"Douglas Fairbanks takes the full measure of the star's remarkable life. Jeffrey Vance bases his portrait on a rich array of sources, including Fairbanks's personal and professional papers and scrapbooks, newly available documentation and rediscovered films, and his own extensive interviews with those who knew or worked with Fairbanks. Engagingly written and sumptuously designed, with 237 photographs, the book goes beyond Fairbanks's public persona to thoroughly explore his art and his far-reaching influence."--BOOK JACKET.
This book describes what Fairbanks was like during trans-Alaska oil pipeline construction and how the community responded to the project, and assesses the unplanned negative effects that, in many cases, outweighed the positive ones.
"[A] riveting account of a fishing boat and its four young crewman lost at sea in 1984 off the coast of Montauk in eastern Long Island--a "fishing town with a drinking problem," as the locals have it--and the stunning repercussions of that loss for the families and friends of the four missing men and, indeed, the entire storied summer community of the Hamptons"--
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die. "It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order." —Entertainment Weekly McCandess had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Not long after, he was dead. Into the Wild is the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world’s attention. Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild. Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless. When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding—and not an ounce of sentimentality. Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.
'Lyrical, deep, chilling, and prescient, this is a book we will be talking about for years to come.' - Justice Malala, author and commentator. South Africans face a reckoning: mourn a miracle nation that never came into being, fight on to give it birth, or make something else out of 1994's ashes? In The Inheritors, award-winning writer Eve Fairbanks tells the stories of ordinary people facing this stupendous question. These are the kinds of lives rarely examined in such depth: political activist Dipuo, her born-free daughter Malaika, and Christo, one of the last Afrikaner men drafted to fight for the apartheid regime. All three have to remake their own lives while facing the questions: what do I owe to my forebears, and what does history owe to me? They tell of the unresolved rage, generational guilt, and enduring hope that many South Africans struggle to speak aloud to themselves in private, let alone share. Observing subtle truths about power and inheritance, Fairbanks explores questions that preoccupy so many South Africans today: how can one let go of one's past? How should historical debts be paid? And how can a person live an honourable life in a society that – for better or worse – they no longer recognise?
“Adrenaline-pumping . . . [A] polished action mystery . . . [with] dazzling Arctic sights.” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review Winner of the Macavity Award and the Anthony Award Murder on the Iditarod Trail is a gripping mystery set during Alaska’s world-famous Iditarod: a grueling eleven-hundred-mile dogsled race across hazardous Arctic terrain. It is an arduous sport, but not a deadly one. But suddenly the top Iditarod contestants are dying in bizarre ways: first a veteran musher smashes into a tree, then competitors begin turning up dead, with each murder more brutal than the last. State trooper Alex Jensen begins a homicide investigation, determined to track down the killer before more blood stains the pristine Alaskan snow. Meanwhile, Jessie Arnold, Alaska’s premier female musher, has a shot at winning for the first time. But as her position in the race improves, so do her chances of being the killer’s next target. As the mushers thread their way through the treacherous trails, Jessie and Jensen are drawn deep into the frozen heart of the perilous wild: where nature can kill as easily as a bullet and only the Arctic night can hear your final screams. “Engrossing . . . The howling winds, the snow, the ice, the dancing away from wolves, the crazing fatigue, the welcome heat and food, are almost palpable.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “Excellent . . . well-paced, well-conceived, engrossing . . . moves along like a healthy, well-trained dog team.” —The Anchorage Times “A book that will give you a feel for how the Iditarod is . . . Sue Henry has a genius for characterization, plot, and setting.” —Mystery News
In this persuasive, elegantly written book, research geneticist, Fairbanks explains in detail how health, food production, and the environment impact our knowledge of evolution.
