Classic Showbiz Clangers: An Amusing Collection of Showbiz's Most Embarrassing Moments from Over a Century (Classic Clangers)

Classic Showbiz Clangers: An Amusing Collection of Showbiz's Most Embarrassing Moments from Over a Century (Classic Clangers) Review

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Classic Showbiz Clangers: An Amusing Collection of Showbiz's Most Embarrassing Moments from Over a Century (Classic Clangers) Feature

The old saying that "what can go wrong, probably will go wrong" is always lurking in the minds of showbiz folk. Louis B. Mayer probably never forgave himself for passing up the rights to Mickey Mouse, and Hugh Grant must have regretted the unexpected audience that showed up for his late-night encounter with Divine Brown. But the show must go on, despite inebriation, adultery, shoplifting, stage fright, villainy, sartorial disaster, or just being stuck in the ladies room at the very moment they decide to give you an award.

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Mongrel : Essays, Diatribes, Pranks

Mongrel : Essays, Diatribes, Pranks Review

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Mongrel : Essays, Diatribes, Pranks Feature

In a time when memoirs are often less than they claim to be and essays do not say enough, Justin Chin breaks onto the scene with a collection that is a combination of confession, tirade, journalism, and practical joke.

Mongrel is a cross-section of Chin's imagination and experiences that calls into question what it means to be an Asian-American in San Francisco, the effect your family will always have on you, and the role sexuality plays in your life. Whether it be Internet pornography or family history, Chin manages to dig deep and uncover not only the truths of everyday life, but also the absurdities that surround them.

Mongrel is an exploration and distillation of the experiences and imagination of a gay Asian-American whose sensibilities were formed by the maelstrom of '80s American pop culture. A unique collection from a brash, funny new voice.

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You Never Call! You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother

You Never Call! You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother Review

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You Never Call! You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother Feature

In You Never Call, You Never Write, Joyce Antler provides an illuminating and often amusing history of one of the best-known figures in popular culture--the Jewish Mother.
Antler traces the odyssey of this compelling personality through decades of American culture. She reminds us of a time when Jewish mothers were admired for their tenacity and nurturance, as in the early twentieth-century image of the "Yiddishe Mama," a sentimental figure popularized by entertainers such as George Jessel, Al Jolson, and Sophie Tucker, and especially by Gertrude Berg, whose amazingly successful "Molly Goldberg" ruled American radio and television for over 25 years. Antler explains the transformation of this Jewish Mother into a "brassy-voiced, smothering, and shrewish" scourge (in Irving Howe's words), detailing many variations on this negative theme, from Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and Woody Allen's Oedipus Wrecks to television shows such as "The Nanny" and Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." But she also uncovers a new counter-narrative, leading feminist scholars and stand-up comediennes to see the Jewish Mother in positive terms.
A joy to read, You Never Call, You Never Write will delight anyone who has ever known or been nurtured by a "Jewish Mother," and it will be a special source of insight for modern parents. As Antler suggests, in many ways, "we are all Jewish Mothers" today.

"After reading this, you'll call, you'll write, and you'll say thank you!"
--Judy Gold, comedian

"More than a history of Jewish motherhood, this book offers a fresh perspective on Jewish history, women's history, and the history of popular culture that is both informative and entertaining.... Readers will finish the book with a fuller and more nuanced understanding of the history of the Jewish mother--and mothers in general."
--Library Journal

"As educational as it is riotous...go buy this book and call your mom."
--The Jewish Magazine

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Marxism in the Postmodern Age: Confronting the New World Order

Marxism in the Postmodern Age: Confronting the New World Order Review

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Marxism in the Postmodern Age: Confronting the New World Order Feature

Diverse Marxian intellectual cultures are having important effects on political struggles over the subjects of history and knowledge, international law, television, the state, democratic theories and institutions, bodies, sexuality, masculinity, environmentalism, postmodernism, labor, the meanings of the end of the USSR, children, archaeology, the meanings of Columbus, cartography, the North American economy, welfare, NAFTA, the Gulf War, higher education, and the many other topics discussed by the contributors to this important volume. These essays show readers how Marxism's continuing vitality derives from its profound allegiance to diverse struggles for social justice. At this moment we need progressive imaginaries alternative to the tired and ineffectual ones that have left us with enormous challenges and compelling questions on every aspect of contemporary social relations. Here, well-known thinkers are joined by important new voices in exploring fruitful directions for vision, analysis, and political action. This is without question the best collection of mediations so far on postorthodox Marxian tendencies in contemporary global cultures.

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Open Line

Open Line Review

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Open Line Feature

“Open Line is an eerie urban fable, a cautionary tale told in [Ellen] Hawley’s swift and commanding voice.”—Heather McElhatton, author of Pretty Little Mistakes: A Do-Over Novel

Annette Majoris is a late-night radio host spinning her wheels in flyover land. Her big personality and gorgeous voice have only gotten her so far and she desperately needs a hook. One slow night, with a caller ranting about the usual things, she decides to take it to the next level—just throw it out there—what if the Vietnam War never happened? What if it was a government-concocted nightmare? A mind-control experiment of grand proportions?

When the lines light up like a Christmas tree, she knows she’s hit on something special, but even she can’t imagine how far this will take her. With a few simple questions, Annette has inadvertently tapped into the wounded American psyche and found a way to heal it. If the Vietnam War never happened, then the United States had never suffered defeat and none of its veterans had been involved in the atrocities of war.

Buoyed by political powerbrokers and their puppets, her outrageous claims gain legitimacy and virtually overnight Annette is speaking to crowded halls, dating a milling magnate, dining with the governor, and meeting with TV producers. But has she really unmasked the greatest conspiracy in American history, or is she just being played for a fool by the powers-that-be?

With pitch-perfect dialogue, Ellen Hawley’s second novel is a high-energy political satire. No stranger to the world of talk radio, Hawley once moonlighted as a call-in host for a Minneapolis radio station. She now divides her time between homes in Minneapolis and Cornwall. Visit her website at www.ellenhawley.com.

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Heroes: U.S. Marine Corps Medal of Honor Winners

Heroes: U.S. Marine Corps Medal of Honor Winners Review

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Heroes: U.S. Marine Corps Medal of Honor Winners Feature

The United States Marine Corps Medal of Honor, awarded for outstanding courage and sacrifice in combat, is the greatest honor a marine can hope to attain. In over two hundred years of Marine Corps existence, only 293 marines have received this honor.

These are their stories.

From the American Revolution to the Persian Gulf, this comprehensive book features detailed information on 293 Marine Corps Medal of Honor winners, with 150 in-depth accounts of those who demonstrated the courage and determination which are the cornerstones of the United States Marine Corps-in a compelling chronicle of those who have truly earned the rank of "heroes."

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Dateline Havana: The Real Story of US Policy and the Future of Cuba

Dateline Havana: The Real Story of US Policy and the Future of Cuba Review

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Dateline Havana: The Real Story of US Policy and the Future of Cuba Feature

Expertly researched and deftly reported, Dateline Havana is a probing exposé of U.S. policy and the future of Cuba on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Covering art, music, and Cuban politics, Reese Erlich creates a tableau that is at once moving and informative.

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