How did a debutante from Lake Forest, Illinois, end up in Boston's notorious “Combat Zone” and become its most famous stripper? What led her to convert to Islam and get engaged to Cat Stevens? And how did she end up traveling and performing with Andy Kaufman and hosting a radio show for the sexually bewildered opposite Dr. Ruth?

In 1977, an eighteen-year-old Lucy Johnson stripped out of her bellbottoms and Birkenstocks and was crowned the feature attraction at the Naked i Cabaret. Local and national media took note of her toney background and, for the next eleven years, she strutted her way into Beantown history as the "Socialite Stripper."

In Princess Cheyenne, Lucy Wightman recounts her wild, Zeligesque life both in and out of the Naked i. Smart and uproarious, this is the untold story of a legendary performer whose stage name is synonymous with “The Zone,” Boston's most mythical district, and a fount of nostalgia and wonder to this day.

“Smart, engaging...”—PopMatters

“Fascinating, informative, extraordinary, and essential reading for the legions of Jim Morrison fans.”—Midwest Book Review

Shrouded in mystery and the swirling psychedelic sounds of the Sixties, the Doors have captivated listeners across seven decades. Jim Morrison—haunted, beautiful, and ultimately doomed—transformed from rock god to American icon. With each successive generation of fans, the Doors become more popular and transcendent. Yet the band’s full significance is buried beneath layers of mythology and folklore.

In Roadhouse Blues, Bob Batchelor presents an epic tale of one of rock’s (and America’s) most significant periods, as the Age of Aquarius gave way to a new age of mayhem, presidential misdeeds, and murder. Batchelor combines cultural history, musical and lyrical analysis, and a broad stroke of pop-culture mythos to give fresh perspective on a pivotal time.

Candid, authoritative, and utterly absorbing, Roadhouse Blues is a biography of a man, a band, and an era that set the tone for the contemporary world. Beyond the mythology, the hype, and the mystique around Morrison’s untimely death, this book takes readers on a roller-coaster ride, examining the impact the band had on America as the nation veered from decadence to debauchery.

“We’re gonna have a real good time!” 

How did a debutante from Lake Forest, Illinois, end up in Boston's notorious “Combat Zone” and become its most famous stripper? What led her to convert to Islam and get engaged to Cat Stevens? And how did she end up traveling and performing with Andy Kaufman and hosting a radio show for the sexually bewildered opposite Dr. Ruth?

In 1977, an eighteen-year-old Lucy Johnson stripped out of her bellbottoms and Birkenstocks and was crowned the feature attraction at the Naked i Cabaret. Local and national media took note of her toney background and, for the next eleven years, she strutted her way into Beantown history as the "Socialite Stripper."

In Princess Cheyenne, Lucy Wightman recounts her wild, Zeligesque life both in and out of the Naked i. Smart and uproarious, this is the untold story of a legendary performer whose stage name is synonymous with “The Zone,” Boston's most mythical district, and a fount of nostalgia and wonder to this day.

“Sweeney's forensic research shines through an entertaining book that is a thoroughly delicious slice of Irish-Americana.”

—Irish Times 

"What makes the story of Murphy’s professional wrestling career so fascinating is the way Sweeney sets the scene for many of his matches...From the booming voice of “Whitey” Kaunfer welcoming cold patrons to the Old Mechanics Building to the sweaty, bloody, and crowded confines of the Boston Arena dressing room, Sweeney does an exceptional job... If you are considering this book for its wrestling content, you will certainly enjoy what you find."

—Slam Wrestling

Newspapers called him the “the man with the cast-iron toes,” “the best drop-kicker in wrestling,” and “one of the mat game's biggest box office attractions.” But Dr. John “Dropkick” Murphy's legacy extends far beyond the wrestling ring. Decades before the Betty Ford Center became a household name — and long before the band the Dropkick Murphys named themselves in his honor — the phrase going to Dropkick’s meant a person struggling with addiction needed help and would soon get some.

This book chronicles for the first time the unbelievable life of Dropkick Murphy, a professional wrestler who put himself through medical school during the Great Depression and then opened Bellows Farm, a one-of-a-kind institution that served as both a facility where elite athletes could train as well as a secluded place where down-on-their-luck alcoholics could go to sober up discreetly.

The celebrities who frequented Dropkick Murphy’s farm were many, and numerous professional athletes would go there to focus on their training and work out in his state-of-the-art gymnasium. As a result, Bellows Farm featured an unrivaled and revolving cast of colorful characters who brought it to life. Drawing on years of research and interviews, author Emily Sweeney goes behind the scenes to reveal the untold story of Murphy’s life, his farm, and the legendary events that unfolded there.

“The story of Ike Ibeabuchi is one of the strangest in modern boxing history and Luke G. Williams has told it with great clarity, sensitivity, and skill. President of Pandemonium is crammed with raw and revealing details as Williams draws us into the unsettling world of a man as vulnerable as he was destructive. It is a gripping read.”—Donald McRae, The Guardian

Ike “The President” Ibeabuchi had the boxing world at his feet in 1997 after vanquishing David Tua in a battle for the ages in Sacramento. The Nigerian heavyweight’s subsequent descent into a vortex of mental illness and crime and punishment was as shocking as it was tragic.

Was Ibeabuchi a vulnerable man exploited by a ruthless sport and a dysfunctional criminal justice system, or was he guilty-as-charged for his deeds and rightly punished?

Somewhere amid a colorful cast of characters including Republican politicians, crooked promoters, and demons hiding in air-conditioning units, lies the uncomfortable truth.

In President of Pandemonium, Luke G. Williams vividly recreates Ibeabuchi’s life in and out of the ring. Combining exclusive interviews with those who guided his career and observed him closely, as well as firsthand testimony from “The President” himself, this is a story of brilliance destroyed by dark forces, both real and imagined.

According to the FBI, more bank and armored-car robbers have come out of Charlestown, Massachusetts, than any other one-square-mile area in the world. With these robberies also came gangland violence and corruption. Fictionalized in the movie The Town featuring Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner, this is the true story of Charlestown and the thieves and gangsters who terrorized the community for decades.

On October 31, 1961, Bernie McLaughlin got shot dead in broad daylight in front of a hundred witnesses in the City Square section of Charlestown. Because of the ironclad code of silence in the Irish stronghold known as the “Green Square Mile,” no witnesses came forward. The murder ignited a bloody war between the McLaughlin Gang and Buddy McClean’s Winter Hill Gang that left more than sixty men dead.

Three decades later, as narcotics invaded Charlestown, and a concurrent Mob war raged between J. R. Russo’s North End crew and that of Patriarca-family boss “Cadillac Frank” Salemme, five thieves called the “No Name Gang” committed over a hundred heists across New England that cemented the enclave’s infamy. Grippingly cinematic and raw, Thieves of Charlestown delivers an unprecedented look at the real criminals who ruled the streets of “The Town.”