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  Starring Madame Modjeska - On...

  Beth Holmgren

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  The “important . . . meticulously researched” prize-winning biography of the pre-eminent Polish star of the nineteenth century global stage (CosmopolinReview.com).   In reintroducing “a little-remembered actress to a new American audience” biographer Beth Holgram delivers a revelatory portrait of Helena Modjeska—from unparalleled European success to her reign as the most acclaimed, and most recognized female celebrity in the late nineteenth-century United States.   In 1876, Poland’s leading actress, Helena Modrzejewska, accompanied by her husband, the self-stylized Count Bozente, emigrated to southern California to give up her career and establish a utopian commune. In light of its failings, it hardly fulfilled the real dreams of Madame Helena. Within a year, she changed her surname to Modjeska, and made her American debut at San Francisco’s California Theatre. Godmother to Ethel Barrymore, and sharing the Shakespearian stage with such luminaries as Otis Skinner, Edwin Booth, and Maurice Barrymore, Helena Modjeska became the leading star in the United States, where she reigned for the next thirty years.   In this “Impressive . . . achievement,” Holmgren traces Modjeska’s fabulous life and career from her illegitimate birth in Krakow, to her successive reinventions of herself as a trans-continental diva, and finally to her enduring legacy (Women’s Review of Books). All in all, Starring Madame Modjeska “makes for great drama” (NewPages.com).

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  The Jaws Log

  Carl Gottlieb

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  Winner of three Oscars and the highest-grossing film of its time, Jaws was a phenomenon, and this is the only book on how twenty-six-year-old Steven Spielberg transformed Peter Benchley's number-one bestselling novel into the classic film it became.Hired by Spielberg as a screenwriter to work with him on the set while the movie was being made, Carl Gottlieb, an actor and writer, was there throughout the production that starred Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss. After filming was over, with Spielberg's cooperation, Gottlieb chronicled the extraordinary yearlong adventure in The Jaws Log, which was first published in 1975 and has sold more than two million copies. This expanded edition includes a photo section, an introduction by Benchley, and an afterword by Gottlieb that gives updates about the people and events involved in the film, ultimately providing a singular portrait of a famous movie and inspired moviemaking.

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  Englands Historic Churches by...

  Murray Naylor

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  The second millennium saw the spread and consolidation of Christianity in Britain. One means by which the Normans tightened their grip on Britain after 1066 was by the construction of magnificent cathedrals, thereby demonstrating their intention to remain here. In his earlier book  Englands Cathedrals by Train  Murray Naylor explained how these hallowed buildings could be reached by train, relating their history and their principal features. His book invited readers to discover how the Normans and Victorians helped to shape our lives, either in constructing cathedrals or inventing railways. Englands Great Historic Churches is the logical follow on to this book. Travelling across England it selects thirty-two of our ancient churches, relating their history and identifying those aspects which a visitor might overlook. His journeys include the great medieval abbeys at Tewkesbury, Selby and Hexham; the less well known priories at Cartmel and Great Malvern and other grand churches severely reduced after the Dissolution of Henry VIIIs reign, notably at Bridlington and Christchurch. He visits a church at Chesterfield where the spire leans at a crooked angle and goes to Boston, where the church - known as the Stump  was a starting point for many who emigrated to America in the 17th Century. Pride of place goes to Beverley Minster.  In parallel he offers further observations on how railways have developed since the early 1800s and their future.

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  Paul Klee: Creative Confession

  Paul Klee

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  "Creative Confession" brings together three short critical texts written by Paul Klee, one of the most distinctive artists of the early twentieth century. Reflective and often lyrical, the essays exemplify Klee's artistic thinking and his relationship with the creative process.Entitled "Graphic Art" (published as Creative Confession, 1920), "Ways of Nature Study" (1923) and "Exact Experiments in the Realm of Art" (1928), the texts arch into each other through a number of common and overlapping concerns: the alliance between what Klee terms his graphic art, nature, and abstraction, and the role of the artist in this triumvirate; the notion of genius, equating creativity with Genesis as well as nature; and the importance of the process as well as the outcome of art. The practical function of these writings was to draw a wider public into a dialogue that Klee was already having with the world around him through his art. Indeed, he said Art does not reproduce what is visible, instead it makes it visible, and it is with this philosophy that he talks us through his own creative confessions. With a postscript by Matthew Gale, Head of Display at Tate Modern, on the origins and context of the essays, this compact new edition is a must for any Klee fan, as well as those wishing to explore Modern artistic ideas.

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  The Sopranos Sessions - A...

  Matt Zoller Seitz, Alan Sepinwall

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  New York Times–Bestseller: “The authors’ interviews with Chase are endlessly illuminating . . . the definitive celebration of a show that made history.” —Kirkus Reviews 
   
  On January 10, 1999, a mobster walked into a psychiatrist’s office and changed TV history. By shattering preconceptions about the kinds of stories the medium should tell, The Sopranos launched our current age of prestige television, paving the way for such giants as Mad Men, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones. As TV critics for Tony Soprano’s hometown paper, New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger, Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz were among the first to write about the series before it became a cultural phenomenon.  
   
  Now they have reunited to produce The Sopranos Sessions, a collection of recaps, conversations, and critical essays covering every episode. Featuring a series of new long-form interviews with series creator David Chase, as well as selections from the authors’ archival writing on the series, The Sopranos Sessions explores the show’s artistry, themes, and legacy, examining its portrayal of Italian Americans, its graphic depictions of violence, and its deep connections to other cinematic and television classics.  
   
  “Includes highly detailed recaps of each episode [and] a debate about the much-discussed final moment of the final episode.” —The New York Times 
   
  “Excellent . . . an enjoyable read.” —The Irish Times

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  Meeting of Minds - Volume X

  Steve Allen

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  By “             assembling”              some of the most fascinating figures in world history, Meeting of Minds provided a groundbreaking opportunity for audiences to be exposed to ideas by way of a medium not normally known for its intellectual vigor. Portrayed by actors, panelists engage in stimulating round-table discussions that were conducted like any other talk show but featured prominent influencers from bygone generations—             not just philosophers and politicians, but poets, playwrights, and presidents. From activists and artists to international leaders—             both famous and infamous—             these conversations are unfailingly witty, thought-provoking, and genuinely entertaining. An innovative series, Meeting of Minds remains one of the most delightful ways of gaining historical perspective ever devised, and these original soundtrack recordings capture the intellectual and spirited debates of the episodes hosted by Steve Allen. The panelists featured in this volume are Scottish economist Adam Smith, birth control activist Margaret Sanger, and Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi.

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