Download or read book Inventing Elsa Maxwell written by Sam Staggs and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inventing Elsa Maxwell, the first biography of this extraordinary woman, tells the witty story of a life lived out loud. With Inventing Elsa Maxwell, Sam Staggs has crafted a landmark biography. Elsa Maxwell (1881-1963) invented herself–not once, but repeatedly. Built like a bulldog, she ascended from the San Francisco middle class to the heights of society in New York, London, Paris, Venice, and Monte Carlo. Shunning boredom and predictability, Elsa established herself as party-giver extraordinaire in Europe with come-as-you-are parties, treasure hunts (e.g., retrieve a slipper from the foot of a singer at the Casino de Paris), and murder parties that drew the ire of the British parliament. She set New York a-twitter with her soirees at the Waldorf, her costume parties, and her headline-grabbing guest lists of the rich and royal, movie stars, society high and low, and those on the make all mixed together in let-'er-rip gaiety. All the while, Elsa dashed off newspaper columns, made films in Hollywood, wrote bestselling books, and turned up on TV talk shows. She hobnobbed with friends like Noel Coward and Cole Porter. Late in life, she fell in love with Maria Callas, who spurned her and broke Elsa's heart. Her feud with the Duchess of Windsor made headlines for three years in the 1950s. One of the twentieth century's most colorful characters is brought back to life in this biography by the author of All About All About Eve.

Download or read book Inventing Elsa Maxwell written by Sam Staggs and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicles the life and career of Elsa Maxwell, who was an actress, socialite and the queen of party giving.

Download or read book 13 Young Men written by David Bruce Smith and published by David Bruce Smith. This book was released on 2008-10-02 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles E. Smith, a builder and philanthropist, believed the District of Columbia Jewish Community Center of the mid-1960s was obsolete. Racial tensions were repelling Jews from going there, and large populations of Jews had already moved to the Maryland suburbs.Smith thought the Center should be relocated to the Maryland suburbsalongside a Hebrew Home and Jewish Social Service Agency in a unified campus-like setting. Although much of the community did not think the millions of dollars needed to construct such a complex could be raised, Smith did. He taught a community without a philanthropic profile how to raise money, to give generously, and to pass that philosophy onto the succeeding generations.

Download or read book Jackie s Girl written by Kathy McKeon and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-05-09 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A "coming-of-age memoir by a young woman who spent thirteen years as Jackie Kennedy's personal assistant and occasional nanny--and the lessons about life and love she learned from the glamorous [former] first lady"--Amazon.com.

Download or read book May Sarton written by Margot Peters and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-05-04 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first biography of May Sarton: a brilliant revelation of the life and work of a literary figure who influenced her thousands of readers not only by her novels and poetry, but by her life and her writings about it. May Sarton's career stretched from 1930 (early sonnets published in Poetry magazine) to 1995 (her journal At Eighty-Two). She wrote more than twenty novels, and twenty-five books of poems and journals. The acclaimed biographer Margot Peters was given full access to Sarton's letters, journals, and notes, and during five years of research came to know Sarton herself--the complex woman and artist. She gives us a compelling portrait of Sarton the actress, the poet, the novelist, the feminist, the writer who struggled for literary acceptance. She shows us, beneath Sarton's exhilarating, irresistible spirit, the needy courtier and seducer, the woman whose creativity was propelled by the psychic drama she created in others. We watch young May at age two as she is abruptly uprooted from her native Belgium by World War I, a child ignored both by her mother, who was intent on her own artistic vision and reluctant to cope with a child, and by her father, obsessed with his academic research. We see Sarton as a young girl in America, and then later, at nineteen, choosing a life in the theatre, landing a job in Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory, and gathering what would become a tight-knit coterie of friends and lovers . . . Sarton beginning to write poetry and novels . . . Sarton making friends with Elizabeth Bowen and Julian Huxley, Erika and Klaus Mann, Virginia Woolf, the poet H.D.--charming and enlisting them with her work, her vitality, her hunger for love, driven by her need to conquer (among her conquests: Bowen, Huxley, and later his wife, Juliette). We see her intense friendships with literary pals, including Muriel Rukeyser (her lover), and Louise Bogan, Sarton's "literary sibling, who at once encouraged her and excluded her from a world in which Bogan was a central figure. We see Sarton begin to create in the spiritual journals that inspired the devotion of readers the image of a strong, independent woman who lived peacefully with solitude--an image that contradicted the reality of her neediness, loneliness, and isolation as she pushed away loved ones with her demands and betrayals. A fascinating portrait of one of our major literary figures--a book that for the first time reveals the life that she herself kept hidden.

Download or read book Conversations with Papa Charlie written by David Bruce Smith and published by David Bruce Smith. This book was released on 2000 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tradition of "Tuesdays with Morrie," these short "conversations" past the wit and wisdom of a remarkable American immigrant on to a new generation hungry for roots, mentors, and heroes.

Download or read book All About All About Eve written by Sam Staggs and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2001-06-23 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To millions of fans, All About Eve represents all that's witty and wonderful in classic Hollywood movies. Its old-fashioned, larger-than-life stars--including Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, and Celeste Holm--found their best roles in Eve and its sophisticated dialogue has entered the lexicon. But there's much more to know about All About Eve. Sam Staggs has written the definitive account of the making of this fascinating movie and its enormous influence on both film and popular culture. Staggs reveals everything about the movie--from who the famous European actress Margo Channing was based on to the hot-blooded romance on-set between Bette Davis and costar Gary Merrill, from the jump-start the movie gave Marilyn Monroe's career and the capstone it put on director Joseph L. Mankeiwicz's. All About "All About Eve" is not only full of rich detail about the movie, the director, and the stars, but also about the audience who loved it when it came out and adore it to this day.

Download or read book Dancing Fish and Ammonites written by Penelope Lively and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-06-23 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Sharp, unsentimental and ruefully funny. A fascinating portrait not only of Lively but of the times through which she has lived" -- Daily Telegraph (London) Rare personal reflections from “one of our most talented writers” (The New York Times Book Review), Booker Prize winner Penelope Lively At age eighty, Penelope Lively wrote this powerful and compelling 'view from old age', reporting back on what she found. There are meditations on what it is like to be old as well as on how memory shapes us. There are intriguing examinations of the key personal as well as historical moments she has lived through and her thoughts on her own bookishness - both as reader and writer. Lastly, she turns to six treasured possessions to speak eloquently about who she is and where she's been - fragments of memories from a life well lived.

Download or read book Born to Be Hurt written by Sam Staggs and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2009-02-17 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a passionate and witty behind-the-scenes expose, the author of All About "All About Eve" takes on the classic 1959 Douglas Sirk film starring Lana Turner Few films inspire the devotion of Imitation of Life, one of the most popular films of the '50s--a split personality drama that's both an irresistible women's picture and a dark commentary on ambition, motherhood, racial identity, and hope lost and found. Born to be Hurt is the first in-depth account of director Sirk's masterpiece. Lana Turner, on the brink of personal and professional ruin starred as Lora Meredith. African-American actress Juanita Moore played her servant and dearest friend, and Sandra Dee and Susan Kohner their respective daughters, caught up in the heartbreak of the black-passing-for-white daughter in the 1950s. Both Moore and Kohner were Oscar-nominated as Best Supporting Actress. Sam Staggs combines vast research, extensive interviews with surviving cast members, and superb storytelling into a masterpiece of film writing. Entertaining, saucy, and incisive, this is irresistible reading for every film fan.

Download or read book Partnership for the Americas Western Hemisphere Strategy and U S Southern Command written by James G. Stavridis and published by NDU Press. This book was released on 2014-02-23 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since its creation in 1963, United States Southern Command has been led by 30 senior officers representing all four of the armed forces. None has undertaken his leadership responsibilities with the cultural sensitivity and creativity demonstrated by Admiral Jim Stavridis during his tenure in command. Breaking with tradition, Admiral Stavridis discarded the customary military model as he organized the Southern Command Headquarters. In its place he created an organization designed not to subdue adversaries, but instead to build durable and enduring partnerships with friends. His observation that it is the business of Southern Command to launch "ideas not missiles" into the command's area of responsibility gained strategic resonance throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America, and at the highest levels in Washington, DC.

Download or read book Abigail and John written by David Bruce Smith and published by Liberty Bell Press. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From David Bruce Smith, author of American Hero: John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States, and his mother Clarice Smith, world renowned artist, comes this compelling and insightful historical biography of Abigail and John Adams. This unique nonfiction children’s book tells the story of one of America’s most-treasured couples alongside stunning and original illustrations. Abigail and John presents readers the opportunity to view prominent scenes in American history through the remarkable lives of one of the country’s most beloved couples—the Adamses. Exploring the historical significance of a partnership that spanned over five decades, Abigail and John details the love they shared for each other and the country. From carefree childhoods to years of war, to the births of their children, and the beginning of a new nation, Abigail and Johnlooks into the unique roles the Adamses played in the formation of America, and contributions and sacrifices they made for the young country. Praise Abigail & John “Abigail & John invites young readers into the partnership of America's second president John Adams, and his wife and closest advisor, Abigail Smith Adams. David Bruce Smith's fresh take on these well-known historical figures, animated by Clarice Smith's charming illustrations, is sure to give students new insights into the early years of our country's history.” ~ Margot Lee Shetterly, Bestselling author of Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race “Abigail & John delivers a charming portrait of a love story that bloomed in the midst of a revolution, a partnership that gave America two of its first six presidents – John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams. Their joint journey, described in more than a thousand letters they exchanged, is an exciting and timeless tale.” ~ David O. Stewart, Bestselling author of The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution Abigail & John teaches young readers not only historical facts but introduces them to the strong union and lasting bond between John and Abigail Adams and how it shaped our new nation. An excellent addition to any library. – Trinka Hakes Noble, Bestselling author and illustrator of American history books for young readers “Abigail & John is a wonderful addition to the literature on our early American history for our young readers. Engagingly written, brilliantly illustrated, it should be “must read” for every school child. I’m sure teachers across America will welcome it as a new, handsome resource for their classrooms.” ~ Alex Nyrges Director & CEO Virginia Museum of Fine Arts “Children and adults alike will cherish the wonderfully illustrated true story of love and enduring strength as Abigail and John Adams—in what was surely a partnership of equals—overcome daunting challenges and together change the world. An exciting start to what promises to be a brilliant series.” ~ Ed Lengel, Bestselling author of General George Washington "This is a beautifully told love story of one of the earliest power couples in American history. The story and the illustrations will appeal to readers of all ages with a nod to graphic novels. Abigail & John is a well needed positive American history primer using excerpts from the couple’s correspondence. The nuanced language and setting used to convey the story acknowledges a sophisticated reader of any age. The illustrations by renowned artist Clarice Smith enhance the story with a dynamic quality of movement. The images are beautifully aligned with the story making it visually stunning. This book demonstrates the importance of art in telling the story and both artist and author have set the bar high.” ~ Neme Alperstein, Library of Congress Teaching With Primary Sources Mentor “Abigail & John is a heart-warming yet honest account of America's most celebrated founding couple. With charming illustrations that bring Abigail and John Adams' partnership to life, and beautifully-written text that engages equally well when read aloud as when read silently, this highly-informative history of early America will be treasured by children and parents alike”. ~ Louise Mirrer, Ph.D., President & CEO, New-York Historical Society Louise Mirrer, Ph.D. President and CEO New York Historical Society “Abigail & John invites young readers to meet a couple that was both extraordinary and ahead of their time, yet flawed and prone to individual struggles as we humans all are. The vignettes throughout the book weave together personal and global events, enriched with original art.” ~ Erin Carlson Mast CEO & Executive Director, Lincoln Cottage. "What a lovely, humanizing dual-biography of these revered founding mother and father. Abigail and John are true equals in this narrative, gifting readers a wonderful introduction and inspiring summary of their joint efforts and sacrifices for their new democracy, their affection and support for one another. The illustrations are works-of-art - inviting, evocative --beautiful punctuations to each life stage described in the text and the perfect complement to the book's presentation of the Adamses as the living, breathing, and extraordinarily strong human beings they were." ~ L.M Elliott, bestselling author of Give Me Liberty, Hamilton and Peggy and Under the War Torn Sky “As the leader of an organization committed to advancing lifelong learning in history, I am delighted that David Bruce Smith and Clarice Smith have created this vitally important, beautiful, and compelling nonfiction resource for young people. They have made history, and women’s history, come to life!” ~ Phoebe Stein, Executive Director, Maryland Humanities "What a gift David Bruce Smith and Clarice Smith’s Abigail & John is to our families, kids and parents alike. In their graceful hands, words and illustrations tell such a compelling story about one of our nation’s original power couples. With prose that approaches the poetic and lines and color that elevate those words these masterful storytellers leave us grateful for the reawakening of this important part of our history. Two thumbs up from this fan!" ~ Edgar Dobie, Executive Producer and President of Arena Stage "For David Bruce Smith it is a matter of utmost urgency that all Americans understand the story of our nation and how the lessons of that history can lead us to greater justice and human flourishing. The late Bruce Cole, who was David Bruce Smith’s close colleague and collaborator, used to warn the nation against historical amnesia: books like Abigail and John give us good reason to hope that the rising new generation of citizens will be dedicated to building an even brighter future for America. This volume, engagingly illustrated by Clarice Smith, is the first in the Grateful American Book Series, an initiative for which we should all be thankful. ~ Michael B. Poliakoff, Ph.D. is the president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni “Exquisite illustrations, coupled with compelling prose, offer readers of Abigail and John a rich and moving journey into the personal and political lives of America’s first power couple. Young readers will be captivated by Clarice Smith’s artistry and David’s Smith graceful writing. How the intimate feelings of affection between Adams’s animated their politics is powerful story that is conveyed brilliantly by the Smiths. Abigail and John is a triumph.” ~ Peter S. Carmichael, Fluhrer Professor of History, Gettysburg College. “David Bruce Smith has captured the special relationship between John and Abigail Adams and their part in forming a nation in a way that kids will both understand and enjoy. A great read for young and old alike.” ~ Chris Stevenson, Author of Gabriel Cooper and the Drum of Destiny “Too often we look on the American Founders as icons, statue-like figures whose world-historical greatness raises them above the status of mere mortals. When we do this, we forget their humanity. No one who reads Abigail & John will make that mistake, however. Here we are permitted to see the two Adamses as real people, full and equal partners in one of the great marriages in American history, a marriage that carried through all the most critical events in early United States history, without ever losing any of its intimacy and joy. Truly a book to be grateful for.” ~ Dr. Wilfred M. McClay, G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty, University of Oklahoma “David Bruce Smith and Clarice Smith have collaborated beautifully on a radical, yet long overdue, concept for historical works; that success is often the product of a couple and not solely the male partner’s accomplishment. Young readers will be treated to a rich narrative of the union between Abigail and John Adams told through easily readable prose and inviting illustrations”. ~ Rabbi Mitchel Malkus, Ed.D. | Head of School Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School

Download or read book Walking Through Walls written by Philip Smith and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-09-16 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Smith's hilarious and profound memoir about coming-of-age in 1960s Miami with a decorator father who discovers he has the power to talk to the dead and heal the sick.

Download or read book Evil Media written by Matthew Fuller and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2012-08-17 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A philosophical manual of media power for the network age. Evil Media develops a philosophy of media power that extends the concept of media beyond its tried and trusted use in the games of meaning, symbolism, and truth. It addresses the gray zones in which media exist as corporate work systems, algorithms and data structures, twenty-first century self-improvement manuals, and pharmaceutical techniques. Evil Media invites the reader to explore and understand the abstract infrastructure of the present day. From search engines to flirting strategies, from the value of institutional stupidity to the malicious minutiae of databases, this book shows how the devil is in the details. The title takes the imperative “Don't be evil” and asks, what would be done any differently in contemporary computational and networked media were that maxim reversed. Media here are about much more and much less than symbols, stories, information, or communication: media do things. They incite and provoke, twist and bend, leak and manage. In a series of provocative stratagems designed to be used, Evil Media sets its reader an ethical challenge: either remain a transparent intermediary in the networks and chains of communicative power or become oneself an active, transformative medium.

Download or read book Inventing Disneyland written by Alastair Dallas and published by Theme Park Press. This book was released on 2018-12 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Meet the cadre of six men who imagined and described the specifics of Walt Disney’s vision for a new kind of family entertainment park—the men of WED Enterprises, who began the process of inventing Disneyland. Enter the bustling 'Disneyland Plans Room' at Walt Disney’s custom-designed studio. Disney drew upon the talents of tinkerers and hobbyists, artists, writers, engineers, architects, builders, and—especially—Hollywood art directors to realize his dream. See the site transformed from moonscape to wonderland and struggle along with the park’s management as they rush headlong toward an opening day that seems impossible to achieve. Based on years of original research and interviews, this is the true but unauthorized story—complete with vintage photos—of just what it took to invent the happiest place on earth and make Walt Disney's dream come true"--Back cover.

Download or read book You ve GOT to Read This Book written by Jack Canfield and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There's nothing better than a book you can't put down—or better yet, a book you'll never forget. This book puts the power of transformational reading into your hands. Jack Canfield, cocreator of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul® series, and self-actualization pioneer Gay Hendricks have invited notable people to share personal stories of books that changed their lives. What book shaped their outlook and habits? Helped them navigate rough seas? Spurred them to satisfaction and success? The contributors include Dave Barry, Stephen Covey, Malachy McCourt, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Mark Victor Hansen, John Gray, Christiane Northrup, Bernie Siegel, Craig Newmark, Michael E. Gerber, Lou Holtz, and Pat Williams, to name just a few. Their richly varied stories are poignant, energizing, and entertaining.Author and actor Malachy McCourt tells how a tattered biography of Gandhi, stumbled on in his youth, offered a shining example of true humility—and planted the seeds that would help support his sobriety decades later. Bestselling author and physician Bernie Siegel, M.D., tells how William Saroyan's The Human Comedy helped him realize that, in order to successfully treat his patients with life-threatening illnesses, "I had to help them live—not just prevent them from dying." Actress Catherine Oxenberg reveals how, at a life crossroads and struggling with bulimia, a book taught her the transforming difference one person could make in the life of another—and why that person for her was Richard Burton. Rafe Esquith, the award-winning teacher whose inner-city students have performed Shakespeare all over the world, recounts his deep self-doubt in the midst of his success—and how reading To Kill a Mockingbird strengthened him to continue teaching. Beloved librarian and bestselling author Nancy Pearl writes how, at age ten, Robert Heinlein's science fiction book Space Cadet impressed on her the meaning of personal integrity and gave her a vision of world peace she'd never imagined possible. Two years later, she marched in her first civil rights demonstration and learned that there's always a way to make "a small contribution to intergalactic harmony." If you're looking for insight and illumination—or simply for that next great book to read—You've Got to Read This Book! has treasures in store for you.

Download or read book Empire of the Air written by Tom Lewis and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-15 with total page 607 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Empire of the Air tells the story of three American visionaries—Lee de Forest, Edwin Howard Armstrong, and David Sarnoff—whose imagination and dreams turned a hobbyist's toy into radio, launching the modern communications age. Tom Lewis weaves the story of these men and their achievements into a richly detailed and moving narrative that spans the first half of the twentieth century, a time when the American romance with science and technology was at its peak. Empire of the Air is a tale of pioneers on the frontier of a new technology, of American entrepreneurial spirit, and of the tragic collision between inventor and corporation.

Download or read book When Scotland Was Jewish written by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The popular image of Scotland is dominated by widely recognized elements of Celtic culture. But a significant non-Celtic influence on Scotland's history has been largely ignored for centuries? This book argues that much of Scotland's history and culture from 1100 forward is Jewish. The authors provide evidence that many of the national heroes, villains, rulers, nobles, traders, merchants, bishops, guild members, burgesses, and ministers of Scotland were of Jewish descent, their ancestors originating in France and Spain. Much of the traditional historical account of Scotland, it is proposed, rests on fundamental interpretive errors, perpetuated in order to affirm Scotland's identity as a Celtic, Christian society. A more accurate and profound understanding of Scottish history has thus been buried. The authors' wide-ranging research includes examination of census records, archaeological artifacts, castle carvings, cemetery inscriptions, religious seals, coinage, burgess and guild member rolls, noble genealogies, family crests, portraiture, and geographic place names.