Other books that might interest you

• 

  I'm Dying Up Here - Heartbreak...

  William Knoedelseder

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  I'm Dying Up Here chronicles the collective coming of age of the standup comedians who defined American humor during the past three decades. Born early in the Baby Boom, they grew up watching The Tonight Show, went to school during Vietnam and Watergate, migrated en masse to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, and created an artistic community unlike any before or since. They were arguably the funniest people of their generation, living in a late-night world of sex, drugs, dreams, and laughter. For one brief shining moment, standup comics were as revered as rock stars. It was Comedy Camelot but, of course, it couldn't last.  
   
  In the late 1970s, William Knoedelseder was a cub reporter assigned to cover the burgeoning local comedy scene for the Los Angeles Times. He wrote the first major newspaper profiles of Jay Leno, David Letterman, Andy Kaufman, and others. He got to know many of them well. And so he covered the scene too when the comedians—who were not paid for performing at the career-making-or-breaking venue called the Comedy Store—tried to change an exploitative system and incidentally tore apart their own close-knit community. 
   
  Now Knoedelseder has gone back to interview the major participants to tell the whole story of that golden age and of the strike that ended it. Full of revealing portraits of many of the best-known comedic talents of our age, I'm Dying Up Here is also a poignant tale of the price of success and the terrible cost of failure—professional and moral.

  Show book

• 

  Hans-Ulrich Rudel: The Life and...

  Editors Charles River

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Few people personified the advancements, abilities, and tactical adeptness of the Luftwaffe like Hans-Ulrich Rudel, the most successful dive bomber in the history of warfare. Like hundreds of millions of others born in the early 20th century, his life was shaped by the Second World War, which started when he was just 23. He was born into and shaped by one of the most brutal and infamous regimes in history, and once indoctrinated, he fought determinedly and with real commitment in support of that regime. He flew over 2,500 combat missions, reportedly destroying over 500 Soviet tanks, 170 artillery pieces, 800 other vehicles, and a battleship on the way to becoming the highest-decorated Nazi soldier of World War II, receiving the Knight’s Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds. He was shot down, or crash landed, multiple times, and even after having reportedly been told by Hitler to stop flying on several occasions, he insisted on returning to the front to fight with his comrades. He lost a leg to gunfire in early 1945 but carried on with his combat missions despite the pain and the practical difficulties of flying with one leg. There is no denying his bravery, however unpleasant the cause for which he fought. 
  Hans-Ulrich Rudel is therefore a challenging character to analyze. His autobiography, Stuka Pilot, was originally entitled Trotzdem (“In spite of everything”), pointing strongly to his continuing support, post-war, for the Nazi ideology. But his book remains a detailed, fascinating, largely credible (and mostly ideology-free) account of his wartime experiences, even as his final pages include references to his proud insistence on performing the Nazi salute in front of the American soldiers who had taken him prisoner and who were providing medical care to his amputated stump.

  Show book

• 

  Historical Newspaper Articles...

  Various Various

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Public Domain newspaper articles in the US span a period of nearly two and a half centuries. Subjects, styles, period, publisher, and length vary greatly. This collection is a sampling of twenty such articles including one from the Journal de Paris. Although some of the works on the LibriVox catalog such as the Federalist Papers were published in newspapers, this is the first collection of newspaper articles. (Summary by James Smith).

  Show book

• 

  The Red Baron - A Photographic...

  Terry C Treadwell

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  If one aircraft was to represent the First World War, it could be the distinctive red Fokker Triplane of Manfred von Richthofen. With an astonishing eighty aerial victories, the Red Baron became a legend in his own, short, lifetime. Regarded as one of the most widely known fighter pilots of all time, von Richthofen is also considered to be the First World War’s ‘ace-of-aces’.  While much is known about this German aristocrat, what this book accomplishes is a pictorial portrait of von Richthofen as has never been seen before. Through a unique collection of photographs, the life of this famous airman is laid bare. From early family photographs through to the First World War, and his initial service as a cavalry reconnaissance officer on both the Eastern and Western fronts, his flying career, and the aircraft he flew, this extensive collection provides an unrivaled window into the life of history’s most celebrated fighter pilot.  By 1918, von Richthofen was regarded as a national hero in Germany and respected by his enemies. However, his remarkable career came to an abrupt conclusion on 21 April 1918. Just as the German Spring Offensive was faltering, von Richthofen’s aerial armada took to the sky to engage the Sopwith Camels of 209 Squadron which had taken off to undertake an offensive patrol over the Somme. In the ensuing dogfight, von Richtofen pursued one of the Camels along the valley of the River Somme. As he crossed the Allied line he came under fire – both from the ground and from the air.  Von Richtofen was fatally wounded by a single bullet which damaged his heart and lungs. Just which Allied pilot, or indeed soldier, fired the fatal shot remains in contention. Images of the stripped wreckage of his famous Fokker Triplane add a solemn, and all too graphic, coda to the life of the Red Baron.

  Show book

• 

  Katharine and RJ Reynolds -...

  Michele Gillespie

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  “A tour de force . . . a top-notch study of a powerful couple negotiating the shifting socioeconomic world of the New South and early corporate America.”—Journal of American History   Separately they were formidable—together they were unstoppable. Despite their intriguing lives and the deep impact they had on their community and region, the story of Richard Joshua Reynolds and Katharine Smith Reynolds has never been fully told. Now Michele Gillespie provides a sweeping account of how R. J. and Katharine succeeded in realizing their American dreams.   From relatively modest beginnings, R. J. launched the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which would eventually develop two hugely profitable products, Prince Albert pipe tobacco and Camel cigarettes. His marriage in 1905 to Katharine Smith, a dynamic woman thirty years his junior, marked the beginning of a unique partnership that went well beyond the family. As a couple, the Reynoldses conducted a far-ranging social life and, under Katharine’s direction, built Reynolda House, a breathtaking estate and model farm.  Katharine and R. J. Reynolds “is an engrossing study of a power couple extraordinaire . . . Telling us much about an unusual relationship, Michele Gillespie also provides a new way to understand how the post-Reconstruction New South elite helped construct business structures, social relations, and racial hierarchies. The result is an important addition to our understanding of the industrial South in the North Carolina Piedmont heartland” (William A. Link, author of The Paradox of Southern Progressivism).   “Ms. Gillespie uses Katharine’s life and work as a kind of prism through which to view the prejudices and predilections of Southern culture in the 1910s and 1920s.”—The Wall Street Journal

  Show book

• 

  History of England from the...

  David Hume

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  David Hume is one of the great philosophers of the Western intellectual tradition. His philosophical writings earned him lasting fame and renown; his historical writing earned his bread and butter. His "The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688", published between 1754 and 1764, was immensely popular and Hume wrote that "the copy-money given me by the booksellers much exceeded any thing formerly known in England; I was become not only independent, but opulent." The six volume work has had numerous editions and is still in print today. David Hume and Thomas Babington Macaulay have frequently been compared as the premier English historians but we don't have to choose because Macaulay begins where Hume leaves off.This is Volume 1F which covers the reign of Charles II and James II. (Summary by Richard Carpenter)

  Show book