Originally written in 1959, this is the hilariously explosive account of Youngdahl, a novelist, playwright, ex-Mormon, and father of seven. He is a frenzied man who is beginning a letter-writing campaign to escape his curiously ironic situation, and, of course, his profession. Along with Abner Klang, his not-so-literary agent who seems to have misplaced the F key on his typewriter, Youngdahl joins forces with a Mormon bishop, a TV adapter, and a prizefighter, among others, to spearhead a comic revolution.
This is a novel about something we all know, something we carry within us: our inward rage, our lives of fantasy. Not all of us accommodate rage or fantasy in the same way. Most of us--bless us--go about our peaceful business, though our confidential fury may produce fantasies we'd rather not confess. Sometimes some of us translate fantasies to outer life. Most of us do not. Brown, in KILLING EVERYBODY (he has no other name we know), carries in his heart a burden of anger so terrible we think that he will burst. In a sense, he does. His rage communicates. His wife, a masseuse (her trade unknown to Brown: he thinks she's in real estate), soothes his rage when she strokes his body, but she knows that her husband will never rest until he has been liberated from his unendurable obsession. It is she who gives his fantasy reality, she who delivers death to his enemy. In this book a diverse company walks the streets of San Francisco: a romantic policeman, a sexually compulsive newspaperman, a businessman who cannot read, a neighborhood temptress, her mother, her children, her dog, a corrupt war-making congressman--and the ghost of the boy the congressman sent to die in war. It is a compelling story significantly familiar to all of us whose fantasies and outrage are accessible to our consciousness.
One of The Hollywood Reporter’s 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time • A National Book Critics Circle finalist • One of People's top 10 books of 2021 • An instant New York Times bestseller • Named a best book of the year by NPR and Time A magnificent biography of one of the most protean creative forces in American entertainment history, a life of dazzling highs and vertiginous plunges—some of the worst largely unknown until now—by the acclaimed author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back Mike Nichols burst onto the scene as a wunderkind: while still in his twenties, he was half of a hit improv duo with Elaine May that was the talk of the country. Next he directed four consecutive hit plays, won back-to-back Tonys, ushered in a new era of Hollywood moviemaking with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and followed it with The Graduate, which won him an Oscar and became the third-highest-grossing movie ever. At thirty-five, he lived in a three-story Central Park West penthouse, drove a Rolls-Royce, collected Arabian horses, and counted Jacqueline Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Leonard Bernstein, and Richard Avedon as friends. Where he arrived is even more astonishing given where he had begun: born Igor Peschkowsky to a Jewish couple in Berlin in 1931, he was sent along with his younger brother to America on a ship in 1939. The young immigrant boy caught very few breaks. He was bullied and ostracized--an allergic reaction had rendered him permanently hairless--and his father died when he was just twelve, leaving his mother alone and overwhelmed. The gulf between these two sets of facts explains a great deal about Nichols's transformation from lonely outsider to the center of more than one cultural universe--the acute powers of observation that first made him famous; the nourishment he drew from his creative partnerships, most enduringly with May; his unquenchable drive; his hunger for security and status; and the depressions and self-medications that brought him to terrible lows. It would take decades for him to come to grips with his demons. In an incomparable portrait that follows Nichols from Berlin to New York to Chicago to Hollywood, Mark Harris explores, with brilliantly vivid detail and insight, the life, work, struggle, and passion of an artist and man in constant motion. Among the 250 people Harris interviewed: Elaine May, Meryl Streep, Stephen Sondheim, Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Tom Hanks, Candice Bergen, Emma Thompson, Annette Bening, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Lorne Michaels, and Gloria Steinem. Mark Harris gives an intimate and evenhanded accounting of success and failure alike; the portrait is not always flattering, but its ultimate impact is to present the full story of one of the most richly interesting, complicated, and consequential figures the worlds of theater and motion pictures have ever seen. It is a triumph of the biographer's art.
Henry Wiggen, the bedraggled six-foot-three, 195-pound, left-handed pitcher for the New York Mammoths, returns to narrate another novel in his inimitable manner. Fans who loved him in Bang the Drum Slowly, The Southpaw, and A Ticket for a Seamstitch (all Bison Books) will cheer his comeback. Wiggen is now thirty-nine, a fading veteran with a floating fastball, a finicky prostate, and other intimations of mortality. Released from the Mammoths after nineteen years, the twenty-seventh winningest pitcher in baseball history (tied at 247 victories with Joseph J. "Iron Man" McGinnity and John Powell), Wiggen is not ready to hang up his glove. What impels Henry to pitch against Pate, to trek to California and as far as Japan? He still has a few seasons, a few innings left anyway. Is he principled or possessed? You'll have to decide for yourself as author Mark Harris plays out Wiggen's midlife crisis on familiar American turf: the baseball diamond.
It's not living if you don't reach for the sky... This beautifully illustrated gift book by Mark Harris draws from the power of the words from the bestselling song, "Find Your Wings.
One of The Hollywood Reporter’s 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time “One of the great works of film history of the decade.” —Slate Now a Netflix original documentary series, also written by Mark Harris: the extraordinary wartime experience of five of Hollywood's most important directors, all of whom put their stamp on World War II and were changed by it forever Here is the remarkable, untold story of how five major Hollywood directors—John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, and Frank Capra—changed World War II, and how, in turn, the war changed them. In a move unheard of at the time, the U.S. government farmed out its war propaganda effort to Hollywood, allowing these directors the freedom to film in combat zones as never before. They were on the scene at almost every major moment of America’s war, shaping the public’s collective consciousness of what we’ve now come to call the good fight. The product of five years of scrupulous archival research, Five Came Back provides a revelatory new understanding of Hollywood’s role in the war through the life and work of these five men who chose to go, and who came back.
Speed is a first-person novel about two brothers growing up half a century ago--the story of the narrator and his brother Speed, a magnificent boy in every respecct, except one. And Speed's one defect leads him to a mad act of nihilism that is remembered by his brother for a lifetime.
He knew the city reasonably well, if anyone can ever really know Berlin to whatever extent. There was something enigmatic, maybe charismatic but certainly contradictory, even tragic about the metropolis that had always intrigued Steve… As a Londoner, he knew also that it was as difficult to understand a city as it was to comprehend a human being, yet always worth trying... Londoner Steve, a retired professional and published fiction author in his early sixties, is on a creative journey in Berlin. Being Jewish, he harbours some ambivalence about a city he has visited many times, and even before the Berlin Wall came down, though Steve has always sought to understand its intriguingly complex and enigmatic character. With his wife’s blessing, he resides alone in a rented apartment in his favoured leafy and trendy neighbourhood of Prenzlauer Berg. Steve feels that he now is getting to grips with the German capital’s postmodern zeitgeist, revealing itself against the still echoing vibes of a turbulent 20th century history. His aim is to complete the first draft of a contemporary novel set in this enterprising, cosmopolitan, easygoing, even indulgent metropolis. But he would never have anticipated embarking on a parallel journey, a voyage of self-discovery – with two fellow passengers, two women, neither of them his wife – that could end in tragedy... Last Days in Berlin offers a unique perspective of Berlin through the eyes of a man whose own personal dilemmas seem to mirror the city’s own uncertainties.
What would it feel like to actually travel back in time? How meaningful or dangerous could it be to embark on such a voyage? Where on earth might a suitable candidate and launch site be found? And when would be the chosen era for a journey to the past? Divorcee David, an early-retired journalist residing in the university city of Cambridge, can and will answer these intriguing questions as he is offered a unique and mind-blowing opportunity to travel back in time to medieval Cambridge - despite having to satisfy a requisite pre-condition that is, literally, quite alien to him. His journey will take him on a transit across the centuries; including encounters with two special women. David invites you to accompany him on this incredible, unpredictable and perilous exploit in what was, to him, a virtually real world. For some of those involved, the story would end tragically; for others, life and happiness will prevail. But who is destined for which ending...? Readers of time travel fiction will delight in this first person account that plays with the laws of physics and engages with the history of its characters. Take a seat in a time travel venture that will grip you until the surprising final pages. Praise for Mark Harris’ other works: “Mark Harris’ style makes for easy reading and comprehension. He paints the background to each story with a delicate, gentle, and at times humorous touch.” - D J Coppel, BJR “I enjoyed this book more than I could ever have thought possible.” - Reggie Ross, Belfast Jewish Recorder
This book is a collection of Popular American Humor. Mark Harris likes to tell jokes and stories. He is part of the large Harris Family that thrives on story-telling. This collection of about four hundred jokes and stories are the best that Mark has heard. Many of the stories are very old and have been told and retold through the years. They have been changed or modified to fit current times or the needs of a particular story-teller. Some of the jokes are of fairly recent origin, but in most cases, a story or joke--whether old or new--cannot be attributed to its' creator. None of the stories originated with Mr. Harris: he is first a story collector and then a story-teller. At any reunion or gathering of the Harris Family, stories are told by those of the current generation. This art is now a family tradition, started generations ago. Perhaps the story that can best be told is that story-telling in the Harris Family will continue long into the future.
Upon returning from Afghanistan, journalist John Webster discovers a gang war in his backyard. Now he must find a way to survive in this Canadian warzoneor die in the crossfire. John Webster has seen the terrible things human beings can do. Hes an experienced investigative journalist, recently returned from the war in Afghanistan. John saw hell over there; he looked death straight in the face. He is glad to be back to the normalcy of his Canadian homethat is, until he realizes there is a war brewing in his own backyard, and peace is a word no longer spoken. John gets caught up in the battle between two of the most powerful and murderous criminal gangs in the city. Using what he learned on the foreign battlefields, he stays alive, despite the price on his head. The only way to save his own life is to find the man responsible for the brutal neighborhood bloodshed. When the police slap a subpoena on him, though, John finds his only solace on the streets. Suddenly, John is back in a warzone, fighting for his life. Will he be able to stop the bloodthirsty crime lords? The flashbacks to Afghanistan threaten to pull John into darkness. Soon, the past and present collide, and he cant tell which way is up or down. The need for redemption may be stronger than the need for survival as John Webster finds himself on his most dangerous assignment yet.
Mark Harris took you out to the ballgame in his Henry Wiggen novels, The Southpaw, Bang the Drum Slowly, A Ticket for a Seamstitch, and It Looked Like For Ever. In The Tale Maker, he takes you to college. Rimrose was well-read, smart, and strong. As the editor of the campus Sentinel, he was perfectly placed to observe how a university worked, and ideally inclined to expose its ethical weaknesses. Supported by his parents, he could concentrate on things that mattered: his writing, his wife-to-be, and his friends and enemies—including the warped Kakapick, who serves Rimrose lastingly as model and prototype of the literary scoundrel. Rimrose—Tale Maker of the title—turns from journalism to fiction-writing, kept alive by his wife’s practical and ingenious devotion to selling his stories, even those he has tossed in the trash. As he grows older and begets children, he worries about income and faces stultifying choices: managing his father’s small-town newspaper or playing politics in university service.
Winner of the 1991 New American Writing Award. Originally published in 1952, this poignant, romantic biography of the poet Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931) is well worth a second chance. From early on, Lindsay was a wanderer, tramping hundreds of miles along country roads, visiting small towns, never holding a job, writing poems of uplift and defiance, and giving them, or his drawings, away on the streets, selling them for food or declaiming them on the lecture circuit. Always poor and, in later life, plagued by illness, Lindsay died at fifty-two, leaving a legacy of virile, jazzy poems that, although out of style with academics, continue to bring pleasure to readers.
Sonic Wilderness accesses the critical value of unusual vinyl records that concern our relationship with nature. These wild records reveal unconventional perspectives on the entanglements of human life with animals, gardens and plants. They form a lyrical unconscious exposing the conventions and ideologies of popular music, their warped perspectives and acoustic radioactivity comprising a resistance to enduring social, psychological and political conditions.
Documents the cultural revolution behind the making of 1967's five Best Picture-nominated films, including Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate, Doctor Doolittle, In the Heat of the Night, and Bonnie and Clyde, in an account that discusses how the movies reflected period beliefs about race, violence, and identity. 40,000 first printing.
In his authorial debut, entrepreneur and businessman Mark Harris shares the secrets to success through the life stories of nineteen people who exude that special quality we all have--a quality Harris likes to call Magic Dust. It's that special something inside that inspires us and motivates us to do and be better, for our own sakes as well as for others. In their own words as well as in Harris's, each of the nineteen incredible individuals profiled within this book explores how identifying and tapping into their unique talents enabled them to achieve great things. Some of them are visionaries, gifted with insight and imagination. Others are implementors, whose talents and diligence get the job done. Still others are motivators, who inspire those around them through their own example, or warriors, who rise above all obstacles to succeed. No matter which category they fall under, their experiences will inspire readers of Magic Dust to look within themselves and identify their own special gifts.
It is generally assumed that science and religion are at war. Many now claim that science has made religious belief redundant; others have turned to a literalist interpretation of biblical creation to reject or revise science; others try to resolve Darwin with Genesis. "The Nature of Creation" addresses this complex debate by engaging with both modern science and biblical scholarship together. Creation is central to Christian theology and the Bible, and has become the chosen battleground for scientists, atheists and creationists alike. "The Nature of Creation" presents a sustained historical investigation of what the creation texts of the Bible have to say and how this relates to modern scientific ideas of beginnings. The book aims to demonstrate what science and religion can share, and how they differ and ought to differ.
Shattered A child brutalized, a family destroyed, a community wounded... but the story doesn't end there. “Stop being a victim. There's total healing- physical, emotional, and most importantly spiritual, for you in Jesus Christ.”
First published in 1946, Trumpet to the World can be seen as a landmark novel, rare for its profound rendering of a black man?s experience in Jim Crow America and prophetic of the social changes to come in the next decade. Its protagonist, Willie Jim, could have been brutalized by his family?s hard existence in Georgia, butøhe heads out early; could have been thoroughly demoralized by bigotry and discrimination in a hundred forms, but he learns to read and write and thinks for himself; could have been emotionally unfulfilled, but he learns to love in the midst of hate. After his marriage to a white woman, Willie Jim, caught up in the maelstrom of World War II, is sent to an army camp in the South, where his duty includes teaching English to other soldiers. A tragic event there compromises his future at the very moment a book he has written trumpets to the world his dream of social justice and universal brotherhood.
The Science of Global Warming Remediation examines the workings of a complex chemical system using concepts such as chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, and oxidation/reduction. It focuses on preventing environmental deterioration as well as using environmental chemistry for environmental cleanup or remediation. Further, it describes how to utilize mechanical, chemical, and biological methods to detoxify contaminated land or water. The book also considers how environmental legislation aims to modify human behavior so as to reduce or eliminate the environmental threats identified through science. Features: Presents multiple methods for water treatment Explains the physiological dangers of exposure to various toxic materials Illustrates the mechanisms of major partitioning systems and sinks for carbon dioxide Examines the mechanics of global warming and the potential long-term effects Provides step-by-step solutions to empower individuals to act locally
When City of Discontent was first published, it bore the subtitle "An interpretive biography of Vachel Lindsay, being also the story of Springfield, Illinois, USA, and of the love of the poet for that city, that state, and that nation." But the book is, like Carl Sandburg's Lincoln, not so much a biography as a poetic interpretation of the life of one of the state's leading poets of the first half of the century. "A lively, swift-moving, sympathetic story of a man who deserves to be remembered. . . . A book people will enjoy, and suffer over, and not soon forget." -- Library Journal
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