Other books that might interest you

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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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  The Melodramatic Thread -...

  James R. Lehning

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  “This ambitious undertaking is concerned with the melodramatic form in theatre and film and its impact on French political culture.” —H-France Review 
   
  In France, both political culture and theatrical performances have drawn upon melodrama. This “melodramatic thread” helped weave the country’s political life as it moved from monarchy to democracy. By examining the relationship between public ceremonies and theatrical performance, James R. Lehning sheds light on democratization in modern France. He explores the extent to which the dramatic forms were present in the public performance of political power. By concentrating on the Republic and the Revolution and on theatrical performance, Lehning affirms the importance of examining the performative aspects of French political culture for understanding the political differences that have marked France in the years since 1789. 
   
  “In this thoroughly researched and persuasive book, Lehning provides a fascinating reading of public performances in modern France . . . This is an important contribution to the study of French culture and the democratization process . . . Essential.” —Choice 
   
  “Lehning’s application of the themes of melodrama to French political culture offers new insights into French history. His style is lively, clear, and highly readable.” —Venita Datta, Wellesley College 
   
  “The analyses in this book make a real contribution to debates about the ways in which art, particularly popular art, and politics interact; how politics itself is theatrical in the French case; and the role of ritual in politics and the function of politics as ritual and ceremony.” —John Gaffney, Aston University

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  He and She

  Rachel Crothers

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  A feminist drama that gained considerable critical and commercial success when it originally ran on Broadway. The play is about a husband and wife who also happen to be artists. A socially conscious battle of the sexes ensues over professional jealousy and whether the woman's place in the home should be thrown over for occupational dreams. (Summary by ChuckW & Amanda Friday)Cast:Tom Herford: Robert HoffmanAnn Herford: Caprisha PageDaisy Herford: Arielle LipshawMillicent: Libby GohnDr. Remington: Bruce PirieKeith McKenzie: Chuck WilliamsonRuth Creel/Narrator: Amanda FridayEllen: Elizabeth KlettAudio edited by: Michele Eaton

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  Madame Tussaud - Her Life and...

  Geri Walton

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  A “meticulously researched and deftly written biography” of the woman behind the famed wax museums, and their origins in the era of the French Revolution (Midwest Book Review).   Madame Marie Tussaud is known worldwide for the chain of wax museums she started over two hundred years ago. Less known is that her original wax models were often of the famous and infamous people she personally knew during and after the French Revolution. These were people like Voltaire, Robespierre, and Napoleon—people who changed the world. Even more, the wax figures were depicted in scenes drawn from the horrors she experienced during the reign of terror in Paris during her early adult years.   This book shows how the traumatic and cataclysmic experiences of Madame Tussaud’s early life became part of her legacy. She created a succession of scenes in wax, telling events as she personally experienced them. Her wax sculptures were visceral. She made them herself, at times from the living person’s head and at other times from the recently guillotined head of a former houseguest. As a result, people were drawn to her wax displays because they were the most intense way of experiencing those events themselves. This is the story not only of a unique artist, but of how one of history’s bloodiest events influenced her life and work.

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  Jay Nog: Something From Nothing

  Jay Nog

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  Something From Nothing is a part documentary part comedy special starring comedian, Jay Nog. The film shares the story of Nog and his family during the pandemic. Nog has nowhere to perform so he creates a show in the parking lot of a diner in Queens, NY. Bel Aire diner becomes the only comedy show in the city where people can watch from their car or socially distanced outside. Nog decides to shoot a special there and documents every show interviewing comedians, fans, and diner employees. Something From Nothing takes you on a stand-up comedy tour during the pandemic from a comedians perspective.

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  Storytime in India - Wedding...

  Helen Priscilla Myers, Umesh...

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  An American ethnomusicologist and her Indian collaborator recount their experiences researching Bhojpuri wedding songs in India. 
   
  Stories are the backbone of ethnographic research. During fieldwork, subjects describe their lives through stories. Afterward ethnographers come home from their journeys with stories of their own about their experiences in the field. 
   
  Storytime in India is an exploration of the stories that come out of ethnographic fieldwork. Helen Priscilla Myers and Umesh Chandra Pandey examine the ways in which their research collecting Bhojpuri wedding songs became interwoven with the stories of their lives, their work together, and their shared experience reading The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope. Moving through these intertwined stories, the reader learns about the complete Bhojpuri wedding tradition through songs sung by Gangajali and access to the original song recordings and their translations. In the interludes, Pandey reads and interprets The Eustace Diamonds, confronting the reader with the ever-present influence of colonialism, both in India and in ethnographic fieldwork. Interwoven throughout are stories of the everyday, highlighting the ups and downs of the ethnographic experience. 
   
  Storytime in India combines the style of the Victorian novel with the structure of traditional Indian village tales, in which stories are told within stories. This book questions how we can and should present ethnography as well as what we really learn in the field. As Myers and Pandey ultimately conclude, writers of scholarly books are storytellers themselves and scholarly books are a form of art, just like the traditions they study.

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