Name: Dogme Uncut
Brand: Jack Stevenson
Price: 26.95 USD
Availability: InStock

Jack Stevenson

Dogme Uncut

$26.95

In 1995, Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville) and three fellow Danish directors swore allegiance to a vow of chastity” aimed at jolting filmmakers around the world who had become stuck in the mire of slick, emotionally manipulative, high-concept, and bombastic movie productions. They named their philosophy Dogme95,” and its tenets demanded a return to the basic core of filmmaking: the use of natural lighting and a hand-held camera, and the refusal to use special effects, a soundtrack of any kind (only natural sounds found on location were acceptable), and movie sets (all shooting was to take place on location).

Like the French New Wave and 1960s American Underground film movements, Dogme had a profound affect on filmmaking around the world, including the sacred cow known as Hollywood.” In part because of the proliferation of relatively inexpensive digital cameras and technology, the movement resonated with young and independent filmmakers, creating a surge in back-to-the-basics, guerilla filmmaking. It also had a profound influence on everything from Hollywood filmmakers to dance choreographers to computer game manufacturers.

The list of films and filmmakers to come out of the Dogme movement reads like a who’s who of art-house cinema from the late-1990s and early-2000s: the aforementioned Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration), Harmony Korine (Julien Donkey-Boy), Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners), and Susanne Bier (Open Hearts), among many others.

Dogme Uncut is written by film journalist and historian Jack Stevenson, who, while living in Demark for the past decade, has had a true insider’s view of the Dogme movement from its conception to its early triumphs to its current incarnation. With a good deal of humor and fascinating insights, Stevenson brings a mixture of history, analysis, and reportage to bear on the eight-year-old film movement, examining the subject from multiple perspectives. Dogme’s debt to previous film waves” is explored, as is the impact Dogme itself has had on current trends in cinema and on today’s young filmmakers. Penned in a lively, accessible, and jargon-free style, Dogme Uncut is a richly illustrated survey of the entire Dogme canon that is both entertaining and hugely informative.

Brian Chidester

Pop Surf Culture

$39.95

From original beachcomber personalities like the Waikiki Beachboys to the rise of Venice Beach as a creative center for music, art, and film, Pop Surf Culture traces the roots of the surf boom and explores its connection to the Beat Generation and 1960s pop culture. Through accounts of key figures both obscure and popular, the book illustrates why surf culture is a vital art movement of the 20th century.

Pop Surf Culture includes essays about the popular beach” movies of the 1950s and ’60s, which featured such stars as Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon and the music of Dick Dale & His Del-Tones, Brian Wilson, the Pyramids, Gary Usher, James Brown, and Little Stevie Wonder.

Sixties art figures Michael Dormer and Rick Griffinas well as the surf magazines which promoted their artare featured alongside the progenitors of surf music,” from the little known (the Centurians) to the wildly popular (the Beach Boys). Duke Kahanamoku, the Gas House, Gidget, surfing on television, the bohemian surf aesthetic, surf music hot spots, Mickey Da Cat” Dora . . . the entire spectrum of pop surf culture is covered within these colorfully illustrated pages.

Michael Bohdan

What's Buggin' You?

$12.95

In What's Buggin' You?, author Michael Bohdan (aka Cockroach Dundee”)pest control operator and world famous curator of the Cockroach Hall of Fameshows you how to identify and control the pests that are driving you crazy. This humorous and helpful guide combines amazing trivia about pests with explanations on the latest treatments and techniques for getting rid of everything from ants to gophers to whiteflies. Annoying squirrels in your trees? Cockroaches in your kitchen? Rats in your attic? Bohdan will show you how to get rid of what’s buggin’ you!

Robert McKimson

"I Say, I Say... Son!"

$45.00

I Say, I Say . . . Son!” offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the work of the McKimson brothers, three of the most accomplished and influential animators in history.

Tracing the brothers’ careers from the 1920s onward, this beautifully illustrated book details how Bob McKimson created such beloved characters as Foghorn Leghorn, the Tasmanian Devil, Sylvester Jr., and the original Speedy Gonzales, and explores Chuck and Tom McKimson’s voluminous body of work at Warner Bros. Cartoons, Dell Comics, and Golden Books.

Featuring original art from the Golden Age of Animation, I Say, I Say . . . Son!” includes a wealth of material from the top animation archivesoriginal drawings, reproductions of animation cels, comic book illustrations, lobby cards, and screen capturesalong with never-before-seen photographs and other memorabilia from author Robert McKimson Jr.’s personal collection.

I Say, I Say . . . Son!” is a vibrant tribute to three groundbreaking animators whose long careers included work on the Looney Tunes, Pink Panther, and Mr. Magoo series, as well as many other animation classics.

Steven Sobel

Collecting Sins

$13.00

Collecting Sins is a highly-charged coming-of-age novel set in the Southern California of the late-1960s/early '70s. Steven Sobel evokes the inner environment of Ben, a sensitive and carefree youth confronting adulthood. Ben explores the labyrinth of sewers beneath the San Fernando Valley, cavorts on the sun-drenched, bikini-infested beaches of Santa Monica, and immerses himself in the hippie culture of Topanga Canyon. In the tradition of J.D. Salinger, Carolyn See, and Jay McInerney, Sobel takes us on a rollicking journey through the heady atmosphere of the era. Amplified by drugs, sex, rock 'n' roll, Vietnam, feminism, violence, and poetry. More than the story of an individual, Collecting Sins is the story of a generation before it came to power.

Chris Epting

Elvis Presley Passed Here

$16.95

Elvis Presley Passed Here is an amazing portrait of the bizarre, shocking, weird, and wonderful moments that have come to define American popular culture. The follow-up to the critically acclaimed James Dean Died Here and Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here, this third collection of the locations where the most significant events in American popular culture took place offers a fully illustrated encyclopedic look at the most famousand infamouspop culture events, providing historical information on more than 600 landmarks as well as their exact locations (including, of course, the Los Angeles park where Elvis Presley and his entourage would organize spirited touch football games against other celebrities).

John Bengtson

Silent Echoes

$27.95

Silent Echoes: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Buster Keaton is an epic look at a genius at work and at a Hollywood that no longer exists. Painstakingly researching the locations used in Buster Keaton’s classic silent films, author John Bengtson combines images from Keaton’s movies with archival photographs, historic maps, and scores of dramatic then” and now” photos. In the process, Bengtson reveals dozens of locations that lay undiscovered for nearly 80 years.

Part time machine, part detective story, Silent Echoes presents a fresh look at the matchless Keaton at work, as well as a captivating glimpse of Hollywood’s most romantic era. More than a book for film, comedy, or history buffs, Silent Echoes appeals to anyone fascinated with solving puzzles or witnessing the awesome passage of time.

Gary Adams

Conversations with Coach Wooden

$24.95

From legendary basketball coach John Wooden’s life lessons and pyramid of success” philosophy to musings on his favorite sportbaseballthis engaging account chronicles the friendship between Wooden and fellow University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) head coach Gary Adams. For nearly a decade, the two celebrated coaches shared an office and developed a close friendship that lasted 35 years until Wooden’s passing. Adams’s heartwarming narrative details discussions they shared about heroes, history, life, and their mutual favorite pastimebaseball. The book also reflects on Wooden’s core philosophies and the guiding principles behind his numerous basketball successes, including his election into two halls of fame as a player and a coach, winning 10 National College Athletic Association (NCAA) National Championships in a 12-year period, and being named NCAA College Basketball Coach of the Year six times. Recollections from Major League Baseball stars Eric Karros, David Roberts, and Chase Utley are also included, along with quotes from other athletes and associates of UCLA.

Peter Rainer

Rainer on Film

$24.95

From American Beauty (overrated) to The Night of the Hunter (masterpiece), this collection of Peter Rainer's film criticism spans the course of his illustrious thirty-year career, which dates back to the early 1980s. It is drawn from a wide range of publications, including the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Los Angeles magazine, the Los Angeles Times, New Times, and New York magazine, and is arranged thematically with chapters such as "Overrated, Underseen," "Some Masterpieces," "Documentaries," "Issues (Mostly Hot Button)," "Comedies (Intentional and Unintentional)," and "Literary and Theatrical Adaptations."

Rainer covers films both well-known and obscure and writes in depth about many film auteursStanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, the Coen brothers, Mike Leighand New Generation icons, such as Sofia Coppola and Paul Thomas Anderson. The careers of actors ranging from Marlon Brando to Jessica Lange to Robert De Niro are also given an extensive examination. No film buff's collection is complete without this comprehensive compilation that showcases the best work from a master contemporary film critic.

Margaret McCarthy

Letter Writing Made Easy! Volume 2

$12.95

In Letter Writing Made Easy! Volume 2, author Margaret McCarthy offers even more sample letters for hundreds of common occasions. Need to apologize to a friend? Want to complain about a rude salesperson? Having trouble expressing your feelings about a loved one's illness? Need to thank a co-worker for his assistance? McCarthy has provided samples which you can use as is, or modify to suit your own particular style or concerns.

How to write more intimate personal letters
How to write more powerful business correspondence
Practical advice on format, style, tone, forms of address . . . and much more!

So put down that phone and write a letter! It's not only more personal, it's more effective. And with Letter Writing Made Easy! Volume 2, writing a letter is a breeze!

Harvey Kubernik

Turn Up the Radio!

$45.00

Combining oral and illustrated history with a connective narrative, Turn Up the Radio! captures the zeitgeist of the Los Angeles rock and pop music world between the years of 1956 and 1972.

Featuring hundreds of rare and previously unpublished photographs and images of memorabilia, this collection highlights dozens of iconic bands and musicians, including the Doors, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, CSN, the Monkees, the Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner, Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Frank Zappa, Thee Midniters, Sonny and Cher, and many others.

The book also digs deep to uncover the studio musicians, background vocalists, songwriters, producers, and engineers who helped propel the Los Angeles rock and pop music scene to such a legendary status, such as Bones Howe, Barney Kessel, B. J. Baker, Merry Clayton, Jack Nitzsche, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Bobby Womack, and Kim Fowley.

Finally, Turn Up the Radio! pays tribute to the DJs who brought the music of Los Angeles to fans throughout Southern Californiaand, ultimately, the worldincluding Art Laboe, Dave Hull, the Real Don Steele, and Dave Diamond.

Packed with exclusive interviews, this one-of-a-kind keepsake is a must-have for any music fan.

Kenneth Wong

A Prayer for Burma

$14.95

After living in the United States for over a decade, Kenneth Wong returns to his native Burmaa country fraught with political upheaval and laden with superstitionto face the cultural specters of his own past and the spirit of a land trapped in time.

Sealed off from the outside world, first by an oppressive military regime’s isolationism and then by economic sanctions, Burma lives on like a lingering ghost of its colonial past. A Prayer for Burma is a beautiful, stunning portrait of the country as seen and remembered by a homecoming native battling his conflicting national, cultural, ideological, ancestral, and ethnic identities.

In the tradition of Orwell, Maugam, and Theroux, Wong shows Burma as an exotic place that invites, frightens, teases, and haunts citizens and visitors alike with its unique mixture of ill-kept Edwardian structures, pockmarked English mansions, and glittering Buddhist temples. And as a former Burmese rediscovering Burmaan outsider who was once an insiderWong reveals the courage, humor, and perseverance of the Burmese people and their endearing, yet mysterious way of life.

Jeff Kraft

Footsteps in the Fog

$24.95

Footsteps in the Fog is a celebration of the San Francisco films of Alfred Hitchcock. The master director's familiarity with Northern California greatly influenced his decision to use Bay Area locations in several of his landmark motion pictures, and more importantly was often the source of inspiration for many of these same cinema classics.

Three of Hitchcock's masterpieces were set in the San Francisco area: Shadow of a Doubt, Vertigo, and The Birds. In addition, Rebecca, Suspicion, Marnie, Topaz, Psycho, and Family Plot utilized Bay Area locations and/or were inspired by Northern California events and settings. Footsteps in the Fog examines these famous films, taking the reader on a journey around the Bay Area, while weaving together cinemagraphic intrigue, Bay Area history and lore, and the timeless elegance of San Francisco and its picturesque surroundings.

Over 400 historical and contemporary photos are featured in the book, including impromptu off-camera images and shots from the films themselvesmany never before seen!

Footsteps in the Fog can be used as a companion to viewing the Northern California Hitchcock films, as a guide for visiting the sites and settings used in these motion pictures, and as a source of biographical information about Alfred Hitchcock's personal connections to San Francisco and the Bay Area. Hitchcock loved Northern California; he often entertained Hollywood celebrities at his ranch and vineyard outside of Santa Cruz, and frequented such San Francisco institutions as Jack's Restaurant, the Fairmont Hotel, the Top of the Mark, and the historic Bercut Brothers' Grant Market.

Hitchcock fans everywhere will rejoice as they revisit and rediscover the locations and settings used in the great director's most beloved films.

Cynthia Martone

Loving Through Bars

$21.95

An estimated 2.3 million children in the United States have a parent in prison-children whose lives are filled with a unique kind of instability and uncertainty.

These children are themselves victims of their parents' crimes, members of a neglected segment of our population who are potentially damaged by stigma and shame and who are at risk of being pulled into a vicious cycle of future criminality and deviant social behavior. Such children are child prisoners-kids who must learn to understand living and loving through bars.

In Loving Through Bars: Children with Parents in Prison, Cynthia Martone offers a searing and poignant view of these unfortunate kids, presenting their particular plights through a series of stories.

Among the people readers will meet are a little girl who chats with murderers at Attica Prison while visiting her father, the recently released prisoner who has seven children by five different mothers, and the second-grader whose dad regularly calls him from jail and encourages him to put a pillow over his mother's head at night in order to kill her.

Written by an experienced public school administrator-Martone has been awarded the Outstanding Educator Award for the State of New York-this examination of the instability and uncertainty that plague children of prisoners chronicles their attempts to cope and presents a possible starting place for societal response.

Jimmy Page

Forever Young

$39.95

Chuck Boyd's love affair with photography began when his mother gave him a camera as a gift when he was thirteen years old. He quickly found his artistic voice, and at the age of sixteen, he went to work for Los Angeles radio station KRLA, covering special artist promotional functions. Shortly after beginning his work at the station, Boyd began working for Tiger Beat, shooting rock-and-roll acts for the influential teen culture and music magazine.

In 1967, Buck Munger, an independent record producer and the national promotion director for Sunn Amplifiers, hired Boyd as Sunn's official photographer. While working with Munger, Boyd had the opportunity to photograph Cream, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, KISS, and dozens of other artists throughout the 1960s and ’70s. Since he was often shooting photos for Sunn, Boyd always had unlimited stage access. His photographs represent both his talent and his incredible access to rock-and-roll stars both on and off the stage.

Boyd took his camera everywhere and recorded everything, but he never broke a confidence; he turned down a lot of money over the years to protect the people he considered his friends.

Forever Young stands as a legacy to Boyd's incredible rock-and-roll photography. From stage shots to candid portraits, Boyd saw and documented the lives of a host of legendary musicians, including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Who, the Doors, Janis Joplin, the Mamas and the Papas, Tom Petty, the Grateful Dead, Simon and Garfunkel, and the Beach Boys. A portfolio filled with intimate images of rock stars in their youth and in the prime of their careers, these photos, which were only recently discovered, have been lovingly restored and are now being made available to the public for the first time. Capturing the zeitgeist that permeated rock through the 1960s and ’70s, these images are a testament to Boyd's status as one of the most trusted and respected photographers in rock-and-roll history.

Andy Furillo

The Steamer

$27.95

For nearly sixty years, Bud Furillo wrote and talked about sports in Southern California. For fifteen of those years, he authored a popular column for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner called The Steam Room, which gave him the nickname that lasted him for the rest of his life: the Steamer.”

As a reporter, columnist, editor, and pioneer of sports talk radio, the Steamer dished out insight and understanding to Southern California sports fans while Los Angeles grew into a sports empire. On his watch, L.A. acquired the Rams from Cleveland, the Dodgers from Brooklyn, and the Lakers from Minneapolis. He covered them all while they won championships for the city.

In The Steamer: Bud Furillo and the Golden Age of L.A. Sports, Furillo’s son, Andy, himself a longtime newspaperman, uses his father’s lens to give focus to the city’s rise as a sports empire. The Steamer is a history of a great sports town at its most dynamic, told from the point of view of a legendary reporter who used his phenomenal access to reveal the inside story of the greatest athletes and teams to ever play in Los Angeles.

Cover image for The Steamer, isbn: 9781595800886

Chris Strodder

The Disneyland Encyclopedia

$32.95

Completely updated and expanded with over 50 new entries and 300 new photos, The Disneyland Encyclopedia spans the entire history of the park, from its founding more than 50 years ago to the present day.

This fascinating book features detailed explorations of 600 Disneyland topics, including lands, attractions, restaurants, stores, events, and significant people. Each of the main encyclopedia entries illuminates the history of a Disneyland landmark, revealing the initial planning strategies for the park’s iconic attractions and detailing how they evolved over the decades.

Enriching this unique A-to-Z chronicle are profiles of the personalities who imagined and engineered the kingdom known as The Happiest Place on Earth.” Discover unbuilt concepts, including Liberty Street, Rock Candy Mountain, and Chinatown, and delight in fascinating trivia about long-lost Disneyland features, from the real rifles in the shooting gallery that was once located on Main Street to the jet-packed Rocket Man who flew above Tomorrowland. The new Mouscellany" feature adds fun facts, hidden secrets, and odd trivia to the third edition.

Overflowing with meticulously researched details and written in a spirited, accessible style, The Disneyland Encyclopedia is a comprehensive and entertaining exploration of the most-influential, most-renovated, and most-loved theme park in the world!

Margaret McCarthy

Letter Writing Made Easy!

$19.95

In Letter Writing Made Easy!, author Margaret McCarthy offers sample letters for hundreds of common occasions. Need to write a thank you note? Want to dispute a bill? Having trouble expressing your feelings upon the death of a friend's loved one? McCarthy has provided samples which you can use as is, or modify to suit your own particular style or concerns.

How to write more intimate personal letters
How to write more powerful business correspondence
Practical advice on format, style, tone, forms of address . . . and much more
Includes hundreds of ready-to-use samples

So put down that phone and write a letter! It's not only more personal, it's more effective. And with Letter Writing Made Easy!, writing a letter is a breeze!

Richard Fuller

The Brown Agenda

$24.95

Pollution is the single largest cause of death in the developing world. One in seven people in low- and middle-income countries die as a result of it. Simply put, pollution is now the world’s most prevalent health risk.

And yet, while most everyone has heard about going green,” few are aware of the more dire and sinister brown” pollutionplaces where man-made toxic pollutants have taken root and spread. Brown sites poison millions of people every year, causing needless suffering and death.

After witnessing several brown sites firsthand and meeting families trapped by poverty in these toxic hot spots, environmentalist Richard Fuller founded the Blacksmith Institute, now renamed Pure Earth, a global nonprofit that initiates large-scale cleanups of some of the most polluted places on earth.

The Brown Agenda details Fuller’s inspirational journeyfrom his dangerous yet ultimately successful fight to save hundreds of thousands of acres in the Amazon rain forest to his creation of Pure Earth.

In this vivid account of his perilous travels to the earth’s most toxic locations, Fuller introduces readers to the plight of the poisoned poor,” and suggests specific ways people everywhere can help combat pollution all over the world.

Charles Fleming

Secret Walks

$16.95

Revised and Updated in September 2020!

Secret Walks: A Walking Guide to the Hidden Trails of Los Angeles is a sequel to the popular Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles, and features another collection of exciting urban walks through parks, canyons, and neighborhoods unknown and unseen by most Angelinos. Each walk is rated for duration, distance, and difficulty, and is accompanied by a map.

The walks, like those in Secret Stairs, are filled with fascinating factoids about historical landmarksthe original Bat Cave from Batman, the lake where Opie learned to fish on The Andy Griffith Show, or the storage barn for one of L.A.’s oldest wineries. The book also highlights the people who made the landmarks famous: the infamous water engineer William Mulholland; the convicted murderer and philanthropist Colonel Griffith J. Griffith; Charles Lummis, who walked from Cincinnati to Los Angeles to take a job on the L.A. Times; and tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney, who dug canals to drain the marshes south of Santa Monica and create his American Venice.”

Written in the entertainingly informed style that has made Secret Stairs a Los Angeles Times best-seller, Secret Walks is the perfect book for the walker eager to explore but tired of the crowds at Runyon Canyon or Temescal Park.

Shirley Babashoff

Making Waves

$24.95

In her extraordinary swimming career, Shirley Babashoff set thirty-nine national records and eleven world records. Prior to the 1990s, she was the most successful U.S. female Olympian and, in her prime, was widely considered to be the greatest female swimmer in the world.

Heading into the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Babashoff was pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and followed closely by the media. Hopes were high that she would become the female Mark Spitz.”

All of that changed once Babashoff questioned the shocking masculinity of the swimmers on the East German women’s team. Once celebrated as America’s golden girl, Babashoff was accused of poor sportsmanship and vilified by the press with a new nickname: Surly Shirley.”

Making Waves displays the remarkable strength and resilience that made Babashoff such a dynamic champion. From her difficult childhood and beginnings as a determined young athlete growing up in Southern California in the 1960s, through her triumphs as the greatest female amateur swimmer in the world, Babashoff tells her story in the same unflinching manner that made her both the most dominant female swimmer of her time and one of the most controversial athletes in Olympic history.

Cover image for Making Waves, isbn: 9781595800879

Zack Arnstein

The Bad Driver's Handbook

$22.95

The Bad Driver’s Handbook is the book the DMV doesn’t want you to read! Zack and Larry Arnstein (The Dog Ate My Resumé) debunk the myths of the “good” and “bad” driver by describing in detail the liberating truths about driving that have long been suppressed. Comical commentary and tongue-in-cheek observations are provided on such topics as:

• Bribes, Threats and Other Secrets to Getting Your License
• Intimidating Pedestrians
• Making Your Car Louder
• Turn Signals: Why Give Up the Element of Surprise?
• Tailgating: How Close Is Not Close Enough?
• Sleeping at the Wheel (Do's & Don'ts)
• Motorcycles: Faster, Cooler, Safer!
• Driving When You Can No Longer See
You’ll also find exhaustive lists of “Did You Knows?” (“Did you know if you get boxed in by other, smaller cars in a parking space, you have a legal right to smash into them, and bash your way free?”); Definitions (Pedestrian: “Annoying obstacle infringing upon your right to drive at the speed you feel most comfortable”); and Safety Tips (“When challenging another driver to a race at a traffic light, be sure to wait until the light has almost turned green before mashing the accelerator to the floor”). Hidden meanings behind ordinary traffic signs are revealed, including the coyly worded No U-turn sign, which actually means look both ways for police officers, and if you don’t see any, go ahead and make the U-turn!

Steve LeDoux

How to Win Lotteries, Sweepstakes, and Contests in the 21st Century

$14.95

In this completely revised and updated second edition of his best-selling book How to Win Lotteries, Sweepstakes, and Contests in the 21st Century (over 75,000 copies sold!), Steve LedouxAmerica's Sweepstakes Kingreveals the secrets that have enabled him to win thousands and thousands of dollars in cash and prizes. He also shares his skills in choosing lottery numbers, entering and winning sweepstakes and contests, and spotting illegal scams in this savvy collection of prize-winning strategies.

Lottery and sweepstakes hopefuls learn how to find the right contests to enter, how to protect themselves from cheaters, and what to expect after winning, including how to deal with the IRS and give interviews to the media. Internet sweepstakes, contests, game shows, and resources complete this guide to winning the jackpot! Readers will learn:

How to easily increase their chances of becoming a winner
Strategies for choosing lottery numbers
How to spot an illegal lottery, sweepstakes, or contest
Where to find out about lotteries, sweepstakes, and contests taking place nationwide
How to choose which lotteries, sweepstakes, and contests to enter
What to expect after they've won their fortune-from dealing with the IRS to giving interviews to newspaper and television reporters

Frank R. Hayde

Stan Levey

$24.95

Stan Levey is one of the most influential drummers in the history of modern jazz. During his extraordinary career, the self-taught Levey played alongside a who’s who of twentieth century jazz artists: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Lester Young, Thelonius Monk, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Ella Fitzgerald . . . the remarkable list goes on and on, and includes dozens of the most distinguished names in the annals of jazz and popular music.

Jazz Heavyweight follows Levey's prolific and colorful life, from his childhood days in rough-and-tumble North Philadelphia, to his first gig as a drummer for Dizzy Gillespie at the tender age of sixteen, to his meteoric rise as one of the most sought after sidemen in the world of bebop, to his membership in the Lighthouse All-Stars.

Jazz aficionados will relish Jazz Heavyweight for its new, never-before-published information about such hugely influential musicians as Parker, Gillespie, and Davis, while jazz neophytes will find a fast-paced, colorful encapsulation of the entire history of modern jazz. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking an up-close-and-personal look at jazz in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Cover image for Stan Levey, isbn: 9781595800862

Chris Strodder

The Disneyland Book of Lists

$27.95

The Disneyland Book of Lists offers a new way to explore over sixty years of Disneyland history. Nearly 250 fascinating lists feature everything from the park’s famous attractions, shops, restaurants, parades, and live shows to the creative artists, designers, characters, and performers that have made Disneyland the world’s most beloved theme park.

Inside the pages of this fun- and fact-filled book you will find:

13 of Walt Disney’s Disneyland Favorites

33 Remaining Signs and Structures from Disneyland’s Past

13 Heart-Thumping Moments in Disneyland’s Attractions

47 Disneyland Parades

18 Secrets in the Haunted Mansion

30 Classic Jokes from the Jungle Cruise

80 Celebrity Visitors Between 1955 and the 1980s

26 Special Events at Disneyland You May Not Have Heard Of

13 Movies Inspired by Disneyland's Attractions

15 Urban Legends About Disneyland

69 Famous People Who Worked or Performed at Disneyland

13 World Records Set at Disneyland

In addition to lists created by author Chris Strodder (The Disneyland Encyclopedia), The Disneyland Book of Lists includes lists written exclusively for this book by celebrities, Disney Legends, Disneyland experts and historians, and former performers in “The Happiest Place on Earth.” Over 175 vintage and contemporary photographs illustrate the lists.

People have been making lists for centuries (think the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, compiled 2,100 years ago), and to this day various top tens, hit parades, and bucket lists chronicle every aspect of our lives. But until now, no book has used lists to categorize and celebrate all the diverse elements in Disneyland. Fun, fascinating, factual, and sixty years in the making, The Disneyland Book of Lists is the only Disneyland book of its kind.

Zack Arnstein

The Ultimate Counterterrorist Home Companion

$12.95

We all know how our government is fighting global terrorism, but what are you doing to help? Probably not much.

The Ultimate Counterterrorist Home Companion can change that. It’s the definitive guide to how you can be a soldier in the War on Terrorism without having to leave your kitchen. This illustrated manual will expertly train you and your entire family in:

Spying on your neighbors
Turning common household objects into useful terror-fighting weapons
Baking your way to homeland security
Making your antiterrorism drills more kid friendly
Planting booby traps and land mines in your home and garden
Strategic mail-opening strategies
Making your own color-coded terrorism alert chart

From the moment you get up in the morning (at a different time every day to keep attackers off balance!) to your final closet and under-the-bed check at night, you’ll want to keep The Ultimate Counterterrorist Home Companion close at hand. (In fact, if you don’t buy this book, you are acting in a suspicious manner, in our opinion!)

The Ultimate Counterterrorist Home Companion

Terry Laszlo-Gopadze

The Spirit of a Woman

$25.95

Combining storytelling and courageous honesty, The Spirit of a Woman: Stories to Empower and Inspire is an indispensable resource for every woman, providing inspiring stories of female creativity and compassion for those who want to lead lives full of meaning and purpose.

Consisting of approximately two dozen nonfiction essaysby authors such as Lauren Artress, Christina Baldwin, Bobbi Gibb, Mama Donna Henes, Jyoti, Dr. Gladys McGarey, Suni Paz, Hagit Ra’anan, Janet Grace Riehl, and Sheri Ritchlinthe book is a celebration of courageous women living spiritual lives in the face of challenging circumstances. Each story is unique and demonstrates the art of storytelling at its best.

The women who wrote the stories come from many nations, ages, and personal histories. They have encountered the difficulties that are part of a fully lived life, and instead of fleeing the unknown, they have honored the mystery and faced fear with faith. They see closed doors as openings to new choices and possibilities. They are spiritual optimists and activists, fighting for causes that resonate deep within their souls. Some have used the backgrounds of their cultures and traditions to lead richer, more meaningful lives. Some have moved from one faith to another or even to many other faiths. Others have left tradition behind to encounter spirituality in new and wonderful ways. And every single one of them sees life as a sacred trust.

Garry Berman

"We're Going to See the Beatles!"

$25.95

We’re Going to See the Beatles!” presents the story of Beatlemania in America as experienced by their most devoted fans.

We’re Going to See the Beatles!” includes anecdotes from those who cheered the group as they arrived at Kennedy Airport in 1964, who kept vigil for them outside the Plaza Hotel, and who sat in the studio audience of The Ed Sullivan Show for the band’s landmark first live TV broadcast. Other fans detail what it was like to see the Beatles in one of their rare concerts at such famous venues as Shea Stadium and Candlestick Park.

From the earliest whispers about the band to the Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and from their subsequent tours and albums to their breakup, author Garry Berman has collected stories from the fans who witnessed the hysteria firsthand. Contributors from around the United States also share photographs and mementos to help create a richly detailed and entertaining oral history.

What emerges is a highly personal account of the Beatles and their incredible impact on music and popular culture.

Drew Knowles

Route 66 Quick Reference Encyclopedia

$12.95

The author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed Route 66 Adventure Handbook returns with Route 66 Quick Reference Encyclopedia. In one handy volume, novices and seasoned roadies alike have fast and easy access to all of the essential information about America’s most famous, beloved, and culturally significant highway.

Presenting a list of important terms accompanied by descriptive articles and illustrations, the guide details the route’s historyincluding the origins of the term "Mother Road" and the slogan "Get Your Kicks on Route 66"as well as its commemorative festivals, quirkiest attractions, and useful highway terms.

Fascinating trivia will allow road warriors to impress friends and fellow travelers with their knowledge of the route, while a supplemental list directs dedicated fans to more detailed information on one of the most historic and treasured drives in America.

Finally, a set of maps provides both general orientation and points out significant attractions through the use of custom icons. Route 66 Quick Reference Encyclopedia is truly an A-to-Z guide to the absolute best of the Mother Road!

Kevin Dolgin

The Third Tower Up from the Road

$16.95

The Third Tower Up from the Road is a humorous and entertaining collection of travel essays made up of old favorites as well as new commentaries from Kevin Dolgin’s popular McSweeney’s Internet Tendency column, Kevin Dolgin Tells You About Places You Should Go. The work celebrates the distinctive qualities of locales the world over, and each globetrotting essay focuses on a specific place, capturing the flavors and cultures through individual observations and exceptional experiences.

Funny, irreverent, and insightful, these writings eschew the bland, touristy veneer experienced by most travelers as they seek to discover what is special and unique about each destination.

Covering a wide range of places and interests, from unusual experiences and humorous traveler’s foibles to voyages that are intensely personal and moving, the selected columns include "The Best Falafel in the World: Beirut, Lebanon," "The Door to Hell: Paris, France," "Kafka’s Erotic Dream: Prague, Czech Republic," "The Nesting Habits of Roman Cars: Rome, Italy," "Of Romans and Pussycats: Provence, France," and "The Third Tower Up from the Road: Huanghuacheng, China."

Also featured is "The Corsican Swallowtail: Corsica, France," which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Carole A Travis-Henikoff

Passings

$24.95

From dream research and global belief systems to such unexplained phenomena as bright lights, prescient dreams, near-death and out-of-body experiences, Passings delves into every aspect of the end of life. Taking a scientific and anthropological approach, Carole A. Travis-Henikoff looks at how other cultures deal with death, how diverse kinds of death are treated differently, and how belief systems set the tone for grieving.

In addition to the use of science and anthropology, Travis-Henikoff includes both her own personal experiences with the end of life as well as the stories of others who help illustrate the striking realities of passing. Beginning with the many deaths that occurred during Travis-Henikoff’s childhood, Passings moves into an up-close-and-personal look at the tragic three-and-a-half-year period when Travis-Henikoff lost her father, husband, grandmother, mother, and daughter.

By combining the personal, the scientific, and the unexplained, Passings offers a comprehensive investigation into the end of life that allows readers to both examine their own individual beliefs about the subject and to gain a better understanding about how we as a species cope with death and dying.

Andrea Lankford

Haunted Hikes

$27.95

Ghosts! Curses! Hoaxes! Unsolved mysteries! Paranormal events! Take a walk on the creepy side of North America's National Parks! Andrea Lankford, a 12-year veteran ranger with the National Park Service, has written a thoroughly investigated yet often tongue-in-cheek guidebook that takes the reader to the scariest, most mysterious places inside North America's National Parks.

Lankford shares such eerie tales as John Brown's haunting of Harper's Ferry, the disembodied legs that have been seen running around inside the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center, and the "wailing woman" who roams the trail behind the Grand Canyon Lodge. Lankford also uncovers paranormal activities park visitors have experienced, such as the chupacabra that roams the swamps inside Big Thicket National Preserve and the teenage bigfoot who rolled a park service campground with toilet paper.

She also reports on long-forgotten unsolved murders, such as the savage stabbing of a young woman on Yosemite's trail to Mirror Lake, and the execution style shooting of two General Motors executives at Crater Lake. The witnesses to the supernatural occurrences are highly credible people-rangers, park historians, river guides, and the like-and each tale has factual relevance to the cultural or natural history of the park.

Haunted Hikes provides readers with all the information they need: for each hike: a "fright factor rating" is listed along with trailhead access information, detailed trail maps, and hike difficulty levels. Most of the haunted sites included in the book can be reached by the average hiker, some are wheelchair accessible, and others are for intrepid backpackers willing to make multi-day treks into wilderness areas. Intriguing photographs of many sites are included.

Haunted Hikes is sure to satisfy readers looking for those spine-tingling moments when you begin to wonder if maybe, just maybe, we are not alone.

Damon DiMarco

The Quotable Actor

$16.95

Collecting advice, quotes, essays, and observations from hundreds of famous actors and highly regarded acting teachers, The Quotable Actor covers a wide range of topics on the art and history of acting.

Entertaining, instructive, and informative, it is organized into specific, easy-to-search categories, such as "On Why We Act"; "On Auditioning"; "On Struggling and Building a Career"; and "On Gender Differences and Aging in the Biz."

From art and technique to business and lifestyle, entries include fascinating anecdotes and advice from some of the greatest actors in history:

Marlon Brando commenting on the rehearsal process
Meryl Streep’s advice on building a character
Al Pacino recalling what it was like to be a starving young artist
Beauty tips from some of Hollywood’s leading ladies
Recollections of horrible auditions from A-list stars
Musings from Jack Nicholson, Edwin Booth, and many others

Additional contributors include Constantin Stanislavski, Daniel Day-Lewis, Ellen Burstyn, Julie Andrews, Paul Newman, and Peter O’Tooleproviding insights into the actor’s craft that are equally useful to young actors just starting out and accomplished professionals looking for inspiration in the words of peers.

Jonna Doolittle Hoppes

Calculated Risk

$24.95

Famous for leading the Tokyo Raid, America's first strike against Japan in World War II, Jimmy Doolittle led a remarkable life as an American pilot. This firsthand account by his granddaughter reveals an extraordinary individuala scientist with a doctorate in aeronautical engineering from MIT, an aviation pioneer who was the first to fly across the United States in less than 24 hours and the first to fly blind” (using only his plane’s instruments), a barnstormer well known for aerobatics, a popular racing pilot who won every major air race at least once, recipient of both the Congressional Medal of Honor and Presidential Medal of Freedom, a four-star general, and commander of both the 8th, 12th and 15th Air Forces. This memoir provides insights into the public and private world of Jimmy Doolittle and his family and sheds light on the drives and motivation of one of America's most influential and ambitious aviators.

J P Wearing

The Shakespeare Diaries

$27.95

What was Shakespeare thinking while he was writing Hamlet? What did he and Ben Jonson talk about when they were having a drink together? Did he meet Queen Elizabeth? What might Shakespeare have said to the formidable monarch?

In The Shakespeare Diaries, J. P. Wearing, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Arizona, blends fact with fiction to create a unique fictional autobiography of the great playwright that takes the reader into The Bard’s life like never before. The Shakespeare Diaries provides a window into Shakespeare’s worldhis day-to-day life, his work, his friends and associates, and his view of daily eventsthus giving readers a vivid impression of the Elizabethan era and Shakespeare’s role within that society.

Writing in diary form, in the delightfully whimsical style of Shakespeare himself, Wearing incorporates many fragments of lines and phrases from The Bard’s plays and poems. Fascinating endnotes provide further annotation and information for those readers who wish to know more. Readers new to Shakespeare will be drawn in by such an intimate portrait, while seasoned aficionados (students, teachers, scholars, actors, and theatre-goers) will relish this fresh, offbeat approach to the man and his work.

Lynn Phillips

Self-Loathing for Beginners

$12.95

Self-Loathing for Beginners is a wickedly funny take on our relentlessly upbeat self-improvement culture. Breaking ranks with the happiness police who have convinced us that self-loathing is just one more thing to hate about ourselves, author Lynn Phillips will show you, the beginning self-loather, how to self-loathe properly. By studying this book’s mini-essays, Q&As, mantras, and tips from self-loathing masters, you will learn the most effective ways to develop your self-loathing potential. Whether you are sabotaging your career, bungling a relationship, or cheating on the latest fad diet, Self-Loathing for Beginners is the essential primer on how best to despise yourself!

Eliezer Sobel

The 99th Monkey

$16.95

Suffused with a unique brand of irreverent humor, this account recalls the autobiographical explorations of the most significant alternative communities, ashrams, gurus, shamans, and consciousness-raising seminars of the past 40 years. Serving as a human guinea pig for many of the most popular cutting-edge New Age, human potential, and spiritual experiments, Eliezer Sobel recounts intercontinental adventures in India, Israel, Brazil, and Haiti. From Primal Therapy to the Dalai Lama, this perceptively witty analysis includes brushes with cults, wild experiments with sex and psychedelics, and encounters with visionary gurus and contemporary madmen.

Steven Bingen

MGM

$34.95

M-G-M: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot is the illustrated history of the soundstages and outdoor sets where Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced many of the world’s most famous films. During its Golden Age, the studio employed the likes of Garbo, Astaire, and Gable, and produced innumerable iconic pieces of cinema such as The Wizard of Oz, Singin’ in the Rain, and Ben-Hur.

It is estimated that a fifth of all films made in the United States prior to the 1970s were shot at MGM studios, meaning that the gigantic property was responsible for hundreds of iconic sets and stages, often utilizing and transforming minimal spaces and previously used props, to create some of the most recognizable and identifiable landscapes of modern movie culture.

All of this happened behind closed doors, the backlot shut off from the public in a veil of secrecy and movie magic. M-G-M: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot highlights this fascinating film treasure by recounting the history, popularity, and success of the MGM company through a tour of its physical property.

Featuring the candid, exclusive voices and photographs from the people who worked there, and including hundreds of rare and unpublished photographs (including many from the archives of Warner Bros.), readers are launched aboard a fun and entertaining virtual tour of Hollywood’s most famous and mysterious motion picture studio.

Jonna Doolittle Hoppes

Just Doing My Job

$24.95

Preserving the personal histories of civilians and soldiers who united to defend America during the Second World War, this unique oral history tells the stories of ordinary citizens who left jobs and families behind to contribute to the war effort.

Chronicling the sacrifices made by otherwise average people, this keepsake features profiles of and interviews with the men and women who responded to the call to action by putting their lives on hold to fight for their country at home and abroad.

From soldiers and spies to factory workers and nurses, the heroes profiled in this history include Dick Hamada, a Japanese American who became a spy for the Office of Strategic Services; Edith McClure, an Army nurse stationed in England; Bobby Hite, one of the famed Doolittle Raiders, who was captured by the Japanese and endured years of torture and solitary confinement; and pilot Bob Hoover, who was shot down over enemy territory and imprisoned but managed to escape by stealing a German plane.

Cover image for Just Doing My Job, isbn: 9781595800428

Erika Dillman

The Party of Your Life

$16.95

The Party of Your Life is a lively, irreverent guide to putting the F-U-N back in funeral. This upbeat book will appeal to adults of all ages who want a send-off that reflects their interests, achievements, and taste.

The Party of Your Life will help readers explore the full range of creative, culinary, musical, and theatrical possibilities of a well-planned (i.e., self-planned) end-of-life party. Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, and younger generations not interested in having a traditional funeral will appreciate author Erika Dillman’s hip and humorous approach to planning your own funeral.

Topics covered in the book include:

It Takes a Village: Your Funeral Posse
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not: Planning Your Guest List
Menus, Massage, and Mojitos: Care and Feeding of Guests
Dance This Mess Around: Your Funeral Soundtrack
Bye-Bye Bling: Your Funeral Gift Bags

With the help of The Party of Your Life, the newly dead will rest in peace knowing the tips in the book have helped reduce the drama and strain on their survivors, who are likely experiencing the most painful time of their lives.

Linda Bowman

Free Stuff and Good Deals for Folks Over 50

$12.95

The completely revised 3rd edition of Free Stuff & Good Deals for Folks over 50 features goods and services that are either absolutely free or are such a fantastic deal, they won’t want to pass them up! And best of all, author and professional bargain hunter Linda Bowman shows them how to obtain their free gifts and incredible bargains quickly and easily. This fact-filled guide is packed with information on where to find:

Free Entertainment
Incredible Travel Bargains
Free Health Care Information
Prescription Medicine Discounts
Free Financial, Investment and Tax Advice
Free Educational Opportunities
Sports, Fitness and Exercise Bargains
Free Magazines, Newsletters, Catalogs and Books
Free Medicare and Insurance Information
Organizations and Associations for Folks over 50
. . . and much more!

Free Stuff and Good Deals for Folks Over 50

Carole A Travis-Henikoff

Dinner with a Cannibal

$24.95

Presenting the history of cannibalism in concert with human evolution, Dinner with a Cannibal takes its readers on an astonishing trip around the world and through history, examining its subject from every angle in order to paint the incredible, multifaceted panoply that is the reality of cannibalism. At the heart of Carole A. Travis-Henikoff’s book is the question of how cannibalism began with the human species and how it has become an unspeakable taboo today. At a time when science is being battered by religions and failing teaching methods, Dinner with a Cannibal presents slices of multiple sciences in a readable, understandable form nested within a wealth of data. With history, paleoanthropology, science, gore, sex, murder, war, culinary tidbits, medical facts, and anthropology filling its pages, Dinner with a Cannibal presents both the light and dark side of the human story; the story of how we came to be all the things we are today.

Cover image for Dinner with a Cannibal, isbn: 9781595800305

Simon Lewis

Rise and Shine

$24.95

When I was thirty-five, my wife and I were both reported dead by the first paramedics to arrive at the scene of a seventy-five-mile-an-hour hit-and-run. My wife Marcy died instantly that day. With brain damage from a massive stroke and my body broken, I wasn’t expected to survive either.”

So begins Rise and Shine, the dramatic story of Simon Lewis and his remarkable recovery from a horrific car accident. Told through the eyes of someone who has lived through it” and successfully overcome the hurdles of the health insurance maze, Rise and Shine is a first-person account of unexpected tragedy and life-affirming courage, with lessons both medical and spiritual.

Rise and Shine shows how much patients can achieve, beyond the limited horizons of insurance-based diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation, to attain maximum regeneration and rebuild their lives. An inspiring story about what it means to return to life after a near-death experience, Rise and Shine is, essentially, an exploration of the nature of consciousness itself, and an impassioned tale about survival and recovery.

Alain Silver

L.A. Noir

$19.95

Los Angeles has always been as much a star in film noir as any actor, be it Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner or Jack Nicholson. In L.A. Noir: The City as Character renowned film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini explore the world of noir cinema in the context of Los Angeles. The book features dozens of noir and neo-noir landmark films from Double Indemnity, Criss Cross, Sunset Boulevard, Gun Crazy, The Big Heat, Kiss Me Deadly, and Touch of Evil in the classic period (1940-1960) to such neo-noir notables as Chinatown, L.A. Confidential, Mulholland Drive, and Pulp Fiction.

L.A. Noir illustrates how these noir films use L.A.'s diverse cityscape and architecture to convey a unique vision of urban corruption and existential fatalism, not only in the ever-changing, chaotic downtown of Bunker Hill, Main Street, and Chinatown, but in its affluent coastal communities (Santa Monica, Malibu) as well as its deceptively sunny suburbs (South Bay, San Fernando Valley). The authors deftly analyze the key films of noir while integrating them into the geography and history of this "dark city" which became such an important icon of noir literature and film.

L.A. Noir is profusely illustrated with approximately 150 photographs-many of them appearing in print for the very first time-including production stills from the movies discussed, archival photos of the locations from the films and new photographs of the locations today, chronicling the ever-changing cityscape of this noir character-Los Angeles.

David Frizzell

I Love You a Thousand Ways

$24.95

I Love You a Thousand Ways is the story of one of the most loved, respected, and imitated singer/songwriters in the history of country music, a man whose songs touched the lives of millions of people. Lefty Frizzell’s relaxed style of singing proved to be a huge influence on a wide variety of country and pop music stars such as Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones, John Fogerty, George Strait, and Tim McGraw.

In addition to his incredible vocal talents, Lefty was widely recognized for his songwriting skills. He had four songs in the country top ten at the same time in 1951—a feat that would only be repeated one more time on any chart, when The Beatles had five songs on the pop chart in 1964. Among Lefty’s many hits are: “If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time,” “Mom and Dad’s Waltz,” “The Long Black Veil,” and “Saginaw, Michigan.”

Willie Nelson’s 1977 album, To Lefty From Willie, was a tribute to Frizzell and consisted entirely of cover versions of Frizzell songs. Fellow Texan Roy Orbison was also a devout fan of Frizzell’s sound. In 1988, as a part of the Traveling Wilburys, Orbison chose the name “Lefty Wilbury” in honor of his musical hero.

Lefty was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. I Love You a Thousand Ways is a long overdue, beautiful tribute to one of the most underrated musicians of all time, a man whose music continues to influence new generations of musicians and music fans.

Bob Pletka

Educating the Net Generation

$16.95

Educating the Net Generation: How to Engage Students in the 21st Century addresses the national problem of escalating high-school dropout rates and student disengagement, and offers solutions as to how to best involve students of the millennial generation. The book examines the unique characteristics of the Net Generation and explains how the educational expectations and needs of the Net Generation differ from their Gen-X parents and Baby Boomer grandparents. It also looks at why many students resist engaging in formalized education in schools and ultimately drop out.

Chapters featuring student interviews and photographs synthesize the perspectives of current high school students regarding their experiences, beliefs, and thoughts on learning, while a parallel set of parent interviews reveals what parents feel is important in their child’s education and how they would like to see schools engage their children in learning.

Recommendations for changes in school policy and the financial investment critical to turning the situation around are also included, along with an inventory/ checklist for parents, teachers, and school administrators to determine if their individual school environment has what it takes to keep students motivated and engaged.

James Teitelbaum

Destination: Cocktails

$19.95

Featuring hundreds of cocktail bars in dozens of cities across the United States and around the world, Destination: Cocktails is the traveler’s guide to the craft cocktail movement. From New York to Los Angeles and London to Tokyo, this book is the ultimate reference to a network of fantastic bars providing their customers with only the best in gourmet beverages. Destination: Cocktails explores a variety of venues, and features urban lounges, dive bars, and five-star hotels alike. Some locations are brand new, and some have been serving drinks since the 19th century. What do they have in common? They all make quality cocktails, crafted with care, using only the best ingredients. For a bar to be included in this distinguished guide, all that mattered was what was in the glass. With drink reviews, insightful interviews with the proprietors and mixologists, fascinating historical trivia, and a bonus recipe section, Destination: Cocktails is an unrivaled reference book for the craft cocktail enthusiast. Your ultimate cocktail crawl begins here and nowdon’t forget to send us a postcard!

Charles Fleming

Secret Stairs: East Bay

$17.95

Revised and Updated in September 2020!

The hills of the East Bay contain one of the finest and densest urban hiking environments in the state of Californiamore than 400 paved pathways and public staircases lattice up and down the slopes of Berkeley and Oakland alone. Rising high above the city centers, with towering views of the San Francisco Bay, the Bay Bridge, and San Francisco itself, these elegant civic walking trailsmany of them shaded in oaks and redwoods, and many unknown even to local residentspresent a unique landscape for both the casual walker and dedicated hiker.

Charles Fleming, the Southern California author whose bestselling 2010 walking guide Secret Stairs turned the hidden public staircases of Los Angeles into popular hiking trails, now turns his eyes northward. For Secret Stairs: East Bay, Fleming has designed more than 30 individual hiking loops. Linking multiple staircases into one-to two-hour self-guided strolls, these urban treks will delight the tourist, newly arrived Berkeley undergraduate, and veteran Bay Area resident alike.

The circular walks, each calibrated by length, difficulty, and durationand each accompanied by a detailed, easy-to-follow mapare sprinkled with fascinating facts about the historic staircases, the historic homes around them, and the famous Bay Area characters who gave them their names. Walk the walks of Bret Harte, Mark Twain, and John Muir! Climb Berkeley’s massive Fred Herbert and Tamalpais Paths, hike Easter Way, and summit Sunset Trail! Mount Oakland’s Oakmore stairs, then tackle the hills of Upper Rockridge and Crocker Highlands via the public staircases. And do it all within easy walking distance from BART or bus stops, free parking, and excellent Bay Area cafés.

Jerry Roberts

The Complete History of American Film Criticism

$27.95

The Complete History of American Film Criticism is a chronicle of the lives and work of the most influential film critics of the past 100 years. From the first movie review in the New York Times in 1896 through the Silent Era, the pre- and postwar years, the Film Generation of the 1960s, the Golden Age of the 1970s, and into the 21st century, critics have educated generations of discriminating moviegoers on the differences between good films and bad. They call attention to great directors, cinematographers, production designers, screenwriters, and actors, and shed light on their artistic visions and storytelling sensibilities.

People interested in what the great film critics had to say have usually been shortchanged as to their backgrounds, and just why they are qualified to sit in judgment. Using mini-biographies, placed within a chronological framework, The Complete History of American Film Criticism is the biography of a profession whose cultural impact has left an indelible mark on the 20th century’s most significant art form.

Cover image for The Complete History of American Film Criticism, isbn: 9781595800497

Judy Gail Krasnow

Rudolph, Frosty, and Captain Kangaroo

$24.95

Rudolph, Frosty, and Captain Kangaroo is a memoir by Judy Gail Krasnow about her father, Hecky Krasnow, the producer of such classic children’s records and holiday tunes as Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” Frosty the Snowman,” I’m Gettin’ Nuttin’ for Christmas,” Peter Cottontail,” Suzy Snowflake,” I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” The Captain Kangaroo March,” Smokey the Bear,” Davy Crockett,” Little Red Monkey,” and The Little Engine That Could.”

The book includes remembrances of Hecky Krasnow’s working relationships with such legendary artists as Gene Autry, Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Shore, Nina Simone, Art Carney, José Ferrer, Burl Ives, Arthur Godfrey, and Captain Kangaroo. In addition to his profound influence on the children’s record industryan enormous business during the mid-twentieth centuryHecky also produced, wrote, or engineered such adult fare as Rosemary Clooney’s Come On-a My House” and Me and My Teddy Bear”; Nina Simone’s classic album The Amazing Nina Simone; and the landmark Chad Mitchell Trio debut, The Chad Mitchell Trio Arrives!

Set against the dramatic backdrop of McCarthyism, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the birth of television and rock and roll, Rudolph, Frosty, and Captain Kangaroo is rich in anecdotes about the politics and history of the era, the stars Hecky produced, and an array of talented composers and conductors with whom Hecky collaborated, including Mitch Miller, Johnny Marks, Percy Faith, J. Fred Coots, Tommy Johnson, Sir Thomas Beecham, Rudolph Goehr, André Kostelanetz, and Arthur Fiedler.

Richard J Foster

Mark Spitz

$24.95

Mark Spitz is arguably the most famous and successful Olympic athlete of all time because of his legendary performances at the 1972 Olympics, where he won seven gold medals while breaking seven world records. His amazing life story is told for the first time in the authorized biography Mark Spitz: The Extraordinary Life of an Olympic Champion.

This exclusive account follows Spitz’s roller-coaster career: age-group prodigy, four-medal "flop" at the 1968 Olympics, outstanding collegiate career at Indiana University, gold-medal haul in 1972, lucrative endorsements, and a brief and unsuccessful stint in entertainment.

And the meatier storiesthe role his father played in his career, his often stormy relationship with coaches and teammates, his experiences as a Jewish athlete with anti-Semitism and the Munich massacre, his impact on the commercialization of swimming, his relationship with Michael Phelps, and othershave been largely unknown, ignored, barely touched upon, or distorted.

Mark Spitz: The Extraordinary Life of an Olympic Champion provides insights into Spitz’s career, behind-the-scenes anecdotes about him and his competitors, and untold stories that shed light on his complicated personality and relationship with his father. Old and new fans alike will appreciate the depth and details of this swimming icon’s story.

Cover image for Mark Spitz, isbn: 9781595800398

Chris Epting

The Ruby Slippers, Madonna's Bra, and Einstein's Brain

$16.95

Anyone who has ever wondered where Dorothy's ruby slippers, George Washington's teeth, or the world's largest olive are located will be thrilled to take this journey to find hundreds of the most important items from America's popular culture. Found in such major institutions as the Smithsonian and the Basketball Hall of Fame as well as in such offbeat collections as the Sing Sing Prison Museum and the Delta Blues Museum, these pop culture treasures include the most famousand quirkiestitems from movies, crime, TV, sports, music, history, and America's roadside attractions.

The Ruby Slippers, Madonna's Bra, and Einstein's Brain is divided into the following chapters: American Curiosities, Roadside Relics, Historic Artifacts, Criminal Remains, Celebrity Antiquities, Movie and Television Keepsakes, Music Mementos, and Sports Memorabilia. There's even a list of the Top Ten Missing in Action Pop Culture Artifacts.

Some of the most fascinating treasures found in the book include:
The Cardiff Giant
Thomas Edison's Last Breath
World's Largest Ball of Twine
George Washington's Teeth
Lizzie Borden's Axe
John Wilkes Booth's Thorax
Watergate File Cabinet
Abraham Zapruder's Camera
Tom Thumb's Wedding Cake
Casablanca Piano
Easy Rider Motorcycle
Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock Guitar
Elvis Presley's Report Card
Paul "Bear" Bryant's Hat
Miracle on Ice Skates

The Ruby Slippers, Madonna's Bra, and Einstein's Brain

John Bengtson

Silent Visions

$27.95

Immensely popular and prolific, Harold Lloyd sold more movie tickets during the Golden Age of Comedy than any other comedian. From Coney Island to Catalina Island, and from Brooklyn to Beverly Hills, Lloyd’s movies captured visions of silent-era America unequaled on the silver screen.

A stunning work of cinematic archeology, Silent Visions describes the historical settings found in such Lloyd classics as Safety Last!, Girl Shy, and Speedy, and matches them with archival photographs, vintage maps, and scores of then-and-now comparison photographs, illuminating both Lloyd’s comedic genius, and the burgeoning Los Angeles and Manhattan landscapes preserved in the background of his films.

The book represents John Bengtson’s completion of his trilogy of works focusing on the three great geniuses of silent film comedy (Keaton, Chaplin, and Lloyd) in what Oscar-winning historian Kevin Brownlow calls a new art form.”

Harvey Kubernik

A Perfect Haze

$45.00

The first major rock music festival and the precursor to Woodstock, the Monterey International Pop Festival was an unprecedented gathering of pop, soul, jazz, and folk artists who took the stage one luminous weekend during the Summer of Love.” On the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June, 1967, the sleepy California coastal community of Monterey played host to the now-legendary concert. In its aftermath, the world of popular culture was transformed forever. The ’60s were now upon us with a soundtrack, a style, and a political and social sensibility all its own.

A Perfect Haze is the official history of this glorious festival. With the endorsement and support of producer Lou Adler and the Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation, the sights and sounds of the festival come to life in this extravagant compilation of photography, memorabilia, and first-hand accounts by musicians, fans, crew members, and others who attended the concert. To read its pages is to step back in time to the moment of rock’s big bang, when Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Otis Redding, Ravi Shankar, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and dozens more set the stage on fireboth metaphorically and, in one iconic instance, literally!

Dozens of musicians and others associated with the festival have been interviewed exclusively for the book, including Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Bob Weir, Ravi Shankar, D. A. Pennebaker, Andrew Loog Oldham, Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, and Al Kooper, as well as members of Jefferson Airplane, the Association, Moby Grape, and Canned Heat.

A Perfect Haze is packed with hundreds of photographs taken both in front of the stage and behind the scenes, including works by such notable artists as Henry Diltz, Elaine Mayes, and Nurit Wilde. Festival programs, posters, advertisements, album covers, and other ephemeramost of which has never been seen beforeare also included, provided by Lou Adler, the festival’s nonprofit foundation, collectors, participants, and fans who attended the event.

Even more than Woodstock, the Monterey International Pop Festival was the epicenter of a youthquake whose aftershocks continue to reverberate throughout our 21st-century culture. A Perfect Haze evokes this magic event in all its kaleidoscopic glory.

David L Robb

The Gumshoe and the Shrink

$24.95

The Gumshoe and the Shrink is a tale of political intriguea detective story and medical mystery set against the backdrop of the closest and most storied presidential election in American history. It’s the never-before-told account of how the craziest private detective in the country uncovered Richard Nixon’s most closely guarded secretthat he was seeing a psychotherapistand how that discovery put victory out of Nixon’s reach in the 1960 election.

At the center of the story is a manic-depressive private eye named Guenther Reinhardt, who in the fall of 1960 set out to destroy Richard Nixon. With Election Day just a few months away, Reinhardt discovered that Nixon was seeing a psychotherapist. And in those days, the only thing worse for a politician than needing to see a shrink” was actually seeing one.

Nixon’s brilliant psychotherapist, Dr. Arnold Hutschnecker, is the other character at the center of this story. Dr. Hutschnecker tried heroically to mold Nixon into the person they both wanted him to bea man of peace. But like the fictional Dr. Frankenstein, his experiment failed terribly and a monster was created instead.

The secret battle for the presidency detailed in The Gumshoe and the Shrink is supported by two key documents that have never been seen before: Guenther Reinhardt’s 12-page confidential report on the relationship between Nixon and Dr. Hutschnecker, and Dr. Hutschnecker’s unpublished memoirs detailing his treatment of Richard Nixon. These documents provide many fascinating insights into their forbidden” relationshipand into Nixon’s tortured psychology.

Chris Strodder

The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool

$31.95

The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool profiles over 250 of the most intriguing personalities of the 1960s. The men and women covered in the book include a wide range of celebritiesfrom well-known superstars (the Beatles, Dustin Hoffman, Muhammad Ali) to lesser-known icons (Nico, Terry Southern, Bo Belinsky)who had a significant impact on popular culture. The figures include musicians, actors, directors, artists, athletes, politicians, writers, astronauts . . . anyone and everyone who made the sixties the most influential decade of the twentieth century!

Over 200 vintage photographs and more than fifty sidebars are featured throughout the text. The sidebars include lists of Best Picture winners, great quarterbacks, Playmates of the Year, memorable TV theme songs, favorite toys, Disneyland rides, Wimbledon champions, groovy screen cars, surf stars, Indy 500 winners, cool cartoons, sci-fi classics, Bond girls, bubblegum” hits, beach-movie cameos, and legendary concerts. A what happened on this day” calendar highlighting landmark events in the lives of those profiled appears on every page. Entertaining and enlightening, The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool is truly a celebration of the grooviest people, events, and artifacts of the 1960s!

Michelle Mazzulo

Vanity PL8 Puzzles

$8.95

With nearly 200 puzzles to solve, Vanity PL8 Puzzles offers drivers, passengers, armchair travelers, and puzzle enthusiasts ample opportunities to sharpen their word skills while having fun at the same time.

Author Michelle Mazzulo merges the popular pastime of puzzle solving with a unique form of personal expression: the vanity plate. Together, this combination produces an irresistible concept in word puzzles.

The book features such innovative brainteasers as:

ISHLPKDS (I schlep kids)

UEEEEA (Euphoria)

AUYLOKS (Goldilocks)

HIOFSIR (Hi Officer)

Vanity PL8 Puzzles will provide hours of amusement and challenge your puzzle-solving skills.

James Teitelbaum

Tiki Road Trip

$27.95

The 2nd edition of Tiki Road Trip has been completely updated, expanded, and globalized. The bestand onlyguide to Polynesian pop culture, written by Tiki expert and urban archaeologist James Teitelbaum, now contains even more listings and reviews of Tiki bars and Polynesian restaurants, even more photographs, and even more drink recipes. The International listings have been expanded as well, and the Hawaiian glossary is much more comprehensive. All in all, the second edition of Tiki Road Trip is a superior refinement of what was already an indispensable book for followers of the ever-growing Tiki movement.

From Tiki godfathers Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic to classic Exotica favorites Martin Denny and Les Baxter to contemporary Tiki artists Shag and Bosko, this resource covers everything Tiki in prose that is witty, entertaining, and essential for anyone who has ever stepped up to a bar, glanced up at the pufferfish hanging from the ceiling, and ordered a Singapore Sling.

In addition to the exhaustive listings, recipes for classic Tiki cocktails, a glossary of Tiki terms, and resources for buying Tiki goods and artifacts are also included. Reminiscences of famous points of interest that have closed are provided for the completist, for historical perspective, and for those seeking information on the current status of a favorite Tiki site which may have closed.

So slip on your grass skirt or Aloha shirt, because Tiki Road Trip is going to take you on a tour of the Tiki universe that will make waves from the shores of Rapa Nui to the beaches of Oahu!

Chris Epting

Hello, It's Me

$16.95

In Hello, It’s Me, pop culture historian Chris Epting celebrates the cultural touchstones of the past 40 yearsthe music, movies, television, hobbies, and fads that have defined recent generations.

Whether it’s shooting hoops with NBA legend Elgin Baylor, drinking whiskey in a Radio City Music Hall broom closet with Ron Wood and Rod Stewart while thousands of fans scream from below, sharing a milkshake with Jerry Lewis, running into Alfred Hitchcock’s stomach as a young child, or jumping on a trampoline with Sally Struthers, Chris Epting takes us on his own strange trip through time, space and hula hoops.

Beginning in the 1970s and continuing through the 1980s, 1990s, and up to the present day, Epting writes about the humorous, ironic, poignant, and inspiring moments he’s experienced with a host of pop-culture iconsMick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jay Leno, Johnny Thunders, Edward Albee, John Cheever, Milton Berle, etc.as well as his personal memories of the era’s most famous pop-culture fads, products, and gimmicksPet Rocks, lava lamps, mood rings, 8-track tapes, bootleg records, Zotz, halter tops, strawberry wine. . . .