More than fifty years ago, America was taken by storm when Al Capp introduced the Shmoo in his comic strip Li'l Abner. The adorable squash-shaped character was so popular it immediately spawned the largest merchandising craze in the nation's history. In the words of Lifemagazine, the nation was "Shmoo-struck." The Short Lifeand Happy Times of the Shmoocollects, for the first time in one volume, Capp's essential comic strips about the Shmoo. This is Al Capp and his incisive social criticism at its best.

More than thirty years have passed since Al Capp's death, and he may no longer be a household name. But at the height of his career, his groundbreaking comic strip, Li'l Abner, reached ninety million readers. The strip ran for forty-three years, spawned two movies and a Broadway musical, and originated such expressions as "hogwash" and "double-whammy." Capp himself was a familiar personality on TV and radio; as a satirist, he was frequently compared to Mark Twain. Though Li'l Abner brought millions joy, the man behind the strip was a complicated and often unpleasant person. A childhood accident cost him a leg-leading him to art as a means of distinguishing himself. His apprenticeship with Ham Fisher, creator of Joe Palooka, started a twenty-year feud that ended in Fisher's suicide. Capp enjoyed outsized publicity for a cartoonist, but his status abetted sexual misconduct and protected him from the severest repercussions. Late in life, his politics became extremely conservative; he counted Richard Nixon as a friend, and his gift for satire was redirected at targets like John Lennon, Joan Baez, and anti-war protesters on campuses across the country. With unprecedented access to Capp's archives and a wealth of new material, Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen have written a probing biography. Capp's story is one of incredible highs and lows, of popularity and villainy, of success and failure-told here with authority and heart.

A complete collection of "Shmoo" comics penned by Al Capp from 1949 to 1950, and features essays by Denis Kitchen, and describes the history of the character, from its first appearance in a "Li'l Abner" comic strip in 1948.

What if somebody finally wrote to his high school alumni bulletin and told...the truth! Home Land is a brilliant work from novelist Sam Lipsyte, whom Jeffrey Eugenides calls "original, devious, and very funny" and of whose first novel Chuck Palahniuk wrote, "I laughed out loud--and I never laugh out loud." The Eastern Valley High School Alumni newsletter, Catamount Notes, is bursting with tales of success: former students include a bankable politician and a famous baseball star, not to mention a major-label recording artist. Then there is the appalling, yet utterly lovable, Lewis Miner, class of '89--a.k.a Teabag--who did not pan out. Home Land is his confession in all its bitter, lovelorn glory. Winner of the Believer Book Award New York Times Notable Book of the Year

And every week, there was the unspoken question, the one I didn’t know enough to ask myself : Have you found her yet? The one who reminds you of you? Twenty years after she lived at a homeless shelter for teens, Janice Erlbaum went back to volunteer. Now thirty-four years old and a successful writer, she’d changed her life for the better; now she wanted to help someone else–someone like the girl she’d once been. Then she met Sam. A brilliant nineteen-year-old junkie savant, the product of a horrifically abusive home, Sam had been surviving alone on the streets since she was twelve and was now struggling for sobriety against the adverse health effects of long-term drug abuse. Soon Janice found herself caring deeply for Sam, following her through detoxes and psych wards, halfway houses and hospitals, becoming ever more manically driven to save her from the sickness and sadness leftover from Sam’s terrible past. But just as Janice was on the verge of becoming the girl’s legal guardian, she made a shocking discovery: Sam was sicker than anyone knew, in ways nobody could have imagined. Written with startling candor and immediacy, Have You Found Her is the story of one woman’s quest to save a girl’s life–and the hard truths she learns about herself along the way. “A rich and compelling account . . . Ultimately this is a book about the narrator’s journey and the dangers that attend the urge within us all to believe we can save another soul. A terrific read.” –Cammie McGovern, author of Eye Contact

Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady is Florence King's classic memoir of her upbringing in an eccentric Southern family, told with all the uproarious wit and gusto that has made her one of the most admired writers in the country. Florence may have been a disappointment to her Granny, whose dream of rearing a Perfect Southern Lady would never be quite fulfilled. But after all, as Florence reminds us, "no matter which sex I went to bed with, I never smoked on the street."

Sir Arthur Harris - Bomber Harris - remains the target of criticism and vilification by many, while others believe the contribution he and his men made to victory is grossly undervalued. He led the men of Bomber Command in the face of appalling casualties, had fierce disagreements with higher authority and enjoyed a complicated relationship with Winston Churchill. Written soon after the close of World War 2, this collection of Sir Arthur Harris's memoirs reveals the man behind the Allied bombing offensive that culminated in the destruction of the Nazi war machine but also many beautiful cities, including Dresden.

High school sophomore Rachel and her younger sister Miri, both witches, are introduced to a wider community of witches while grappling with the problem of whether or not to reveal their powers to their school friends, father, and step-mother.

Do you sometimes find yourself longing for "the good old days"? Do you laugh at yourself for even thinking this because - after all - you're not even 50 yet? And - upon seeing some of the things the kids of today have, or when you see how easy they have it, do you catch yourself thinking out loud "When I was a kid..." only to cover your mouth in horror as you realize that you sound just like your parents? Do you feel a jolt of... you're not sure what... when you realize that you're thinking of the '70s? How good things were in the '70s? Join the author as he recounts his own experiences growing up in this avocado green and burnt orange decade. The things we had and the things we didn't have; the things we took for granted and what family life was like in those years. Remember the music, the movies, the cars, the toys, the fashions, and so much more as your sentimental recollections play once again before you like a worn out 8mm movie in your mind. We were kids in the '60s, teens in the '70s, and now we're almost 50. This is a humorous, nostalgic, pensive, and fun-filled look at what it was like to grow up in this generation. Try to keep up with the fun as you revisit your childhood memories, and don't be surprised if you, like the author, find yourself longing once again for "the good old days." DARRYLL SHERMAN lives in Pullman, Washington with his wife and their two children. He is a licensed Architect and works at Washington State University. He also has his own business designing private residences in the greater Palouse area. He is a pianist, songwriter and singer and is involved in the music department at his local church. Growing up in beautiful western Washington, Darryll attributes his appreciation of nature to the many family vacations spent in the Cascades and the surrounding areas. His interests also include carpentry, gardening, fishing, hiking, racquetball and art.