"Sequel to the award-winning Trans Am Diaries by Stevie D. which chronicles his journey of surviving prostate cancer through medical treatments and humor, Stevie D. brings his full-on comedy in this new book, Hollywood Hillbilly, so sit back and enjoy! This book will make you smile"--

This text argues that the hillbilly - in his various guises - has been viewed by mainstream Americans simultaneously as a violent degenerate who threatens the modern order and as a keeper of traditional values and thus symbolic of a nostalgic past free of the problems of contemporary life.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A riveting book."—The Wall Street Journal "Essential reading."—David Brooks, New York Times From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck. The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love,” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility. But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that this is only the short, superficial version. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. Vance piercingly shows how he himself still carries around the demons of their chaotic family history. A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.

The country musician behind the chart-topping hit "Achy Breaky Heart" describes his life, from his Kentucky childhood listening to gospel and bluegrass music to his original pursuit of a career in baseball to his breakthrough in the music business.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “This extraordinary book is not only a chronicle of Ron’s and Clint’s early careers and their wild adventures, but also a primer on so many topics—how an actor prepares, how to survive as a kid working in Hollywood, and how to be the best parents in the world! The Boys will surprise every reader with its humanity.” — Tom Hanks "I have read dozens of Hollywood memoirs. But The Boys stands alone. A delightful, warm and fascinating story of a good life in show business.” — Malcolm Gladwell Happy Days, The Andy Griffith Show, Gentle Ben—these shows captivated millions of TV viewers in the ’60s and ’70s. Join award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard and audience-favorite actor Clint Howard as they frankly and fondly share their unusual family story of navigating and surviving life as sibling child actors. “What was it like to grow up on TV?” Ron Howard has been asked this question throughout his adult life. in The Boys, he and his younger brother, Clint, examine their childhoods in detail for the first time. For Ron, playing Opie on The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days offered fame, joy, and opportunity—but also invited stress and bullying. For Clint, a fast start on such programs as Gentle Ben and Star Trek petered out in adolescence, with some tough consequences and lessons. With the perspective of time and success—Ron as a filmmaker, producer, and Hollywood A-lister, Clint as a busy character actor—the Howard brothers delve deep into an upbringing that seemed normal to them yet was anything but. Their Midwestern parents, Rance and Jean, moved to California to pursue their own showbiz dreams. But it was their young sons who found steady employment as actors. Rance put aside his ego and ambition to become Ron and Clint’s teacher, sage, and moral compass. Jean became their loving protector—sometimes over-protector—from the snares and traps of Hollywood. By turns confessional, nostalgic, heartwarming, and harrowing, THE BOYS is a dual narrative that lifts the lid on the Howard brothers’ closely held lives. It’s the journey of a tight four-person family unit that held fast in an unforgiving business and of two brothers who survived “child-actor syndrome” to become fulfilled adults.

Stevie D. thought he had made it. After leaving his small-town Kentucky home for the bright lights of Hollywood, this self-described “white trash hillbilly” rose through the stand-up comedy ranks to become a star on the Sunset Strip. Since the release of his successful concert-_lm DVD, Rockstars of Comedy, Stevie began developing projects with rock legend Tommy Lee, UFC Champion Rich Franklin, Hot Rod Builder of the Year Troy Ladd and other celebrities. With a beautiful wife, he was also enjoying the greatest adventure of his life—fatherhood.Then, Stevie received the stunning news that his life might actually be nearing an end when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the young age of 42. A powerful story of survival, The Trans Am Diaries is a “stream of consciousness” direct from Stevie D.'s pen and is also full of laugh-out-loud stories about the entertainment industry and the colorful characters Stevie has met along the way including golfing with Eddie Van Halen and opening for Chris Rock on 60 Minutes.

“Admirably reported . . . Waxman unearths juicy anecdotes that’ll keep film fans cackling and turning the pages.” — Salon.com “Riveting tales of Hollywood hubris . . . a fun read.” — Entertainment Weekly “Vivid . . . fascinating . . . delightful . . . [Waxman’s] background as a hard news reporter serves her well.” — New York Times Book Review “A behind-the-cameras fireball of wicked insider revelations . . . Love it!” — Liz Smith, syndicated columnist “[Waxman’s] thorough reporting results in a compulsively readable chronicle of the decade’s auteurs and their work.” — Premiere “Enjoyably dishy.” — Variety “Addictively readable . . . fascinating” — Miami Herald “A lively book with gossipy and readable stories about some obsessive guys who are as much rascals as rebels.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review “Terrific . . . wildly informative and readable about the plight of the biggest young talents in modern movies” — Buffalo News “[Rebels on the Backlot] makes a case for creating a new film canon of this late ‘90s renaissance.” — Pittsburgh Tribune “Waxman perceptively depicts the vocabulary of the new Hollywood . . . well-written . . . recommended.” — Library Journal “Hums along on detail and gossip, adding up to a template for making it in contemporary Hollywood.” — men.style.com “Up-close, often gossipy” — The Hollywood Reporter “Fascinatingly candid” — Minneapolis Star Tribune

Los Angeles magazine is a regional magazine of national stature. Our combination of award-winning feature writing, investigative reporting, service journalism, and design covers the people, lifestyle, culture, entertainment, fashion, art and architecture, and news that define Southern California. Started in the spring of 1961, Los Angeles magazine has been addressing the needs and interests of our region for 48 years. The magazine continues to be the definitive resource for an affluent population that is intensely interested in a lifestyle that is uniquely Southern Californian.

Packed with photographs of clothing and the stars who wore them, Nudie the Rodeo Tailor chronicles the life of legendary Los Angeles clothier Nudie Cohn, creator of costumes for Elvis Presley, Cher, Elton John, Roy Rogers, John Wayne, John Lennon, Steve McQueen and Eric Clapton. Cohn changed the course of fashion history with everything from his famous sparkly G-strings to his $10,000 gold suit for Elvis.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University “Extraordinary . . . an act of courage and self-invention.”—The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award • Los Angeles Times Book Prize Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home. “Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover’s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?”—Vogue NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • O: The Oprah Magazine • Time • NPR • Good Morning America • San Francisco Chronicle • The Guardian • The Economist • Financial Times • Newsday • New York Post • theSkimm • Refinery29 • Bloomberg • Self • Real Simple • Town & Country • Bustle • Paste • Publishers Weekly • Library Journal • LibraryReads • Book Riot • Pamela Paul, KQED • New York Public Library