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  Marion Davies: A Biography -...

  Fred Lawrence Guiles

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  Marion Davies was, in so many ways, created by and for William Randolph Hearst—their symbiotic relationship spanned from 1915 when W.R. first ogled her chorus-girl charms until his death in 1951. But she was much more quickly superannuated, cinema-historically speaking, by the Orson Welles-Herman Mankiewicz dumb-blonde caricature in Citizen Kane, paradoxically the most important film in her life.
  
  Fred Lawrence Guiles presents the life story of one of the most deft comedians in silent pictures—touching on Brooklyn, show biz, the engaging stammer, private-then-public Hearst inamorata, Hollywood, the Chaplin liaison, encounters with the famous, San Simeon, W.R.'s demise, the constant drinking (she hid her gin from Hearst in the water tank of the toilet), her quick marriage to Captain Horace Brown, and, finally, her death from cancer in 1961. A supplemental PDF is included with this audiobook.

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  Oxford Book of American Essays

  Various Authors

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  Collection of 32 essays by American authors ranging from Benjamin Frannklin to Emerson to Whitman to Henry James to Theodore Roosevelt. On subjects from the gout to insects with a 24 hour life span to old bachelors to leaves of grass to the odes of Horace. It seems to be an attempt to show off the Americans as writers. (Summary by JCarson) This collection was compiled by Brander Matthews.

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  The Nixon Tapes: 1971–1972

  Douglas Brinkley, Luke A. Nichter

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  These transcripts document two years of the Richard Nixon presidency and take you directly inside the White House: “A treasure trove” (The Boston Globe).   These are the famous—and infamous—Nixon White House tapes that reveal for the first time President Richard Milhous Nixon uncensored, unfiltered, and in his own words.   President Nixon’s voice-activated taping system captured every word spoken in the Oval Office, Cabinet Room, other key locations in the White House, and at Camp David—3,700 hours of recordings between 1971 and 1973. Yet less than five percent of those conversations have ever been transcribed and published. Now, thanks to historian Luke Nichter’s massive effort to digitize and transcribe the tapes, the world can finally read an unprecedented account of one of the most important and controversial presidencies in US history.   This volume of The Nixon Tapes offers a selection of fascinating scenes from the period in which Nixon opened relations with China, negotiated the SALT I arms agreement with the Soviet Union, and won a landslide reelection victory. All the while, the growing shadow of Watergate and Nixon’s political downfall crept ever closer. The Nixon Tapes provides a never-before-seen glimpse into a flawed president’s hubris, paranoia, and political genius—“essential for students of the era and fascinating for those who lived it” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).  

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  The Sign of the Four

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  The Sign of the Four (1890), also called The Sign of Four, is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 stories starring the fictional detective. The story is set in 1888. The Sign of the Four has a complex plot involving service in East India Company, India, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a stolen treasure, and a secret pact among four convicts ("the Four" of the title) and two corrupt prison guards. It presents the detective's drug habit and humanizes him in a way that had not been done in the preceding novel, A Study in Scarlet (1887). It also introduces Doctor Watson's future wife, Mary Morstan.

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  Plymouth in the Great War

  Derek Tait

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  The story of Plymouth in the First World War has never been fully covered although the town played a key role in the deployment of troops to Northern Europe as well as supplying ships and vital munitions. By August 1914, the British War office had moved 120,000 men into the town. Plymouth became the principal base for military operations and was one of the most important of the southern shipping ports. The town also played a vital role caring for the many wounded soldiers who returned home from the front.The effect of the war on Plymouth was great. By the end of the conflict, there wasn't a family in Plymouth who hadn't lost a son, father, nephew, uncle or brother. There were tremendous celebrations in the streets as the end of the war was announced but the effects of the war lasted for years to come.

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  Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved...

  Miki Berenyi

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  Rough Trade Book of the YearResident Book of the YearA Rolling Stone Book of the YearA Mojo Book of the YearA Sunday Times Book of the YearFormed in 1988, Lush were part of the London gig scene during one of the most vibrant and creative periods in UK music. Now, Miki Berenyi tells all.From the bohemian ways of her father's social circle to the privileged glamour of her mother's acting career, Miki's young life was a blur of travel, celebrities and peripatetic schooling. But frequent relocation, parental neglect and the dark presence of her abusive grandmother resulted in crippling shyness, mental-health issues and a vulnerability to exploitation.The route out of this hole was music - a passion shared by schoolmate Emma Anderson. The teenagers began attending gigs together and would ultimately go on to form Lush. Talented and exuberant, the band became hot property, swiftly transitioning from shoegaze icons to Britpop darlings.Re-living the tours, recording sessions and music-industry madness they experienced along the way, this uncompromising memoir documents Lush's thrilling rise and untimely fall. Yet at the heart of the book are Miki's own battles: the conflict between her mouthy public persona and her thin-skinned private identity; the trials of being a woman in an infuriatingly male world; the struggle to find a middle ground between 'safe' indie obscurity and 'sell-out' international success. Miki also explores her complicated relationship with Emma - one that has fluctuated between camaraderie and rivalry over the years - and addresses the devastating tragedy that led to the band's split.Told through frank confession, wry humour and searing emotional honesty, this is the incredible tale of a trailblazing woman and a seminal band.

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