library previews

Jack London ( January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916)

2012-01-12T01:32:00.002-08:00

John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney), was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone. He is best remembered as the author of Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life".[citation needed] He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen", and of the San Francisco Bay area in The Sea Wolf.
London was a passionate advocate of unionization, socialism, and the rights of workers and wrote several powerful works dealing with these topics such as his dystopian novel, The Iron Heel and his non-fiction exposé, The People of the Abyss.

Wikipedia | SHOP: Jack London

Judith Krantz (born on January 9, 1928 in New York City), is an American novelist

2012-01-09T02:32:00.000-08:00

Judith Krantz (born Judith Tarcher on January 9, 1928 in New York City), is an American novelist who writes in the romance genre. Her works include Scruples, Princess Daisy, and Till We Meet Again.

Wikipedia | SHOP: Judith Krantz

Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (born January 6, 1931, New York City) is an American author.

2012-01-06T01:18:00.000-08:00

Edgar Lawrence ("E.L.") Doctorow was born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of second-generation Americans of Russian Jewish descent. He attended city public grade schools and the Bronx High School of Science where, surrounded by mathematically gifted children, he fled to the office of the school literary magazine, Dynamo. There, he published his first literary effort, The Beetle, which he describes as ”a tale of etymological self-defamation inspired by my reading of Kafka.

Wikipedia | SHOP: E. L. Doctorow

Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888)

2011-11-29T03:38:00.000-08:00

Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Little Women was set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868. This novel is loosely based on her childhood experiences with her three sisters.

Wikipedia | SHOP: Louisa May Alcott

Kindle Fire

2011-11-15T08:04:00.001-08:00

Anne Tyler (born October 25, 1941) is an American novelist.

2011-10-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

Tyler's ninth novel, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, which she considers her best work, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1983. Her tenth novel, The Accidental Tourist was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1985 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 and was made into a 1988 movie starring William Hurt and Geena Davis. Her eleventh novel, Breathing Lessons, received the Pulitzer Prize in 1989. She has edited three anthologies: The Best American Short Stories 1983, Best of the South, and Best of the South: The Best of the Second Decade.

Wikipedia | SHOP: Anne Tyler

Charles Hamm, popular music author

2011-10-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

Charles Hamm, who helped establish the field of American popular music history with two books that have become standard texts, died on Oct. 16 in Lebanon, N. H. He was 86. Mr. Hamm was one of the first scholars to study the history of American popular music with musicological rigor and sensitivity to complex racial and ethnic dynamics, and both oral and written traditions. He traced pop’s history not just to its full recent flowering in the 1950s or to the 19th century and Stephen Foster, but also to the colonial-era compositions that created the context for all that followed.

NYTimes

SHOP: Charles Hamm

October 20 birthday of Frederic Dannay aka Ellery Quesn

2011-10-20T02:50:00.000-07:00

Ellery Queen is both a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, New York: Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay (October 20, 1905 – September 3, 1982[1]) and Manford (Emanuel) Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee (January 11, 1905 – April 3, 1971[2]), to write, edit, and anthologize detective fiction.[3]
The fictional Ellery Queen created by Dannay and Lee is a mystery writer and amateur detective who helps his father, a police inspector in New York City, solve baffling murders.

Wikipedia | SHOP: Ellery Queen

Arthur Miller birthday October 17

2011-10-17T01:49:00.000-07:00

Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (one-act, 1955; revised two-act, 1956). Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, a period during which he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and was married to Marilyn Monroe.

Wikipedia | SHOP: Arthur Miller

Birthday of Noah Webster October 16, 1758

2011-10-16T01:32:00.000-07:00

Noah Webster (October 16, 1758 – May 28, 1843) was an American educator, lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education." His blue-backed speller books taught five generations of American children how to spell and read, and made their education more secular and less religious. According to Ellis (1979) he gave Americans "a secular catechism to the nation-state." His name became synonymous with "dictionary," especially the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language.
Wikipedia | SHOP: Noah Webster

October 15 Birthday of P G Wodehouse

2011-10-15T02:05:00.000-07:00

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE ( /ˈwʊd.haʊs/; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be widely read. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of pre-war English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

Wikipedia | SHOP: P G Wodehouse

James Herriot birthday October 3

2011-10-03T02:12:00.000-07:00

James Herriot was the pen name of James Alfred Wight, OBE, FRCVS also known as Alf Wight (3 October 1916 – 23 February 1995), an English veterinary surgeon and writer, who used his many years of experiences as a veterinarian to write a series of books of stories about animals and their owners. He is best known for these semi-autobiographical works, which are often referred to collectively as All Creatures Great and Small, a title used in some editions and in film and television adaptations.

Wikipedia | SHOP: James Herriot

Anne Sophie Mutter 35 years performing

2011-09-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Anne-Sophie Mutter's 35 magnificent years on stage and her brilliant recording career, this extravagant limited edition box set is filled with her complete discography on Deutsche Grammophon plus 2 additional discs of previously unreleased material.

Also included is a 288-page hardcover book featuring essays by those who inspired Anne-Sophie, an exclusive interview with the icon, and over 150 photos chronicling her life in pictures – all housed in a beautifully designed case as colorful as her music.

Truman Capote birthday September 30

2011-09-30T01:18:00.000-07:00

Truman Streckfus Persons (September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984), known as Truman Capote ( /ˈtruːmən kəˈpoʊtiː/), was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and the true crime novel In Cold Blood (1966), which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At least 20 films and television dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.

Wikipedia | SHOP: Truman Capote

T S ELIOT Birthday September 26

2011-09-26T04:33:00.000-07:00

Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965) was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 (at age 25) and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39. The poem that made his name, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock—started in 1910 and published in Chicago in 1915—is regarded as a masterpiece of the modernist movement. He followed this with what have become some of the best-known poems in the English language, including Gerontion (1920), The Waste Land (1922), The Hollow Men (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930), and Four Quartets (1945). He is also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.

Wikipedia | SHOP: T S ELIOT

William Faulkner birthday September 25

2011-09-25T03:16:00.000-07:00

William Cuthbert Faulkner (born Falkner, September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career. He is primarily known and acclaimed for his novels and short stories, many of which are set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, a setting Faulkner created based on Lafayette County, where he spent most of his childhood.

Wikipedia | SHOP: William Faulkner

F Scott Fitzgerald birthday September 24

2011-09-24T01:39:00.000-07:00

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night and his most famous, The Great Gatsby. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age. Novels such as The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night were made into films, and in 1958 his life from 1937–1940 was dramatized in Beloved Infidel.

Wikipedia | SHOP: F Scott Fitzgerald

The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And came Down A Mountain

2011-09-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

SHOP: The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And came Down A Mountain
SHOP: Hugh Grant

'The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain' is a 1995 film written by Ivor Monger and directed by Christopher Monger. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.
The movie is based on a story heard by Christopher Monger from his grandfather about the real village of Taff's Well (Ffynnon Taf in Welsh), Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales and its neighbouring Garth Hill. Due to 20th century urbanisation of the area, it was filmed in the more rural Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant and Llansilin in Mid Wales. Wikipedia

H G WELLS Birthday September 21, 1866

2011-09-21T04:31:00.000-07:00

Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books. Together with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback, Wells has been referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction".
Wells was an outspoken socialist and sympathetic to pacifist views, although he supported the First World War once it was under way, and his later works became increasingly political and didactic. His middle-period novels (1900–1920) were less science-fictional; they covered lower-middle class life (The History of Mr Polly) and the "New Woman" and the Suffragettes (Ann Veronica).

Sherwood Anderson birthday September 13, 1876

2011-09-13T01:32:00.000-07:00

Anderson died on March 8, 1941. He was an American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, J. D. Salinger, and Amos Oz. Anderson died in Panama at the age of 64 while on a cruise to South America. An autopsy revealed that he had accidentally swallowed a toothpick (presumably in a martini olive), which had perforated his colon and caused a fatal case of peritonitis. He was buried at Round Hill Cemetery in Marion, Virginia. His epitaph reads, "Life, Not Death, is the Great Adventure."

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Sherwood Anderson

Leo Tolstoy birthday September 9 1828

2011-09-09T03:50:00.000-07:00

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Leo Tolstoy

Allen Drury birthday September 2, 1918

2011-09-02T01:42:00.000-07:00

Allen Stuart Drury (September 2, 1918 – September 2, 1998) was a U.S. novelist. He wrote the 1959 novel Advise and Consent, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1960.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Allen Drury

William Saroyan birthday August 31, 1908

2011-08-31T01:54:00.000-07:00

William Saroyan ( /səˈrɔɪ.ən/; Armenian: Վիլյամ Սարոյան Vilyam Saroyan; 31 August 1908 – 18 May 1981) was an Armenian American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian-American life in California in his native Fresno.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for William Saroyan

C.S. Forester born August 27, 1899

2011-08-27T01:59:00.000-07:00

Cecil Scott C.S. Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (27 August 1899 — 2 April 1966), an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of naval warfare. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen (1935; filmed in 1951 by John Huston). His novels A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours were jointly awarded the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for C.S. Forester

Bret Harte birthday August 25, 1836

2011-08-25T03:03:00.000-07:00

Francis Bret Harte (August 25, 1836 – May 6, 1902) was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Bret Harte

Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22, 1920)

2011-08-22T05:25:00.000-07:00

Ray Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 45... (1953) and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951), Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th and 21st century American writers of speculative fiction and has been described as a Midwest surrealist. Many of Bradbury's works have been adapted into television shows or films.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Ray Bradbury

Francis "Frank" McCourt (August 19, 1930 – July 19, 2009)

2011-08-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

McCourt was an Irish-American teacher and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, best known as the author of Angela’s Ashes, an award-winning, tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood.
His brothers Malachy McCourt and Alphie McCourt are also autobiographical writers. In the mid-1980s Francis and Malachy created the stage play A Couple of Blaguards, a two-man show about their lives and experiences.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for McCourt

Edna Ferber birthday August 15, 1885 was an American novelist

2011-08-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), and Giant (1952; made into the 1956 Hollywood movie). Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper and his Milwaukee, Wisconsin-born wife, Jacob Charles and Julia (Neumann) Ferber. After living in Chicago, Illinois, and Ottumwa, Iowa, at age 12 Ferber and her family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, where she graduated from high school and briefly attended Lawrence University. She took newspaper jobs at the Appleton Daily Crescent and the Milwaukee Journal before publishing her first novel. She covered the 1920 Republican National Convention and 1920 Democratic National Convention for the United Press Association.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Edna Ferber

Russell Wayne Baker (born August 14, 1925) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer

2011-08-14T01:27:00.000-07:00

Baker is known for his satirical commentary and self-critical prose, as well as for his autobiography, Growing Up. Neil Postman, in the preface to Conscientious Objections, describes Baker as "...like some fourth century citizen of Rome who is amused and intrigued by the Empire's collapse but who still cares enough to mock the stupidities that are hastening its end. He is, in my opinion, a precious national resource, and as long as he does not get his own television show, America will remain stronger than Russia."

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Russell Baker

Alexandre Dumas, fils born 27 July 1824

2011-07-27T02:37:00.000-07:00

Alexandre Dumas, fils (27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was a French author and dramatist. He was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a writer and playwright. Popular novels: The Lady of the Camellias (Camille) (1848) L'affaire Clemenceau (The Clemenceau Case) (1867).

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Alexandre Dumas, fils

Opera Book, George Lascelles editor dies

2011-07-26T22:46:00.001-07:00

George Lascelles, the seventh Earl of Harewood, a member of the British royal family who was an internationally recognized writer on opera, died on July 11 at Harewood House, his family’s home near Leeds. He was 88. George Henry Hubert Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, KBE AM (7 February 1923 – 11 July 2011), styled The Hon. George Lascelles before 1929 and Viscount Lascelles between 1929 and 1947, was the elder son of the 6th Earl of Harewood (1882–1947), and Princess Mary, Princess Royal, the only daughter of King George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary. He had a younger brother, The Honourable Gerald Lascelles. Lord Harewood was the eldest nephew of King George VI and was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. He succeeded to his father's earldom on 23 May 1947. A music enthusiast, Lord Harewood devoted most of his career to opera. He served as editor of Opera magazine from 1950 to 1953 and as director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1951 to 1953 and again from 1969 to 1972. He served as chairman of the board of the English National Opera (ENO) from 1986 to 1995; Managing Director of the ENO from 1972 to 1985; artistic director of the Edinburgh, Adelaide and Leeds Festivals; Managing Director of the ENO offshoot English National Opera North from 1978 to 1981. Lord Harewood served as a governor of the BBC from 1985 to 1987 and as the president of the British Board of Film Classification from 1985 to 1996. He was the author or editor of three books, Kobbé's Complete Opera Book (ed. 1954, now The New Kobbé's Opera Book, edited with Antony Peattie, latest ed. 1997), The Tongs and the Bones (an autobiography, 1981), and Kobbé's Illustrated Opera Book (ed. 1989).

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Kobbé's Illustrated Opera Book

Raymond Chandler birthday July 23

2011-07-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American novelist and screenwriter.
In 1932 after losing his job as an oil company executive, Chandler at age forty-five and during the Depression decided to become a writer. In 1933 his first story was published in a pulp magazine called Black Mask. His first novel, The Big Sleep was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published only seven novels during his life. In the year before he died, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America. He died on March 26, 1959 in La Jolla California.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Raymond Chandler

Ernest Hemingway birthday July 21

2011-07-21T00:58:00.000-07:00

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American author and journalist. His distinctive writing style, characterized by economy and understatement, influenced 20th-century fiction, as did his life of adventure and his public image. He produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway's fiction was successful because the characters he presented exhibited authenticity that resonated with his audience. Many of his works are classics of American literature. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works during his lifetime; a further three novels, four collections of short stories, and three non-fiction works were published posthumously.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Ernest Hemingway

A J CRONIN Birthday July 19

2011-07-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

Archibald Joseph Cronin (19 July 1896–6 January 1981) was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known works are Hatter's Castle, The Stars Look Down, The Citadel, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Green Years, all of which were adapted to film. He also created the Dr. Finlay character, the hero of a series of stories that served as the basis for the popular BBC television and radio series entitled Dr. Finlay's Casebook.

Search Amazon.com for Archibald Joseph Cronin | Search Amazon.com for A J Cronin | Wikipedia

Erle Stanley Gardner birthday July 17

2011-07-17T01:34:00.000-07:00

Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author of detective stories, best known for the Perry Mason series, he also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray and Robert Parr.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Erle Stanley Gardner

Mrs Lincoln A Life

2011-07-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

Abraham Lincoln is the most revered president in American history, but the woman at the center of his life, his wife, Mary, has remained a historical enigma. In this definitive, magisterial biography, Catherine Clinton draws on important new research to illuminate the remarkable life of Mary Lincoln, and at a time when the nation was being tested as never before.

Mary Lincoln's story is inextricably tied with the story of America and with her husband's presidency, yet her life is an extraordinary chronicle on its own. Born into an aristocratic Kentucky family, she was an educated, well-connected Southern daughter, and when she married a Springfield lawyer she became a Northern wife—an experience mirrored by thousands of her countrywomen. The Lincolns endured many personal setbacks—including the death of a child and defeats in two U.S. Senate races—along the road to the White House. Mrs. Lincoln herself suffered scorching press attacks, but remained faithful to the Union and her wartime husband. She was also the first presidential wife known as the "First Lady," and it was in this role that she gained her lasting fame. The assassination of her husband haunted her for the rest of her life. Her disintegrating downward spiral resulted in a brief but traumatizing involuntary incarceration in an asylum and exile in Europe during her later years. One of the most tragic and mysterious of nineteenth-century figures, Mary Lincoln and her story symbolize the pain and loss of Civil War America.

Authoritative and utterly engrossing, Mrs. Lincoln is the long-awaited portrait of the woman who so richly contributed to Lincoln's life and legacy.

Search Amazon.com for Mary Lincoln

Philadelphia radio history book

2011-07-07T15:05:00.001-07:00

Just Released: New paperback book about start and growth of radio broadcasting industry in PHILADELPHIA, PA...
Philadelphia radio broadcasting began in 1922, when the city's first officially licensed stations went on the air. Within a few years, what had begun as a small, experimental medium became a full-fledged craze as families listened to live news, sports, and entertainment for the first time. In 1932, the first building designed for radio broadcasting opened on Chestnut Street, coinciding with the golden age of radio that featured live orchestras, soap operas, and imaginative dramas. In the 1950s, a few stations began playing rock and roll, and Philadelphia became known as a city that not only produced hit music but also consistently broke new acts. By the 1970s, FM radio began to grab the majority of listeners, and once again Philadelphia stations were responsible for breaking new artists, such as Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.
About the Author
Alan Boris is a local radio historian and the founder/director of the Philadelphia Radio Archives. In Philadelphia Radio, he has compiled a collection of rarely seen images from a variety of sources, including Philadelphia radio personalities, listeners, stations, and historical societies.

order here: Philadelphia Radio (Images of America)available at Amazon.com

The Greater Journey, Americans in Paris

2011-06-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

David Gaub McCullough born July 7, 1933 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award. McCullough earned a degree in English literature from Yale University. His first book was The Johnstown Flood (1968); and he has since written eight more on such topics as Harry S Truman, John Adams, and the Brooklyn Bridge. McCullough has also narrated multiple documentaries, as well as the 2003 film Seabiscuit; and he hosted American Experience for twelve years. McCullough's two Pulitzer Prize-winning books, Truman and John Adams, have been adapted by HBO into a TV film and a mini-series, respectively. McCullough's most recent work, The Greater Journey, about Americans in Paris from the 1830s to the 1900s, was released on May 24th, 2011.

At first glance, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris might seem to be foreign territory for David McCullough, whose other books have mostly remained in the Western Hemisphere. But The Greater Journey is still a quintessentially American history. Between 1830 and 1900, hundreds of Americans--many of them future household names like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mark Twain, Samuel Morse, and Harriet Beecher Stowe--migrated to Paris. McCullough shows first how the City of Light affected each of them in turn, and how they helped shape American art, medicine, writing, science, and politics in profound ways when they came back to the United States. McCullough's histories have always managed to combine meticulous research with sheer enthusiasm for his subjects, and it's hard not to come away with a sense that you've learned something new and important about whatever he's tackled. The Greater Journey is, like each of McCullough's previous histories, a dazzling and kaleidoscopic foray into American history by one of its greatest living chroniclers. --Darryl Campbell

new on blu-ray

2011-06-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

"True Blood: The Complete Third Season"

"Once Upon a Time in the West"

"Barry Lyndon (Amazon Exclusive)"

"Drive Angry"

"Legend (Ultimate Edition)"

"Lolita (Amazon Exclusive)"

"American Graffiti (Special Edition)"

"Big Jake "

"Rio Lobo"

"Stanley Kubrick: Limited Edition Collection"

Color Purple released on Blu-ray

2011-03-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

classic directors series

2011-03-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

* North by Northwest (50th Anniversary Edition)

DVD ~ Cary Grant

List Price: $24.98
Price: $9.99
You Save: $14.99 (60%)

. . .

* North by Northwest (50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Book)

DVD ~ Cary Grant

List Price: $34.99
Price: $19.99
You Save: $15.00 (43%)

. . .

* The Thing from Another World

DVD ~ Kenneth Tobey

List Price: $14.98
Price: $5.99
You Save: $8.99 (60%)

. . .

* The Birds (Collector's Edition)

DVD ~ Rod Taylor

List Price: $19.98
Price: $14.49
You Save: $5.49 (27%)

. . .

* Giant (Two-Disc Special Edition)

DVD ~ Elizabeth Taylor

List Price: $26.98
Price: $16.99
You Save: $9.99 (37%)

. . .

* She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

DVD ~ John Wayne

List Price: $12.98
Price: $7.99
You Save: $4.99 (38%)

. . .

* Doctor Zhivago (45th Anniversary Edition)

DVD

List Price: $24.98
Price: $15.99
You Save: $8.99 (36%)

Best Selling Blu-rays

2011-03-18T03:55:00.000-07:00

The Punisher:

Waterworld:

American History X:

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog:

Just released on Blu-ray

2011-03-02T13:39:00.000-08:00

=====================================================================
1. "Bambi (Diamond Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo)"

2. "Burlesque"

3. "Faster"

4. "127 Hours"

5. "Out of Sight"

6. "The Ultimate Wave: Tahiti (IMAX) [Blu-ray 3D]"

7. "Michael Jordan to the Max"

8. "Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy"

9. "Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia [Blu-ray 3D]"

10. "The Cable Guy"

André Popp

2011-02-19T07:06:00.000-08:00

André Charles Jean Popp (born 19 February 1924) is a French composer, arranger and screenwriter. Born in Fontenay-le-Comte, Vendée, he started his career as a church organist, filling the place of his father who had been called up to serve in World War II in 1939. Popp studied music at the Saint Joseph Institute. In the 1960s, he co-wrote (with Pierre Cour) two songs for the Eurovision Song Contest — Tom Pillibi, which won the competition for France in 1960, and L'amour est bleu (Love is Blue) which came fourth for Luxembourg in 1967, but which later became a Number one hit in the US for Paul Mauriat. During this time he was the arranger for many top French singers such as Juliette Greco. He worked for many years for French radio.
Popp is the composer of Piccolo, Sax and Co, a musical tale for children intended as a guide to the instruments of the orchestra and the rudiments of harmony.

In 1957, Popp released Delirium in Hi-Fi (originally titled Elsa Popping et sa musique sidérante), a collaboration with Pierre Fatosme, an experiment in the recording techniques of the time.

more Wikipedia Bio | Search Amazon.com for André Popp

2011-02-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

New popular British TV titles now available.

* Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey (Original UK Unedited Edition)
* Sherlock: Season One
* Merlin: The Complete Second Season
* Mi-5: Volume 8
* Doctor Who: The Movie (Special Edition)
* Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series
* Sherlock: Season One [Blu-ray]
* Top Gear: Complete Season 14

the late John Barry, legendary composer

2011-01-31T15:45:00.000-08:00

Composer John Barry

He was one of the most celebrated film composers of modern times, winning five Academy Awards and four Grammy Awards, with scores for, among others, The Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy, Born Free, and Somewhere in Time. Barry was often cited as having had a distinct style which concentrated on lush strings and extensive use of brass. However he was also an innovator, being one of the first to employ synthesizers in a film score (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), and to make wide use of pop artists and songs in Midnight Cowboy. Because Barry provided not just the main title theme but the complete soundtrack score, his music often enhanced the critical reception of a film, notably in Midnight Cowboy, Out of Africa, and Dances with Wolves.

Official Site | Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for John Barry

DR WHO + SHERLOCK + BBC on DVD and Blu-ray

2011-01-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

BBC on Blu-ray

Customers who have shown an interest in BBC on DVD and Blu-ray ~ We thought you might like to know about the following new and future releases:

* Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen (Story 79)
* Doctor Who: Silver Nemesis (Story 154)
* The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe / Prince Caspian & The Voyage of the Dawn Treader / The Silver Chair) (1988)
* Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series
* Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series [Blu-ray]
* Sherlock: Season One
* Sherlock: Season One [Blu-ray]
* Lennon Naked

This weeks best on Blu-ray

2010-12-14T17:23:00.000-08:00

Customers who have shopped for or browsed high-definition products might also be interested in learning about this week's hottest new releases on Blu-ray.

=====================================================================
1. "Despicable Me (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)"

Learn more:Customers who have shopped for or browsed high-definition products might also be interested in learning about this week's hottest new releases on Blu-ray.

=====================================================================
2. "The A-Team (+ Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
3. "The Town (Extended Cut Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)"

=====================================================================
4. "The Other Guys (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)"

=====================================================================
5. "24: Season Eight--The Complete Final Season [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
6. "Nanny McPhee Returns [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
7. "Le Noise (Amazon.com Exclusive) [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
8. "Hard Boiled [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
9. "Dragon Ball Z Kai: Season One, Part 3 [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
10. "Micmacs [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================

Blu-ray deals Act Now

2010-12-08T14:43:00.000-08:00

Customers who have shopped for or browsed high-definition products might also be interested in learning about this week's hottest new releases on Blu-ray.

=====================================================================
1. "Inception (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)"

Learn more:

=====================================================================
2. "2010 San Francisco Giants: The Official World Series Film (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)"

Learn more:

=====================================================================
3. "Cronos: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray]"

Learn more:

=====================================================================
4. "Beyoncé: I Am... World Tour [Blu-ray]"

Learn more:

=====================================================================
5. "Lost in Translation [Blu-ray]"

Learn more:

=====================================================================
6. "Alice In Wonderland (Four-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy)"

Learn more:

=====================================================================
7.
"Videodrome (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]"
Learn more:

=====================================================================
8. "Rush Hour [Blu-ray]"

Learn more:

=====================================================================
9. "About Last Night... [Blu-ray]"

Learn more:

=====================================================================
10. "St. Elmo's Fire [Blu-ray]"

Learn more:

=====================================================================

Blu-ray deals Act Now

2010-12-03T12:12:00.000-08:00

Customers who have browsed or shopped for high-definition products might also be interested in learning about the Amazon Movies featured and bestselling Blu-ray deals.

Gran Torino (+ BD-Live) [Blu-ray]:

Watchmen (Director's Cut + BD-Live) [Blu-ray]:

The Departed [Blu-ray]:

I Am Legend [Blu-ray]:

The Hangover (Unrated Edition) [Blu-ray]:

The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray]:

The Dark Knight (+ BD Live) [Blu-ray]:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [Blu-ray]:

The Pacific (HBO Miniseries) [Blu-ray]:

John Adams [Blu-ray]:

Fringe: The Complete First Season (+ BD-Live) [Blu-ray]:

Up (Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + BD Live):

New on Blu-Ray

2010-11-25T13:10:00.000-08:00

Customers who have browsed or shopped for high-definition products might also be interested in learning about this week's hottest new releases on Blu-ray.

=====================================================================

Blu-ray New Releases for the Week of November 23, 2010:

=====================================================================
1. "The Expendables (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)"

=====================================================================
2. "Eat Pray Love [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
3. "The Complete Metropolis [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
4. "The Pillars of the Earth [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
5. "Crank / Crank 2 (Two-Pack) [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
6. "Sting Live in Berlin [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
7. "The Search for Santa Paws (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)"

=====================================================================
8. "America Lost and Found: The BBS Story (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
9. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day / Total Recall (Two-Pack) [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================
10. "Deadwood: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]"

=====================================================================

We hope you found this message to be useful.

British mysteries on DVD

2010-11-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

Customers who have shown an interest in British mysteries on DVD might be interested in some of the most popular new releases now available or coming soon.

In this message:
* Poldark: Series 2

* Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express [Blu-ray]

* Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Movie Collection, Set 5 (2010)

* Midsomer Murders: Village Case Files

* Cadfael: Complete Collection

* Agatha Christie's Marple: Geraldine McEwan Collection

* Poldark: Series 2

MILES DAVIS 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition

2010-11-14T21:28:00.000-08:00

Miles Davis' music has always been a feast for the ears, but now it can reach all five senses: hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, and tasting.

Read more: news.cnet.com

MILES DAVIS 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition:
Search Amazon.com for MILES DAVIS 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition

Contemporary serious music...

2010-11-08T15:29:00.000-08:00

Jack Gallagher (b. 1947, New York City). American composer of mostly orchestral, chamber, choral, and piano works that have been performed in Europe and the USA. He was active as a trumpeter in the National Orchestral Association from 1968-70 and served as music director of the Wooster Symphony Orchestra in 1985-86. He has taught composition, orchestration and other subjects at the College of Wooster in Ohio since 1977, where he has been Professor of Music since 1991.

More Bio | Joanne Falletta discography: new Jack Gallagher CD

Jack Gallagher’s Symphony in One Movement: Threnody has been acclaimed by in Tune magazine as ‘enormously inventing’ and by Österreichische Musikzeitschrift as ‘a one-movement symphony of great colorfulness’. The warm, lyrical Berceuse was heralded by The Washington Post as ‘a treat’ and ‘a lovely melodic and accessible work’. The spirited Diversions Overture and Sinfonietta for String Orchestra, in five-movement arch form, complete this survey of Gallagher’s music for orchestra recorded by the London Symphony under the direction of JoAnn Falletta....(Naxos)

IMAX on Blu-ray

2010-11-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

Customers who have shown an interest in Blu-ray 3D or IMAX documentaries might like to know about the following titles that are currently exclusive to Amazon.com.

* IMAX: Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk (Blu-ray 3D Version)

* IMAX: Dinosaurs Alive! (Blu-ray 3D Version)

* IMAX: Wild Ocean (Blu-ray 3D Version)

Eisenhower - Going Home to Glory

2010-10-27T01:47:00.000-07:00

When President Dwight Eisenhower left Washington, D.C., at the end of his second term, he retired to a farm in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that he had bought a decade earlier. Living on the farm with the former president and his wife, Mamie, were his son, daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren, the oldest of whom, David, was just entering his teens. In this engaging and fascinating memoir, David Eisenhower—whose previous book about his grandfather, Eisenhower at War, 1943–1945, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize—provides a uniquely intimate account of the final years of the former president and general, one of the giants of the twentieth century. In Going Home to Glory, Dwight Eisenhower emerges as both a beloved and forbidding figure. He was eager to advise, instruct, and assist his young grandson, but as a general of the army and president, he held to the highest imaginable standards. At the same time, Eisenhower was trying to define a new political role for himself.

Search Amazon.com for Dwight Eisenhower

The WarnerNuzova duo

2010-10-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

The WarnerNuzova duo — cellist Wendy Warner and pianist Irina Nuzova — makes its recording debut with five late-Romantic Russian works on an album dedicated to the memory of one of Warner’s mentors, the illustrious Russian cellist, composer, and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich (1927–2007).

Fittingly, two of the pieces were originally written for Rostropovich: Nikolai Miaskovsky’s rarely heard Sonata No. 2 in A Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 81; and Alfred Schnittke’s Baroque-inspired Musica nostalgica, for violoncello and piano.

This is the first American recording of Miaskovsky’s mellifluous Sonata No. 2, a work that’s rarely performed outside of Russia. It will be a discovery for most listeners.

Alexander Scriabin’s Etude Op. 8, No. 11, is a beautiful encore piece brimming with chromatic harmonies; Sergei Prokofiev’s Adagio from Ten Pieces from Cinderella, Op. 97b, is based on a duet from his ballet; and Sergei Rachmaninov’s Sonata in G Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19, is a riveting four-movement work from the same period as his Second Piano Concerto.
Search Amazon.com for Wendy Warner | CEDILLE RECORDS

MARK TWAIN

2010-10-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), well known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Twain is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), which has been called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). Twain was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. Twain was very popular, and his keen wit and incisive satire earned praise from critics and peers. Upon his death he was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of his age", and William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature"

Woodward "Obama's Wars"

2010-09-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

The book, "Obama's Wars," details how the Obama Administration was -- and is -- extremely divided over strategy in Afghanistan. According to the book, the president said "I have two years with the public on this" and asked his advisers how to avoid a big escalation in the nine-year, U.S.-led Afghanistan war.

JIMMY CARTER - White House Diary

2010-09-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

Each day during his presidency, Jimmy Carter made several entries in a private diary, recording his thoughts, impressions, delights, and frustrations. He offered unvarnished assessments of cabinet members, congressmen, and foreign leaders; he narrated the progress of secret negotiations such as those that led to the Camp David Accords. When his four-year term came to an end in early 1981, the diary amounted to more than five thousand pages. But this extraordinary document has never been made public-until now.

Search Amazon.com for Jimmy Carter

CDsales

2010-09-17T05:34:00.001-07:00

Search Amazon.com for PHILIP SWANSON

This album offers a series of reflections on Ikkyu Sojun’s poem. It includes both original works and interpretations of works of other musicians. The musical world of the impressionists—Debussy in particular—pervades much of this music.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

OBAMA

2010-09-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

Search Amazon.com for Of Thee I Sing OBAMA

In this tender, beautiful letter to his daughters, President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation. From the artistry of Georgia O'Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington, President Obama sees the traits of these heroes within his own children, and within all of America's children.

COMPACT DISC AUDIO

2010-07-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

Search Amazon.com for cds

NESPRESSO Cafe Maker

2010-07-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

How 'bout a nice cup of coffee to go with the good book, good music or video...

Nespresso has developed a unique extraction system specially adapted to capsules. It controls every vital setting when preparing a perfect espresso. Nespresso machines have been designed with renowned partners and designers, and bring out the taste and aromas of coffee by combining quality of design with ease of use. The Nespresso C100 Essenza Automatic Machine is part of our compact line, which features a modern, compact, and practical design. The machine deploys technology essential for preparing an outstanding Espresso, and is exceptionally easy to use: Automatic control of the amount of coffee in the cup. A high pressure pump (19 bars) extracts all the aromas and develops a smooth crema in the cup. A thermobloc which heats water to 187°and 196° during extraction and empties the remaining water after each use so that the water is fresh for each preparation. A simple system which perforates the capsule and soaks all the ground coffee to optimally filter the coffee. A functional handle system, which allows for easy coffee preparation.Automatic ejection of used capsule. Removable water container (34 oz). Tray for used capsules. Back-lit control button.

Search Amazon.com for Nespresso

Saffron Burrows

2010-06-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

Search Amazon.com for ipad

Search Amazon.com for Saffron Burrows

EMILY BLUNT

2010-06-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

SHOP: Emily Blunt

Search Amazon.com for EMILY BLUNT

2010-06-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

ORIGINAL EPISODES OF THE LONE RANGER RADIO SERIES

Search Amazon.com for THE LONE RANGER books, TV and Film

NEW CDS

2010-05-29T13:21:00.001-07:00

Official Bio

1980s Billboard-charting New Age phenom Davol returns with a new collection of feel-good, instrumental electronic pop that, like the album's title, is a Good Sign that synthesizer-based New Age music is alive and well and here to stay in the 2010s. From beginning to end, the album is anchored down by infectious, rhythmic sampled bass and percussion grooves over which Davol adds multiple layers of keyboard melodies, textures, and flourishes. Accompanying Davol on this sonic journey is Peter Maunu, who adds his luminous guitars to the mix, resulting in pure aural delight. The most stirring tracks on the CD are the opener Scarborough Days, which has a very laidback though propulsive, cinematic, and rich and velvety Pat Metheny Group feel to it (in fact, it sounds like something off of PMG's storied Secret Story disc), and Nautikos, with its sparse but riveting keyboard melody. The title track Good Sign, Going There, and A Place Here have nice, mellow, light jazz sensibilities to them; Truth 2010 and Stay are more upbeat dance techno; Goodnight is a fitting end with Maunu's acoustic guitar and Davol's keyboard coming together for gentle balladry. Through it all, Davol maintains cohesion and solidarity with a singular style that recalls such artists as Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, Jan Hammer, Lyle Mays, Anthony Banks, David Wahler, and Michael Stribling. If you like those musicians, it s a Good Sign that you ll love this. --Raj Manoharan for Amazon .com

Search Amazon.com for DAVOL

2010-05-17T15:22:00.001-07:00

Pianist Richard Glazier fan of Gershwin

2009-12-09T17:18:00.000-08:00

Movie musicals led the young Richard Glazier to the piano, first for classical training and then to develop a devotion to the music of a golden period of American songs, particularly the George and Ira Gershwin....

PBS News Hour story Richard Glazier Site Available Recordings

Seasonal Selections for the Holidays

2009-12-04T01:27:00.001-08:00

Link to Classical Christmas CD Selections and Albums for the Holiday Season

Stanton Lanier's new CD "DECEMBER PEACE"

2009-11-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

Stanton Lanier's passion is to bring listeners peace and rest in a hurried world. His 5th album "Unveiled" (2008) reflects his desire to discover truth and beauty on life's journey, combining signature piano melodies with a stellar ensemble of guest artists. "Unveiled was produced by Windham Hill Founder Will Ackerman who describes it as "...soaring inspiration and remarkable peace." Stanton's live performances blend solo piano, visuals and stories to inspire audiences of all ages. His story illustrates how each of our lives is like a tapestry being woven together to make a beautiful picture, even though there are times when life doesn't make sense and requires us to live by faith. In arranging and composing for his latest cd, December Peace, Stanton's goal was to offer peace and rest for your holiday season through a distinctive collection of traditional and original piano melodies. The album also features the beautiful work of Jill Haley on English horn, Eugene Friesen on cello, Jeff Oster on flugel horn and Noah Wilding with angelic vocals.

Official Website

Available Recordings

2009-11-11T15:23:00.001-08:00

Amazon.com Widgets