Long before L.A. Dodger pitcher Brian Wilson, in his buzz-cut Mohawk and hillbilly beard, there was Dizzy. And Daffy. And Ducky, Goofy, Babe, Pepper and Yogi - not cartoon characters, but baseball players - great ones, who made America's pastime playful and fun and sometimes outrageous. Before Peyton and Eli, there were the Mad Duck and Broadway Joe, the Tooz and Golden Boy. Football was not for sissies but for men who jarred loose a few brain cells and bloodied each other's noses on a Sunday afternoon.Decades before pro golfer John Daly whacked a golf ball out of a stranger's mouth, Walter Hagen barnstormed the world from Terra Haute to Timbuktu, and the Merry Mex with his army of Lee's Fleas invaded venerable courses ruled over by the Lords of Golf. Before Lebron, before Shaq and Charles Barkley, even before Pistol Pete and Wilt the Stilt, there was Goose and Meadowlark and little boys with big dreams.Revisit Billie Jean King defending women against sexist pigs like Bobby Riggs, wrestling in its pre-TV heyday, the hilarious escapades, pranksters and jokesters of yester yore and more in this revised and updated collection of rollicking sports anecdotes.

"Sixty-four years ago, Susannah Morgan manage[d] to flee the horrors of the Holocaust. But the memories of that childhood ordeal have proven impossible to sweep away. For most of her new life spent settled in sleepy North Carolina, the flashbacks have been a lonely obsession, one she has hidden from her family, and about which her heart is torn .... As Susannah's time on earth draws to a close her innermost thoughts of those long-gone days become quesitons, ones that demand answers. Against the wishes of her children, Susannah returns to Germany and the scene of unspeakable crimes, and try to finally make peace with the ghosts of her past."--Page 4 of cover.

In this epic tale of friendship and loss from the author of The Sugar Men, fate pushes childhood friends to opposite sides of a terrible war--but is forgiveness always possible? Ukraine, 1923. On a small farm, two boys are born within days of each other, both Ukrainian, one Jewish. Mykhail and Asher grow up inseparable, together finding friendship, adventure and escape from the harshness of Russian rule. But after Asher's family flees to Warsaw, their worlds are torn to shreds by the Second World War. The war brings cruelty to both boys. Although Asher finds love in Warsaw, the city is far from the haven his family sought; meanwhile Mykhail becomes a victim of the bitter struggle for Ukraine. But worse follows in the shape of the Treblinka death camp. There, both men must obey orders, and both find their morals compromised and their souls tortured. The inhuman horrors they witness cast long shadows. Many years later, their paths cross once more, and each man must confront the legacy of his actions. When the darkest of secrets can no longer be kept hidden, can their friendship survive the final reckoning?

Castleman and Podrazik present a sweeping season-by-season story, capturing the essence of television from its inception to the contemporary era of anytime access and online streaming, including every prime time fall schedule since 1944. The authors have dug through the mounds of obscure facts, offbeat anecdotes, and corporate strategies that have made television a multibillion-dollar industry. Watching TV provides a fascinating history of how the personalities, popular shows, and coverage of key events have evolved across eight decades. Full of facts, firsts, insights, and exploits, as well as rare and memorable photographs, Watching TV is the standard history of American television. This third edition includes coverage up through the mid-2010s and looks ahead to the next waves of change.

"In Story screenwriting guru Robert McKee presents his powerful and much sought-after knowledge in a comprehensive guide to the essentials of screenwriting and storytelling." -- Methuen.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Driving, wild and hilarious” (The Washington Post), here is the incredible “memoir” of the legendary actor, gambler, raconteur, and Saturday Night Live veteran. When Norm Macdonald, one of the greatest stand-up comics of all time, was approached to write a celebrity memoir, he flatly refused, calling the genre “one step below instruction manuals.” Norm then promptly took a two-year hiatus from stand-up comedy to live on a farm in northern Canada. When he emerged he had under his arm a manuscript, a genre-smashing book about comedy, tragedy, love, loss, war, and redemption. When asked if this was the celebrity memoir, Norm replied, “Call it anything you damn like.”

Translated into over thirteen languages, John Keel's The Mothman Prophecy is an unsettling true story of the paranormal that has long been regarded as a classic in the literature of the unexplained. West Virginia, 1966. For thirteen months the town of Point Pleasant is gripped by a real-life nightmare culminating in a tragedy that makes headlines around the world. Strange occurrences and sightings, including a bizarre winged apparition that becomes known as the Mothman, trouble this ordinary American community. Mysterious lights are seen moving across the sky. Domestic animals are found slaughtered and mutilated. And journalist John Keel, arriving to investigate the freakish events, soon finds himself an integral part of an eerie and unfathomable mystery. The Mothman Prophecy is the basis of the 2002 film starring Richard Gere. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The face of 1980s television was shaped by a man who stayed behind the scenes. Stephen Cannell's reluctant white knights--put-upon private eye James Rockford, World War II fly-boys the Black Sheep Squadron, hapless superhero Ralph Hinckley, fugitive mercenaries the A-Team, and maverick cop Hunter--traversed the television landscape from the 1970s to the 1990s. Cannell changed the face of the action-adventure genre, updating the crime-show format with a hybrid of rebellious morality, juvenile wit, intelligent sarcasm, and radical conservatism. This book discusses in detail the programs of the writer-producer and lists every episode of his award-winning productions from the early 1970s to the early '90s. The book features publicity photos and descriptions of unsold pilots.

John Hodgman—bestselling author, The Daily Show's "Resident Expert," minor television celebrity, and deranged millionaire—brings us the third and final installment in his trilogy of Complete World Knowledge. In 2005, Dutton published The Areas of My Expertise, a handy little book of Complete World Knowledge, marked by the distinction that all of the fascinating trivia and amazing true facts were completely made up by its author, John Hodgman. At the time, Hodgman was merely a former literary agent and occasional scribbler of fake trivia. In short: a nobody. But during an interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, an incredible transformation occurred. He became a famous minor television personality. You may ask: During his whirlwind tornado ride through the high ether of minor fame and outrageous fortune, did John Hodgman forget how to write books of fake trivia? The answer is: Yes. Briefly. But soon, he remembered! And so he returned, crashing his Kansas farmhouse down upon the wicked witch of ignorance with More Information Than You Require, a New York Times bestseller containing even more mesmerizing and essential fake trivia, including seven hundred mole-man names (and their occupations). And now, John Hodgman completes his vision with That Is All, the last book in a trilogy of Complete World Knowledge. Like its predecessors, That Is All compiles incredibly handy made-up facts into brief articles, overlong lists, and beguiling narratives on new and familiar themes. It picks up exactly where More Information left off—specifically, at page 596—and finally completes COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE. Look out for John Hodgman's latest book, Vacationland, available from Viking in Fall 2017.

A wide-ranging survey of the subject that celebrates the variety and complexity of film comedy from the ‘silent’ days to the present, this authoritative guide offers an international perspective on the popular genre that explores all facets of its formative social, cultural and political context A wide-ranging collection of 24 essays exploring film comedy from the silent era to the present International in scope, the collection embraces not just American cinema, including Native American and African American, but also comic films from Europe, the Middle East, and Korea Essays explore sub-genres, performers, and cultural perspectives such as gender, politics, and history in addition to individual works Engages with different strands of comedy including slapstick, romantic, satirical and ironic Features original entries from a diverse group of multidisciplinary international contributors