On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became a national star. That morning at Cape Canaveral, a small-town boy from Ohio took his place atop a rocket and soared into orbit to score a victory in the heavily contested Cold War. The television images were blurry black-and-white phantoms. The cameras shook as the rocket moved, but by the end of the day, one thing was clear: a new hero rode that rocket and became the center of the world's attention for the four hours and fifty-five minutes of his flight. From that day forward, Glenn restively wore the hero label. Refusing to let that dramatic day define his life, he went on to become a four-term US senator--and returned to space at the age of seventy-seven. He was a creation of the media, in some ways, but he was also a product of the Cold War. At a time when increasingly cynical Americans need heroes, his aura burns brightly in American memory.
_____________ 'It is almost impossible not to fall under the spell of Eustace Conway ... his accomplishments, his joy and vigor, seem almost miraculous' - New York Times Review of Books 'Gilbert takes a bright-eyed bead on Eustace, hitting him square with a witty modernist appraisal of folkloric American masculinity' - The Times 'Conversational, enthusiastic, funny and sharp, the energy of The Last American Man never ebbs' - New Statesman _____________ A fascinating, intimate portrait of an endlessly complicated man: a visionary, a narcissist, a brilliant but flawed modern hero At the age of seventeen, Eustace Conway ditched the comforts of his suburban existence to escape to the wild. Away from the crushing disapproval of his father, he lived alone in a teepee in the mountains. Everything he needed he built, grew or killed. He made his clothes from deer he killed and skinned before using their sinew as sewing thread. But he didn't stop there. In the years that followed, he stopped at nothing in pursuit of bigger, bolder challenges. He travelled the Mississippi in a handmade wooden canoe; he walked the two-thousand-mile Appalachian Trail; he hiked across the German Alps in trainers; he scaled cliffs in New Zealand. One Christmas, he finished dinner with his family and promptly upped and left - to ride his horse across America. From South Carolina to the Pacific, with his little brother in tow, they dodged cars on the highways, ate road kill and slept on the hard ground. Now, more than twenty years on, Eustace is still in the mountains, residing in a thousand-acre forest where he teaches survival skills and attempts to instil in people a deeper appreciation of nature. But over time he has had to reconcile his ambitious dreams with the sobering realities of modernity. Told with Elizabeth Gilbert's trademark wit and spirit, The Last American Man is an unforgettable adventure story of an irrepressible life lived to the extreme. The Last American Man is a New York Times Notable Book and National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist.
Early '70s Radio focuses on the emergence of commercial music radio "formats," which refer to distinct musical genres aimed toward specific audiences. This formatting revolution took place in a period rife with heated politics, identity anxiety, large-scale disappointments and seemingly insoluble social problems. As industry professionals worked overtime to understand audiences and to generate formats, they also laid the groundwork for market segmentation. Audiences, meanwhile, approached these formats as safe havens wherein they could re-imagine and redefine key issues of identity. A fresh and accessible exercise in audience interpretation, Early '70s Radio is organized according to the era's five prominent formats and analyzes each of these in relation to their targeted demographics, including Top 40, "soft rock", album-oriented rock, soul and country. The book closes by making a case for the significance of early '70s formatting in light of commercial radio today.
Lt. Oliver Miller’s passion for flying could prove fatal. Shot down while on a reconnaissance mission over Russia, he is near death in a Siberian work camp. His government has abandoned him and his family will never know his fate. Tamara Krasnov, the Soviet pilot who shot down Oliver, enlists the aid of her father, a high-ranking Soviet official. They have Oliver transferred to a minimum-security prison. The KGB convinces an embittered Oliver that the US had refused to repatriate him. Tamara recruits Oliver into the Russian Air Force, they become lovers and Oliver finds a new life in Russia. Oliver is recruited by the CIA and lives a life of intrigue during the Cold War and Vietnam War era. The haunting images of a chaotic, historical era are viewed through the sharp edged vision of a heroic American. The last chapter will leave you misty-eyed.
On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became a national star. That morning at Cape Canaveral, the small-town boy from Ohio took his place atop a rocket and soared into space. He became celebrated in all corners of the world as not just the first American to orbit the Earth, but as the first space traveler to take the human race with him. Refusing to let that dramatic day define his life, he went on to become a four-term US senator—and returned to space at the age of seventy-seven. The Last American Hero is a stunning examination of the layers that formed the man: a hero of the Cold War, a two-time astronaut, a veteran senator, a devoted husband and father, and much more. At a time when an increasingly cynical world needs heroes, John Glenn's aura burns brightly in American memory.
One of the greatest movie stars ever, Gary Cooper set the standard for the strong, silent type in a career that spanned from the Hollywood's Silents to the Golden Age. Films like High Noon and Sergeant York made Cooper famous, but his private life was just as legendary. This book pulls back the curtain on the life and legacy of this American icon.
There is a massive amount of historical information available about Marian Anderson in over twenty biographies, her extensive personal papers at the University of Pennsylvania Library, the National Marian Anderson Historical Society's Residence Museum, various PBS documentaries, the Smithsonian Institute, the Internet and undocumented verbal stories that have circulated in her home town of Philadelphia for years. Researching her long 96-year life was an exciting privilege, but time-consuming. Those who may remember Marian Anderson as simply a "great singer," are probably missing 90% of what this trailblazing humanitarian's contribution to our society really accomplished. Readers of this condensed chronological compilation can now more quickly realize, and learn to appreciate, the teachable lessons of Marian Anderson’s well-lived long life---possibly in just one or two sittings, stimulating further future study of her from the above sources and the list of books included in the Appendix. At one time the press consistently covered Marian Anderson and she was written into history books, but that is no more. If students do not learn about her and people don’t talk about her, they forget. Through a series of events, in March of 2019, I discovered the National Marian Anderson Historic Society that is headquartered in the Anderson Family’s home, that is now an official historic residence museum, in my hometown of Philadelphia. It took me a few more visits to begin to absorb what is there. After each visit, I left with mixed feelings of awe, newfound respect, and embarrassment.... How could I, having lived in Philadelphia for so long---not far from the very home Marian Anderson purchased in 1924, now a museum---in a neighborhood I went through frequently, have absolutely no idea that I was passing in the vicinity of such greatness? After reading Marian Anderson’s autobiography, my hunger to know more lead me to discover over twenty other biographies from excellent books for school children up to several well-researched works by distinguished scholars. It is with the latter academic group that I have principally drawn on to compile and condense the information presented in this book, along with additional expert creditable eyewitness sources not previously publicly disclosed.
Vampire Henry Sturges returns in the highly anticipated sequel to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter-a sweeping, alternate history of twentieth-century America by New York Times bestselling author Seth Grahame-Smith. THE LAST AMERICAN VAMPIRE In Reconstruction-era America, vampire Henry Sturges is searching for renewed purpose in the wake of his friend Abraham Lincoln's shocking death. Henry's will be an expansive journey that first sends him to England for an unexpected encounter with Jack the Ripper, then to New York City for the birth of a new American century, the dawn of the electric era of Tesla and Edison, and the blazing disaster of the 1937 Hindenburg crash. Along the way, Henry goes on the road in a Kerouac-influenced trip as Seth Grahame-Smith ingeniously weaves vampire history through Russia's October Revolution, the First and Second World Wars, and the JFK assassination. Expansive in scope and serious in execution, THE LAST AMERICAN VAMPIRE is sure to appeal to the passionate readers who made Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter a runaway success.
Grant was the most famous person in America, considered by most citizens to be equal in stature to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Yet today his monuments are rarely visited, his military reputation is overshadowed by that of Robert E. Lee, and his presidency is permanently mired at the bottom of historical rankings. In an insightful blen...
