Have you ever been praying to your favorite patron saints and gotten the funny feeling that they ain’t listening? Well, you’ll be thrilled to know that there are some lesser-known saints to whom you might want to redirect your devotion! These not-so pious patrons for the 21st century are here to represent all your deepest transgressions in one hilarious volume. Accompanied by character profiles and biological facts that will have you rolling on the floor laughing, Saint Misbehavin’: Modern- Day Saints You’ve Never Heard Of is the answer to all your prayers.

All of us are social creatures; we need and want others in our lives. However, too often we feel we dont fit or belong anywhere. When people dont feel they belong or fit in, they misbehave. We have learned how not to behave, and we are very good at it. We need common sense approaches to improving relationships among all age groups and cultures. Common sense approaches, ideas and tried-and-true methods abound in the book. There are stories to tell about real people. Some will make us laugh, and some will make us want to think more deeply about the way we are living our lives and developing long-term relationships. Learning more about ourselves is essential to becoming a happier, better-behaved person. Learning about others through stories, the Four Goals of Misbehavior and family dynamics can lighten the load.

This comprehensive collection of cocktail recipes will be an essential resource for both professional bartenders and the average party host. Want to serve up perfect martinis at your next social gathering? Cosmos for the classy ladies? Sex on the Beach for those who want to sound risquéA Shirley Temple for the thirteen-year-olds counting down the days to twenty-one? Big Bad-Ass Book of Cocktails is the complete guide to these classic drinks as well as trendy concoctions featured at bars and nightclubs. What exactly is in a Long Island Iced Tea? By reputation alone, this drink can be intimidating to produce on your own. Big Bad-Ass Book of Cocktails breaks down the mystery behind this intoxicating "tea" and all of your favorite drinks. In an easy-to-follow format and featuring a fun four-color design, this is perfect for beginners and will become that trusted and tattered handbook behind the bar for professionals.

This spiritual memoir is by one of the first American devotees of the guru Neem Karoli Baba made famous by Ram Dass in the classic Be Here Now. Ravi Dass starts his quest right after college in 1964 at the urging of Allen Ginsberg to go to India for spiritual awakening. It will take you on an extraordinary journey from living with the great saints of India to working for the largest companies in the world like IBM, HP, Grey Advertising and Young & Rubicam managing multimillion-dollar budgets. Ravi Dass encountered Baba Ram Dass when he was a monk at Ganeshpuri, the ashram of the controversial guru of Eat, Pray, Love fame in 1970. After meeting Ram Dass he asked to be taken to his guru Maharaji in the Himalayas. From that moment on, this book interweaves the odyssey of a long time seeker with the mysterious hand of Maharaji that guided him for the next forty years from householder to Maui. Neem Karoli Baba considered Ravi Dass the actual incarnation of the 15th century Indian Saint Raidas.

Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ethan and Joel Coen’s cinematic triumph The Big Lebowski with this ultimate guide to life from the founders of the Church of Latter-Day Dude. When you seek salvation from this stressed-out, uptight world, there’s only one man to go to for guidance—the Dude. With a new introduction and updated content from the Dudeism priests and founders at the Church of Latter-Day Dude, this is the perfect gift for movie lovers and mindfulness seekers. At once helpful, funny and profound (like The Big Lebowski itself), this survival guide shows how to be as Dude-like as the Dude (well, almost): Secrets of sacred Dudeist practices The Seven Spiritual Laws of Taking It Easy Great Dudes who changed the world (without really trying) New feminist philosophy for special ladies The Way of the Dude applied to politics, ethics and finances A 12-step program for personal Dudevolution The science of really tying your room together All this and a lot more what-have-you. So the next time life throws you a gutterball, just pick up this book and ask, “What would the dude do?” It’s your answer for everything.

“Full of humor and humility . . . Since Benson started Asleep at the Wheel as a working-class country band, it’s one helluva ride worth telling.” —The Austin Chronicle A six-foot-seven-inch Jewish hippie from Philadelphia starts a Western swing band in 1970. It sounds like a joke but—more than forty years, twenty-five albums, and nine Grammy Awards later—Asleep at the Wheel is still drawing crowds around the world. The roster of musicians who’ve shared a stage with the Wheel is a who’s who of American popular music—Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, George Strait, Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett, and so many more. And the bandleader who’s brought them all together is the hippie that claimed Bob Wills’s boots: Ray Benson. In this hugely entertaining memoir, Benson looks back over his life and wild ride with Asleep at the Wheel from the band’s beginning in Paw Paw, West Virginia, through its many years as a Texas institution. He vividly recalls all the inevitable ups and downs and changes in personnel and describes the making of classic albums such as Willie and the Wheel and Tribute to the Music of Bob Willsand the Texas Playboys. The ultimate music industry insider, Benson explains better than anyone else how the Wheel got rock hipsters and die-hard country fans to love groovy new-old Western swing. Decades later, they still do. “Ray Benson is something—creative, fun, entertaining—you’ll love this book!” —Dolly Parton “I’ve known Ray Benson for over forty years and never could figure out how he does all he does while asleep at the wheel! This book, however, tells how it all went down!” —Willie Nelson

Tricksters are known by their deeds. Obviously not all the examples in American Tricksters are full-blown mythological tricksters like Coyote, Raven, or the Two Brothers found in Native American stories, or superhuman figures like the larger-than-life Davy Crockett of nineteenth-century tales. Newer expressions of trickiness do share some qualities with the Trickster archetype seen in myths. Rock stars who break taboos and get away with it, heroes who overcome monstrous circumstances, crafty folk who find a way to survive and thrive when the odds are against them, men making spectacles of themselves by feeding their astounding appetites in public--all have some trickster qualities. Each person, every living creature who ever faced an obstacle and needed to get around it, has found the built-in trickster impulse. Impasses turn the trickster gene on, or stimulate the trick-performing imagination--that's life. To explore the ways and means of trickster maneuvers can alert us to pitfalls, help us appreciate tricks that are entertaining, and aid us in fending off ploys which drain our resources and ruin our lives. Knowing more about the Trickster archetype in our psyches helps us be more self-aware.

From two-time National Book Award finalist Deborah Wiles, the remarkable story of two cousins who must take a road trip across America in 1969 in order to let a teen know he's been drafted to fight in Vietnam. Full of photos, music, and figures of the time, this is the masterful story of what it's like to be young and American in troubled times. It's 1969.Molly is a girl who's not sure she can feel anything anymore, because life sometimes hurts way too much. Her brother Barry ran away after having a fight with their father over the war in Vietnam. Now Barry's been drafted into that war - and Molly's mother tells her she has to travel across the country in an old schoolbus to find Barry and bring him home.Norman is Molly's slightly older cousin, who drives the old schoolbus. He's a drummer who wants to find his own music out in the world - because then he might not be the "normal Norman" that he fears he's become. He's not sure about this trip across the country . . . but his own mother makes it clear he doesn't have a choice.Molly and Norman get on the bus - and end up seeing a lot more of America that they'd ever imagined. From protests and parades to roaring races and rock n' roll, the cousins make their way to Barry in San Francisco, not really knowing what they'll find when they get there.As she did in her other epic novels Countdown and Revolution, two-time National Book Award finalist Deborah Wiles takes the pulse of an era . . . and finds the multitude of heartbeats that lie beneath it.

A timely exploration of Oscar-nominated Black actors and the complicated legacy of the Academy Awards. In Black Oscars: From Mammy to Minny, What the Academy Awards Tell Us about African Americans, Frederick W. Gooding Jr. draws on American, African American, and film history to reflect on how the Oscars have recognized Black actors from the award’s inception to the present. Starting in the 1920s, the chapters provide a thorough overview and analysis of Black actors nominated for their Hollywood roles during each decade, with special attention paid to the winners. Historical patterns are scrutinized to reveal racial trends and open the question of whether race relations have truly changed substantively or only superficially over time. Given the Oscars’ presence and popularity, it begs the question of what these awards reflect and reinforce about larger society. In the meticulously-researched Black Oscars, we see how the Academy Awards are an indispensable guide to understanding race in mainstream Hollywood and beyond.