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  We Tell Ourselves Stories - Joan...

  Alissa Wilkinson

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  In this riveting cultural biography, New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson examines Joan Didion's influence through the lens of American mythmaking. As a young girl, Didion was infatuated with John Wayne and his on-screen bravado, and was fascinated by her California pioneer ancestry and the infamous Donner Party. The mythos that preoccupied her early years continued to influence her work as a magazine writer and film critic in New York, offering glimmers of the many stories Didion told herself that would come to unravel over the course of her career. But out west, show business beckoned. 
   
   
   
  We Tell Ourselves Stories eloquently traces Didion's journey from New York to her arrival in Hollywood as a screenwriter at the twilight of the old studio system. She spent much of her adult life deeply embroiled in the glitz and glamour of the Los Angeles elite, where she acutely observed—and denounced—how the nation's fears and dreams were sensationalized on screen. Meanwhile, she paid the bills writing movie scripts like A Star Is Born, while her books propelled her to celestial heights of fame. 
   
   
   
  Peering through a scrim of celluloid, Wilkinson incisively dissects the cinematic motifs and machinations that informed Didion's writing—and how her writing, ultimately, demonstrated Hollywood's addictive grasp on the American imagination.

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  Rebound - Sports Community and...

  Perry King

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  From basketball hoops to cricket bats, the role community sports play in our cities and how crucial they are to diversity and inclusion.
  		 
  “The virus exposed how we live and work. It also revealed how we play, and what we lose when we have to stop.” For every kid who makes it to the NBA, thousands more seek out the pleasure and camaraderie of pick-up basketball in their local community centre or neighbourhood park. It’s a story that plays out in sport after sport – team and individual, youth and adult, men's and women's. While the dazzle of pro athletes may command our attention, grassroots sports build the bridges that link city-dwellers together in ways that go well beyond the physical benefits. The pandemic and heightened awareness of racial exclusion reminded us of the importance of these pastimes and the public spaces where we play. In this closely reported exploration of the role of community sports in diverse cities, Toronto journalist Perry King makes an impassioned case for re-imagining neighbourhoods whose residents can be active, healthy, and connected.
  		 
  “I couldn’t stop reading Perry King’s Rebound. An evocative essay about the transformative and uniting power of local sports in a city with residents from every country in the world, the book is well researched, entertaining, and informative. It spoke to my own experiences as a young athlete fitting into a new city when I first came to Toronto – and to the importance our city government must place on local recreation and sports if our city is to help all residents reach their potential. A fantastic contribution to understanding Toronto – and to the power of local recreation in any major city.” —David Miller, former mayor of Toronto

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  The Wannabe Fascists - A Guide...

  Federico Finchelstein

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  Meet today's almost fascists and learn the warning signs to intercept them on the road from populism to dictatorship. 
   
   
    
  With The Wannabe Fascists, historian Federico Finchelstein offers a precise explanation of why Trumpism and similar movements across the world belong to a new political breed, the last outcome of the combined histories of fascism and populism: the wannabe fascists. This new type of populist politician is typically a legally elected leader who, unlike previous populists who were eager to distance themselves from fascism, turns to totalitarian lies, racism, and illegal means to destroy democracy from within. 
   
   
   
  Drawing on almost three decades of research on the histories of fascism and populism around the world, this book lays out in clear language what the author calls the "four pillars of fascism"—xenophobia, propaganda, political violence, and ultimately dictatorship. Finchelstein carefully explains how and why wannabe fascists like Trump, Bolsonaro, and Modi embrace the first three pillars but don't quite succeed in dictatorship and total suppression of the popular vote. The Wannabe Fascists stresses the importance of preventing despots from reaching this tipping point and offers a clear warning for what's at stake.

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  A Rare Recording of John R Brinkley

  John R. Brinkley

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  John R. Brinkley (July 8, 1885 – May 26, 1942) became nationally known as the "goat gland doctor" for his controversial medical practice that promised virility for his male patients. He was a pioneer in radio broadcasting and advertising, as he promoted his services to his large listening audience. 
  Despite detractors and critics in the medical community thoroughly discrediting his methods, Brinkley operated clinics and hospitals in several states for two decades. When opposition from the organized medical community resulted in revocation of his radio and medical license he turned to politics, with two failed runs for the governorship of Kansas.  
  Brinkley's rise to fame and fortune was as precipitous as his eventual fall: At the height of his career he had amassed millions of dollars; yet he died sick and nearly penniless, as a result of a number of malpractice, wrongful death and fraud suits brought against him. 
  ©2016 Listen & Live Audio (P)2016 Listen & Live Audio

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  Midnight Cry - A Shooting on...

  Lesa Carnes Shaul

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  Close to midnight on May 17, 1951, four north Alabama lawmen drove to a bootlegger's home to serve an arrest warrant. Before the clock struck twelve, the bootlegger lay dead in front of the house he shared with his wife and eight children, and three of the four officers were also dead. Afterward, a sixteen-year-old boy would face a series of trials that would divide a county and thrust the state of Alabama into the national spotlight. 
   
   
   
  Lesa Carnes Shaul draws on court documents, trial transcripts, newspaper articles, and personal interviews to weave together a rollicking and illuminating tale of murder and revenge. The narrative explores the cultural shifts that occurred after World War II in the United States, the Deep South, and the state of Alabama in particular. 
   
   
   
  Immediately after the war, many southern states stood poised to advance toward a progressive New South yet struggled with the legacy of race and class inequities, retrograde government policies, and a stubborn resistance to change. Sand Mountain represented a kind of "land that time forgot," even as nearby cities like Huntsville and Birmingham sought to claim a place on the national stage in technology, industry, business, and medicine. Through her investigation of this murder trial, Shaul reveals the backwoods justice at play in this isolated area of the American South.

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  Geronimo: My Life

  Geronimo, S.M. Barrett (Editor)

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  Geronimo's Story of His Life"  helped bridge the gap between Apache and American relations in a difficult time in American history. iIt is an outstanding memoir as the white man conquered the last of the Indian lands. Geronimo's dedication to peace between the American government and the Apache people is obvious .Even when the American government broke the peace treaty to allow his people to move to Florida unhindered, Geronimo remained honorable and maintained his side of the bargain.

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