This is a story about self-motivation....about suicide prevention...about gang-life, prison-life, and life after prison...a story of how a young kid from Compton, Ca never gave up on himself and became a success against all odds.

In this “dishy…superbly reported” (Entertainment Weekly) New York Times bestseller, Peter Biskind chronicles the rise of independent filmmakers who reinvented Hollywood—most notably Sundance founder Robert Redford and Harvey Weinstein, who with his brother, Bob, made Miramax Films an indie powerhouse. As he did in his acclaimed Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Peter Biskind “takes on the movie industry of the 1990s and again gets the story” (The New York Times). Biskind charts in fascinating detail the meteoric rise of the controversial Harvey Weinstein, often described as the last mogul, who created an Oscar factory that became the envy of the studios, while leaving a trail of carnage in his wake. He follows Sundance as it grew from a regional film festival to the premier showcase of independent film, succeeding almost despite the mercurial Redford, whose visionary plans were nearly thwarted by his own quixotic personality. Likewise, the directors who emerged from the independent movement, such as Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, and David O. Russell, are now among the best-known directors in Hollywood. Not to mention the actors who emerged with them, like Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Ethan Hawke, and Uma Thurman. Candid, controversial, and “sensationally entertaining” (Los Angeles Times) Down and Dirty Pictures is a must-read for anyone interested in the film world.

Taboo breakers and trendsetters, shameless hucksters and famous directors. Exploitation filmmaking has seen it all. Fred Olen Ray made his first movie for $298. In 1936 Marijuana-Weed with Roots in Hell showed drug use and nudity on screen in an effort to "educate the public." Kroger Babb, the man behind Mom and Dad, spliced color medical footage of a baby's birth into his black and white "classic." Russ Meyer, John Waters, Andy Milligan, Doris Wishman, and many others are covered. "Classic" films such as The Immoral Mr. Teas, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Nude on the Moon are examined. Production techniques and innovations are also discussed.

"[A] compelling and well-researched examination of work-place safety laws." KIRKUS Reviews When Sheila's husband, Dean, dies while seismic drilling in Alberta, she writes her favorite quote on a sticky note and tapes it on her desk: "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." ~ Albert Einstein Walking The Cutline is the true account of a small town woman's determination to seek justice for her late husband's work-place fatality. As Sheila submerges deeper into a world of lies and political injustice for profit, her suspicions about the real cause for Dean's death escalates as she attains conflicting and questionable information from all agencies involved, including Occupational Health and Safety. Against various opposition and advice to "just let it go" and surrender, Sheila stubbornly persists for nearly four years, piecing together what really happened. Ultimately, she uncovers a concrete document deemed impossible to attain: the smoking gun document. However, Canadian laws prove to be the ultimate obstacle in Sheila's pursuit to seek justice in a country silent about exposing what really happens when companies kill.

John Lisle reveals the untold story of the OSS Research and Development Branch—The Dirty Tricks Department—and its role in World War II. In the summer of 1942, Stanley Lovell, a renowned industrial chemist, received a mysterious order to report to an unfamiliar building in Washington, D.C. When he arrived, he was led to a barren room where he waited to meet the man who had summoned him. After a disconcerting amount of time, William “Wild Bill” Donovan, the head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), walked in the door. “You know your Sherlock Holmes, of course,” Donovan said as an introduction. “Professor Moriarty is the man I want for my staff...I think you’re it.” Following this life-changing encounter, Lovell became the head of a secret group of scientists who developed dirty tricks for the OSS, the precursor to the CIA. Their inventions included Bat Bombs, suicide pills, fighting knives, silent pistols, and camouflaged explosives. Moreover, they forged documents for undercover agents, plotted the assassination of foreign leaders, and performed truth drug experiments on unsuspecting subjects. Based on extensive archival research and personal interviews, The Dirty Tricks Department tells the story of these scheming scientists, explores the moral dilemmas that they faced, and reveals their dark legacy of directly inspiring the most infamous program in CIA history: MKULTRA.

'If those pricks want a war, lad, we'll show what some proper soljas can do.' Dylan, Nogger and their crew 'tax' rival drug dealers using a red-hot steam iron and celebrate by making videos of themselves raping wannabe WAG s. In their world, guns and knives are as common as mobile phones. But when an innocent three-year-old girl is killed in the crossfire, extreme measures are brought in to combat gang warfare. From burgeoning organised crime to warped celebrity culture, Gang War is an apocalyptic vision of a world in freefall. The gripping debut novel by the bestselling author of Powder Wars is a mind-blowing tale that is all the more shocking because it is inspired by real-life events.

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People are dying in The Pit. The poorest section of California's Dunhill County seems to have a love affair with tragedy, yet lately, more and more unfortunate souls are slipping through the cracks. Dr. Kendra Hamilton got herself off the mean streets. Her mother, Violet, wasn't so lucky--she's the latest fatality on The Pit's ever-growing roster of shattered lives. And although she knows Violet was living on the edge, Kendra is convinced her death was no accident. Someone is preying on society's forgotten people. . .and Kendra intends to find the killer. All she has to do is get the police--one stubborn detective in particular--to take her seriously. In her quest for justice, Kendra will risk everything. Now, as the investigation reveals a trail of corruption and shocking betrayal, she stumbles upon a world in which the lines between duty and desire, benevolence and madness, living--and merely surviving--are irrevocably blurred. And where a cold-blooded psychopath is determined to turn life on the wrong side of the tracks into a death sentence. . .