Eddie Kucera is born two months after the death of his immigrant father, who was killed in the Cherry, Illinois Mine Disaster in 1909. When his mother dies of pneumonia when Eddie was fourteen, his sisters plan to send him to an orphanage since they have no place for him in their lives. The year is 1924. He decides to run away from his family home in La Salle, Illinois in search of his only living uncle, Mike Kucera, who left Cherry in 1899 for the gold fields of Alaska when he was eighteen. In 1924, however, Mike is presently living in Oregon as a successful lumberman and has lost all contact with his family back in Illinois and knows nothing of Eddie's existence. The novel weaves the lives of these two young men into a tapestry of adventures that culminate with the birth of a child on Christmas Eve, 1929.

Eddie Porter, a professional gambler, arrived at the village of Fallston, North Carolina in 1930 with the rarest of commodities: money. He was there to investigate the prospect of buying a sprawling, run down tobacco farm. Eddie knew, at once, that he has found the place he had long been seeking. It was sound rather than site that told Eddie this. The people of Fallston had the exact same accent and voice inflections of the man he was seeking. It has taken Eddie a dozen years to find this place. After a week in Fallston, Eddie calmly bet the bulk of his fortune and the last ten years of his life on Fallston. In June of 1940, Eddie Porter was found murdered in his home in Fallston.Ten year old Jubal Scott was the first to reach the scene. Jubal caught a glimpse of Eddies killer, before he, too was knocked unconscious and left for dead. Soon, the Sheriff of Green County, Jubals father Mason Scott and Eddie Porters daughter join forces to hunt for his killer. Months of sleuthing later, the trio have only a budding romance between Monica Porter and Mason Scott to show for their efforts. Tensions mount with each attempt on Jubals life. Finally, Monica discovers a letter from her father naming John Lofton, a local, as the man who killed his friend in France during World War I. Soon after Eddies murder, Lofton is the victim of an apparent suicide. Monica Porters says, Case Closed! Mason Scott, however, remains unconvinced. The case reaches an exciting climax when Jubal Scott recognizes the real killers picture in a newspaper. Discover how Eddie Porters final corageous act of love changed his vengeful quest into a remarkable legacy of love.

The Kings of Dance novel is an education of dance, and how music evolved along with it. “As far back as I can remember which would be 1972; Rock the dance was born right before my eyes.” The first-time author, Luis De Jesus, exclaims an education on how “Rock” was born and how from the Bronx dance roots the next level of dancing evolved. The purest form of dance; Rock! THE BASICS, THE FUNDAMENTALS! A lot of people do not have knowledge and are blind to the real facts, let this be your schooling. This story is a time portal that takes you back to the different glamorous Disco’s, music, and styles of clothes. This book is so that the truth can be exposed. Luis was there; he is the proof in the pudding. All of the people mentioned in this book deserve their title.This is based on a true story! It took place in the Bronx.

This four-volume reference work surveys American literature from the early 20th century to the present day, featuring a diverse range of American works and authors and an expansive selection of primary source materials. Bringing useful and engaging material into the classroom, this four-volume set covers more than a century of American literary history—from 1900 to the present. Twentieth-Century and Contemporary American Literature in Context profiles authors and their works and provides overviews of literary movements and genres through which readers will understand the historical, cultural, and political contexts that have shaped American writing. Twentieth-Century and Contemporary American Literature in Context provides wide coverage of authors, works, genres, and movements that are emblematic of the diversity of modern America. Not only are major literary movements represented, such as the Beats, but this work also highlights the emergence and development of modern Native American literature, African American literature, and other representative groups that showcase the diversity of American letters. A rich selection of primary documents and background material provides indispensable information for student research.

A biography of the spectacular rise and fall of Eddie Antar, better known as "Crazy Eddie," whose home electronics empire changed the world even as it turned out to be one of the biggest business scams of all time Back in the fall of 2016 we heard the news about the passing of Eddie Antar, "Crazy Eddie" as he was known to millions of people, the man behind the successful chain of electronic stores and one of the most iconic ad campaigns in history. Few things evoke the New York of a particular era the way "Crazy Eddie! His prices are insaaaaane!" does. The journalist Herb Greenberg called his death the "end of an era" and that couldn't be more true. What's insane is that his story has never been told. Before Enron, before Madoff, before The Wolf of Wall Street, Eddie Antar's corruption was second to none. The difference was that it was a street franchise, a local place that was in the blood stream of everyone's daily life in the 1970s and early '80s. And Eddie pulled it off with a certain style, an in your face blue collar chutzpah. Despite the fact that then U.S. Attorney Michael Chertoffcalled him "the Darth Vader of capitalism" after the extent of the fraud was revealed, one of the largest SEC frauds in American history after Crazy Eddie's stores went public in 1984, Eddie was talked about fondly by the people who worked for him. They still do--there are myriads of ex-Crazy Eddie employee web pages that still attract fans, and the Crazy Eddie fraud scheme is now taught in every business school across the United States. Many years have passed since the franchise went down in spectacular fashion but Crazy Eddie's moment has endured the way that iconic brands and characters do--one only need Google the media outpouring that accompanied his death. Maybe it's because it crystallized everything about 1970s New York almost perfectly, the merchandise and rise of consumer electronics (stereos!), the ads (cheesy!), the money (cash!). In Retail Gangster, investigative journalist Gary Weiss takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most unbelievable business scam stories of all time, a story spanning continents and generations, reaffirming the old adage that the truth is often stranger than fiction.

Eddie Cicotte, who pitched in the American League 1905-1920, was one of the tragic figures of baseball. A family man and a fan favorite, he ascended to stardom with nothing more than a mediocre fastball, endless guile and a repertoire of trick pitches. He won 29 games in 1919 and led the Chicago White Sox to the pennant. Although he pitched poorly in the World Series that October, fans did not hold it against him--a slump can happen to anybody. A year later, the public learned the truth: Cicotte's poor performance was no slump. He had taken a bribe to throw the Series. Along with seven teammates, he was implicated in what became known as the Black Sox Scandal, the most disgraceful episode in the history of the sport. Overnight, he became a pariah and would remain so for the rest of his life. This is the first full-length biography of Cicotte, best known today not as a great pitcher but as one of the "Eight Men Out."

Left for dead by unknown assailants who have murdered a woman he was protecting, swordsman-for-hire Eddie LaCrosse sets out to avenge the attack and finds himself entangled in a mystery involving a notorious crime lord, a backwoods dragon cult, and royal scandals.

A “fascinating” memoir by America’s greatest professional billiards player, a child prodigy in the pool halls of the 1930s who became a world champion (Library Journal). Willie Mosconi’s father never wanted him to play billiards. At night, the boy would lie awake listening to the clatter of balls downstairs in the family pool hall, and when his father wasn’t around, he would climb onto an apple crate to practice his shots. When his dad started locking up the balls and cue, young Willie improvised with potatoes and a broom handle. By the time he was 7 years old, he was good enough to play against Ralph Greenleaf in a match billed as “The Child Prodigy vs. The World Champion.” It was the start of a magnificent career that would include an unprecedented 15 world championships and the record for most consecutive balls run without a miss: 526. Nicknamed “Mr. Pocket Billiards,” Mosconi was instrumental in popularizing pool in America, serving as a consultant for iconic films such as The Hustler and The Color of Money and facing off against the famed hustler Minnesota Fats in 2 celebrated matches. Cowritten with journalist Stanley Cohen, Willie’s Game is the colorful, captivating autobiography of an illustrious champion who lifted his sport to new heights and played by one simple rule: If you don’t miss, you don’t have to worry about anything else.

Rooted in the creative success of over 30 years of supermarket tabloid publishing, the Weekly World News has been the world's only reliable news source since 1979. The online hub www.weeklyworldnews.com is a leading entertainment news site.

This book features four essays that illuminate the relationship between American and Soviet film cultures in the 20th century. The first essay emphasizes the structural similarities and dissimilarities of the two cultures. Both wanted to reach the masses. However, the goal in Hollywood was to entertain (and educate a little) and in Moscow to educate (and entertain a little). Some films in the Soviet Union as well as in the United States were conceived as clear competition to one another – as the second essay demonstrates – and the ideological opponent was not shown from its most advantageous side. The third essay shows how, in the 1980s, the different film cultures made it difficult for the Soviet director Andrei Konchalovsky to establish himself in the US, but nevertheless allowed him to succeed. In the 1960s, a genre became popular that tells the story of the Russian Civil War using stylistic features of the Western: The Eastern. Its rise and decline are analyzed in the fourth essay.