Born in poverty in Tennessee, Dolly Rebecca Parton had ambition and determination in spades. Her first single, the ironic Dumb Blonde, launched the now legendary career of a singer-songwriter with a pure country voice and a gift for story-telling. Smart as a whip, Dolly Parton shrugged aside the male-dominated world of Nashville to command her own destiny, creating huge business enterprise in the process: She owns Dollywood theme park and other hospitality venues; she has hosted her own television programs and appeared in films with Jane Fonda, Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone; her Imagination Library project sends free books to children all over the world – For Dolly, dreams are everything and nothing – you gotta roll your sleeves up and get stuck in. Collating interviews and encounters with Dolly Parton from 1967 onwards, Not Dumb Not Blonde proves just that. As in her songs, she is unfailingly entertaining, frank and feisty. These are the words of an artist and performer who, beneath the bravado, is deadly serious about her music and career, and this duality proves to be a touching, insightful and joyous read.

Sid ‘One-Punch’ Luft, amateur-boxer, producer and Judy Garland’s third husband was the one man in her life who stuck around, helping her achieve a meteoric comeback in the 1960s. It was Luft who reversed the fortunes of an apparently faded career, seeing her triumph at Carnegie Hall, in ‘A Star Is Born’ and ‘The Judy Garland Show’. Previously unpublished, Sid Luft’s intimate autobiography tells their story in hard-boiled yet elegant prose. It begins on a fateful night in New York City when the not-quite-divorced Judy and the not-quite-divorced Sid meet at Billy Reed’s Little Club. A straight-talking sharp shooter, Sid fell for Judy hard and fast and the romance persisted through separations, reconciliations, and later divorce. However, her drug dependencies and suicidal tendencies put a tremendous strain on the relationship. Sid did not complete his memoir; it ended in 1960 after Judy hired David Begelman and Freddie Fields to manage her career. But Randy L. Schmidt, acclaimed editor of Judy Garland on Judy Garland, seamlessly pieced together the final section of the book from extensive interviews with Sid, most previously unpublished. Despite everything, Sid never stopped loving Judy and never forgave himself for not being able to save her from the demons that ultimately drove her to an early death at age forty-seven in 1969. Sid served as chief conservator of the Garland legacy until his death at the age of eighty-nine in 2005. This is his testament to the love of his life. ‘In prose so brassy that it bruises the sensibilities, Luft… illuminates the dark side of life in the spotlight and dispels any sentimental illusions about the glories of show business in Hollywood’s classic age.’ - The New Yorker

As part of her ongoing quest to break open monastic wisdom for the modern world, Sr. Joan Chittister's latest book addresses the question: What qualities of the soul must be cultivated by each of us if we are to become a positive presence in a changing world? Rooted in the ancient tradition of lectio divina - sacred reading that connects Scripture with the pursuit of personal transformation - Seeing with Our Souls highlights a key Bible passage for each of twelve key qualities of soul and offers brief reflections that speak to the core of one's spiritual practice. Each reflection asks us to identify the political, spiritual, economic, and cultural choices we make and to assess our aspirations for the future. Seeing with Our Souls is ideal spiritual reading for busy people interested in gleaning scriptural and monastic wisdom for everyday life.

It's a tumultuous time in journalism as media forms evolve and new models emerge. There are few clear answers, but no one is more prepared than The Missouri Group to tackle these issues head on and to teach students the core, enduring journalism skills they need to succeed -- whether they write for the local paper, a professional blog, cable news, or even work in public relations.

Amazon print on demand (KDP) version for the public, by Tressie McMillan Cottom

A critical yet accessible introduction to organisational behaviour and work, this book will help you understand the complexities of organisational life and evaluate modern business practices. Classic organisational behaviour topics such as team-working, motivation, and change are complemented by core critical approaches such as power and control, organisational misbehaviour, and health and well-being through a clear three-part structure. Students are encouraged to look beyond a descriptive approach and truly engage with the content. Examples and 'Stop and Think' boxes placed throughout chapters, as well as end-of-chapter case studies with accompanying questions, provide the opportunity for this engagement and show how each chapter's theoretical coverage applies in real-life business situations.

In this Time Top 100 Book of the Year, the National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Heartland “analyzes how Dolly Parton’s songs—and success—have embodied feminism for working-class women” (People). Growing up amid Kansas wheat fields and airplane factories, Sarah Smarsh witnessed firsthand the particular vulnerabilities—and strengths—of women in working poverty. Meanwhile, country songs by female artists played in the background, telling powerful stories about life, men, hard times, and surviving. In her family, she writes, “country music was foremost a language among women. It’s how we talked to each other in a place where feelings aren’t discussed.” And no one provided that language better than Dolly Parton. In this “tribute to the woman who continues to demonstrate that feminism comes in coats of many colors,” Smarsh tells readers how Parton’s songs have validated women who go unheard: the poor woman, the pregnant teenager, the struggling mother disparaged as “trailer trash.” Parton’s broader career—from singing on the front porch of her family’s cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains to achieving stardom in Nashville and Hollywood, from “girl singer” managed by powerful men to self-made mogul of business and philanthropy—offers a springboard to examining the intersections of gender, class, and culture. Infused with Smarsh’s trademark insight, intelligence, and humanity, this is “an ambitious book” (The New Republic) about the icon Dolly Parton and an “in-depth examination into gender and class and what it means to be a woman and a working-class hero that feels particularly important right now” (Refinery29).

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Marion Shilling began her career as a silent film ingenue for MGM and went on to play heroines in Westerns of the 1930s. Stage actress Esther Muir made the transition from Broadway to Hollywood just as talkies became popular. Hugh Allan was a leading man in the last years of the silents only to leave the film business in 1930 because of the uncertainty surrounding his transition to sound films and his disgust with studio politics. These three performers and thirteen others (Barbara Barondess, Thomas Beck, Mary Brian, Pauline Curley, Billie Dove, Edith Fellows, Rose Hobart, William Janney, Marcia Mae Jones, Barbara Kent, Anita Page, Lupita Tovar, and Barbara Weeks) reminisce here about Hollywood and the movie business as it made the transition.

At long last, the author of the beloved Populuxe turns his sights on that most confusing and confused decade of all, the 1970s. Thomas Hine scrutinises the looks and life of this complex era, climbing into the heads (and shoes!) of those who experienced the 1970s, exploring the designs of their homes, the styles of their fashion and the advertisements that set their desires on fire. A brilliantly original, wonderfully lively look at the me decade' through the eyes of the man House & Garden has called 'America's sharpest design critic'.'