When the Spanish Conquistadors swept through Peru in the sixteenth century, they were searching for great golden treasure. In 1572 they stormed the Inca stronghold of Vilcabamba, only to find the city deserted, burned, a nd already stripped of its wealth. According to legend the Incas had retreated deep into the jungle where they built another magnificent city in an inaccessible quarter of the cloud forest. For more than four centuries explorers and adventurers, archaeologists and warrior-priests have searched for the gold and riches of the Incas, and this lost city of Paititi, known by the local Machiguenga tribe as 'The House of the Tiger King'. House of the Tiger King is the tale of Shah's remarkable adventure to find the greatest lost city of the Americas, and the treasure of the Incas. Along the way he found himself considering others who have spent decades in pursuit of lost cities, and asks why anyone would find it necessary to mount such a quest at all.

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Joe Exotic, star of the Netflix original documentary that “consumed the pop-cultural imagination” (The Atlantic) and transfixed a nation in the midst of a global crisis, opens up about his outlandish journey from Midwestern farmer to infamous Tiger King, and finally, to federal inmate. Shortly after his arrest (for charges including hiring a hitman to murder his rival, Carole Baskin), Joe Exotic began keeping a daily journal of his life behind prison walls. In support of his defense, Joe began writing everything he wished he could tell a jury of his peers. Little did Joe know that mere months later, the self-proclaimed “gun-toting, gay redneck with a mullet” would become one of the most famous men in the world. Written entirely while incarcerated, this no-holds-barred memoir is Joe Exotic’s first, and maybe only, chance to tell his side of the story—the full story. Despite never having seen Tiger King, Joe is aware of what’s been said about him, and he’s eager to answer all the questions the world is dying to know. Such as: -The origin of the mullet. -How Joe became the Tiger King. -Joe’s favorite animals. -Joe’s relationships. -Joe’s explanation of all charges against him. -What happened with Trump’s pardon. -What he thinks about caging animals now that he lives in a cage. -What Joe has to say now about Carole Baskin. From his tragic childhood riddled with abuse to his dangerous feuds with big cat rivals and beyond, nothing is off the table. This is the exclusive and definitive read for anyone who binged the “riveting” (Vanity Fair) documentary and finished it hungry for more. A memoir unlike any other, it proves that they can cage the Tiger King, but they can’t silence his roar.

The South is often perceived as a haunted place in its region's literature, one that is strange, deviant, or "queer." The peculiar, often sexually charged literary worlds of contemporary writers like Fannie Flagg, Monique Truong, and Randall Kenan speak to this connection between queerness and the South. Heidi Siegrist explores the boundaries of negotiating place and sexuality by using the concept of Southernness—a purposefully fluid idea of the South that extends beyond simple geography, eschewing familiar ideas of the Southern canon. When the connection between queerness and Southerness becomes apparent, Siegrist shows a Southern-branded queer deviance can not only change the way we think about literature but can also change Southern queer people's lived experiences. Siegrist gathers a bevy of undertheorized writers, from Kenan and Truong to Dorothy Allison and even George R. R. Martin, showing that there are many "queer Souths." Siegrist offers these multiverses as a way to appreciate a place that is often unfriendly, even deadly, to queer people. But as Siegrist argues, none of these Souths, from the terrestrial to the imaginary, would be what they are without the influence and power of queer literature.

The third volume in the Docalogue series, this book explores the significance of the documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (2020), which became 'must-see-TV' for a newly captive audience during the global Covid-19 pandemic. The series – a true-crime, tabloid spectacle about a murder-for-hire plot within the big cat trade – prompts interesting questions about which documentaries become popular in particular moments and why. However, it also raises important questions related to the medium specificity of documentary in the streaming era, as well as the ethics of both human and animal representation. By combining five distinct perspectives on the Netflix documentary series, this book offers a complex and cumulative discourse about Tiger King’s significance in multiple areas including, but not limited to, animal studies, queer theory, genre studies, labor relations, and digital culture. Students and scholars of film, media, television, and cultural studies will find this book extremely valuable in understanding the significance of this larger-than-life true-crime documentary series.

Grady County Jail is no place to call home for a Tiger King. It's even less hospitable if you happen to be a Queen. Jailed Tiger King Tails explores Joe Exotics descent from Oklahoma Royalty, to federal property. As he trades places with the tigers he used to house, the reality of his 22 year prison sentence slowly sets in. Fear, depression, manipulation and rage fill the cage he shared with the author of this book. Kevin had never met Joe before, nor has he seen the popular documentary recently released. This is a truly unbiased account of events that took place during his first 60 weeks behind bars. Whether or not you are a fan of Joe Exotic, this book may give you different view of who Joe Maldonado-Passage truly is.

Enthralled by a line from the chronicle of a sixteenth-century monk, which said that the Incas 'flew like birds' over the jungle, and by the recurring theme of flying in Peruvian folklore, Tahir Shah set out to discover whether the Incas really did fly or glide above the jungles of Peru. Or was the Spanish cleric alluding to flight of a different kind - flight inspired by a powerful hallucinogen? After gathering equipment in London - and advice, not least from Wilfred Thesiger - the long quest begins. First, to the mountains of Peru and a trek to Machu Picchu, the Incas' most sacred city. Then on to the mountain city of Cusco and a mysterious island on the great glittering expanse of Lake Titicaca. Picking up clues as he goes, the author's trail takes him on to the coast and through the desert, to the immense animal-like etchings which form the Nazca Lines, and a remote burial ground for 30,000 mummified corpses. And finally to an epic river journey up the Amazon to discover the secrets of the Shuar, a tribe of infamous savagery living in the deep jungle of the Upper Amazon. In the course of this journey we learn much about the Spanish treatment of the Incas, about Peruvian folklore and magic, about the great but brief Amazon rubber boom of the nineteenth century, about head-shrinking, shamanic knowledge and plant-based hallucinogens. Even for a traveller so used to surreal adventures, there are many strange encounters and physical challenges - gruesome but often hilarious - among madmen and dreamsers, sorcerers, con-men and jungle experts, before Tahir Shah can at last discover the truth about the Birdmen of Peru.

Gorgeously illustrated in a large-format album with two gatefolds and a stunning foldout of a jungle at war,The Tiger Who Would Be King is as entertaining as it is wise, as wry as it is passionate. Yoon's humorous images support this beautifully written text with wit and insight, playing up the comic elements, while showing the pathos as well.

A philosophical and poetic journey recounting the author’s relationship with his four sheep and other animals in his home in the Blue Mountains. Both memoir and eloquent testament to animal rights. 'One of the most beautifully written books about animals I have ever read. I know of nothing else like it published in this or any other country. Deep, sensitive, charming, instructive and above all, humble. I cannot imagine anyone reading it without coming away in some profound sense altered.' — Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of When Elephants Weep '...a gorgeous book. Anyone who loves animals will be enchanted…but it’s a book that will challenge your thinking as well...highly recommended.' — ANZ LitLovers LitBlog