of the Hollywood Ten who opposed the House Un-American Activities Committee. Refusing to answer questions about his prior involvement with the Communist Party, Trumbo sacrificed a successful career in Hollywood to stand up for his rights and defend political freedom. In Dalton Trumbo, Larry Ceplair and Christopher Trumbo present their extensive research on the famed writer, detailing his work; his membership in the Communist Party; his long campaign against censorship during the domestic cold war; his ten-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress; and his thirteen-year struggle to break the blacklist. The blacklist ended for Trumbo in 1960, when he received screen credits for Exodus and Spartacus. Just before his death, he received a long-delayed Academy Award for The Brave One, and in 1993, he was posthumously given another for Roman Holiday. This comprehensive biography, which includes excerpts of Trumbo’s letters, notes, and other writings, also provides insights into the notable people with whom Trumbo worked, including Stanley Kubrick, Otto Preminger, and Kirk Douglas, and a fascinating look at the life of one of Hollywood’s most prominent screenwriters and his battle against persecution.
From Death to Disney. Larry Watkin won the National Book Award in 1937 for his novel ON BORROWED TIME, about Death imprisoned in an apple tree. From there, after an adventurous stint in the US Navy, he joined the Disney studio, working alongside Walt Disney himself on live-action classics.
An account of the decades-long friendship between the iconic author and the famed actor, with photos included. In the autumn of 1940, two icons of American culture met in Sun Valley, Idaho—writer Ernest Hemingway and actor Gary Cooper. Although “Hem” was known as brash, larger-than-life, and hard-drinking and “Coop” as courteous, non-confrontational, and taciturn, the two became good friends. And though they would see each other over the years in Hollywood, Cuba, New York, and Paris, it was to Idaho they always returned. Here they hunted together, waded through marshes, and hiked sagebrush-covered hills, sometimes talking and sometimes not, but continually forging a close comradeship. That bond sustained them through the highs and lows of stardom, through personal trials and triumphs, and from their first conversation to their deaths seven weeks apart in 1961. Here, historian Larry Morris celebrates the story of that unforgettable friendship.
This true story of literary stardom and sudden tragedy is “a riveting book, shattering and shot through with the powerful poignancy of a life undone” (Detroit News). Raintree County, the first novel by Ross Lockridge, Jr., was the publishing event of 1948. Excerpted in Life magazine, it was a Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection, won MGM’s Novel Award and a movie deal, and stood at the top of the nation’s bestseller lists. Unfortunately, Lockridge’s first novel was also his last. Two months after its publication the thirty-three-year-old author from Bloomington, Indiana, took his own life. His son Larry was five years old at the time. Shade of the Raintree is Larry’s search for an understanding of his father’s baffling act. In this powerfully narrated biography, Larry Lockridge uncovers a man of great vitality, humor, love, and visionary ambition, but also of deep vulnerability. The author manages to combine a son’s emotional investments with a sleuth’s dispassionate inquiry. The result is “a book that is, in its own way, as remarkable and compelling as Raintree County” (Milwaukee Journal). “Larry Lockridge here faces the double tasking of writing a biography of his father and of finding out what drove him to a ruthless act of self-destruction. An immensely moving book, deserving of the Pulitzer Prize.” —Kirkus Reviews This edition includes a new preface by the author.
An acclaimed examination of how the American political system favors the wealthy—now fully revised and expanded The first edition of Unequal Democracy was an instant classic, shattering illusions about American democracy and spurring scholarly and popular interest in the political causes and consequences of escalating economic inequality. This revised, updated, and expanded second edition includes two new chapters on the political economy of the Obama era. One presents the Great Recession as a "stress test" of the American political system by analyzing the 2008 election and the impact of Barack Obama's "New New Deal" on the economic fortunes of the rich, middle class, and poor. The other assesses the politics of inequality in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 2012 election, and the partisan gridlock of Obama’s second term. Larry Bartels offers a sobering account of the barriers to change posed by partisan ideologies and the political power of the wealthy. He also provides new analyses of tax policy, partisan differences in economic performance, the struggle to raise the minimum wage, and inequalities in congressional representation. President Obama identified inequality as "the defining challenge of our time." Unequal Democracy is the definitive account of how and why our political system has failed to rise to that challenge. Now more than ever, this is a book every American needs to read.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.