Why I Left America and Other Essays by Oliver W. Harrington edited, with an introduction, by M. Thomas Inge To American black newspapers of the 1930s and 1940s "Ollie" Harrington was a prolific contributor of humorous and editorial cartoons. He emerged as an artist during the Harlem Renaissance and created Bootsie, the popular cartoon figure that became a fixture in black newspapers. Langston Hughes praised Harrington as America's greatest black cartoonist. After serving as a war correspondent in Italy, he returned to his homeland and the impediment of racism that pervaded American life. As director of public relations for the NAACP, he crusaded against America's policies of institutionalized racism, openly supporting leftist reform leaders. Upon hearing in this era of "red-baiting" that he was targeted for investigation, Harrington left America. In the culturally rich American community on the Left Bank in Paris that would come to include Chester Himes, James Baldwin, and Richard Wright, he became a fixture. In 1961 he found himself trapped behind the Berlin Wall, but he chose to remain in East Germany. His cartoons appeared in East German magazines and in the American Communist newspaper The Daily World. Although he became a favorite with Eastern Bloc students and intellectuals, in America Harrington was mainly forgotten. The autobiographical pieces included in Why I Left America and Other Essays, written mainly during the 1960s and 1970s, detail Oliver W. Harrington's experiences as an African American artist in exile. One theme that persists in these writings and his cartoons is his intolerance of racism. Hence, as an artist, he has found it impossible not to be political. One essay, from Ebony magazine, fuels speculation about the mysterious circumstances in the death of his friend Richard Wright. In another piece Harrington details how he created the celebrated Bootsie. He writes in others of his life in New York during the Harlem Renaissance and in Paris with fellow black expatriate figures. Why did this African American choose to live in exile for over forty years? In an affectionate foreword to this volume Richard Wright's daughter Julia gives clues to the answer. Her insights, along with M. Thomas Inge's introductory essay about Harrington's life and achievements, bring special focus to the experiences of an outstanding African American artist and social critic who has been virtually without recognition in his homeland. Oliver W. Harrington (1912-1995), cartoonist and political satirist, was an outspoken advocate for civil rights. He lived in exile in East Berlin for many years. M. Thomas Inge is the Robert Emory Blackwell Professor of Humanities at Randolph-Macon College.

After more than thirty years as an expatriate, Irma Kurtz gave in to her growing curiosity about her American roots and set off on a grand adventure to explore 'the most baffling of all places' - by Greyhound bus. Taking only the barest necessitites for travel, she entered the vast network of America's bus routes and a seething, fleeting world of brief encounters and changing landscapes.

"My grandfather was a horse thief, My grandmother a bootlegger, My father a bookmaker and my brother a scalper; so there was nothing left for me but politics." Thus begins Call Me Pisher: A Madcap Romp Through City Hall, the hilarious, informative and undoubtedly (to some) maddening account of City Councillor Howard Moscoe's 32 years in public office. As you'll discover, Moscoe used the tradecraft of all those questionable vocations to cajole, manipulate and beguile his council colleagues. While he advanced an agenda that often focused on derailing his political opponents, it was always driven by the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life in his ward and in the city as a whole. You will also discover why the name Moscoe elicited widely varying, and sometimes extreme, reactions. Former Mayor Mel Lastman derided Moscoe as "the best excuse for birth control I know." Councillor Adam Vaughan hailed Moscoe's "ability to drive those in power crazy. In fact, if he were on your side he could drive you crazy too. His style could inspire and confound you all at the same time." Toronto Life, marking his retirement from politics in 2010, expressed "hope that the next council can live up to the same level of wit and absurdity." And Toronto Star columnist Royson James offered this assessment: "Moscoe is no angel. He is a blustery, bombastic, hard-nosed advocate for the disabled, the downtrodden, and anyone else that comes up against the wall of bureaucracy that is often erected at city hall. His advocacy often brings him into conflict with the bureaucrats who really run the city. What the councillor lacks in finesse he makes up in integrity." There are bugs under every rock and in 32 years of public office Howard Moscoe managed to turn over a lot of boulders. You can read about them by snagging a copy of this insightful and provocative chronicle. Who knows? You may even be in it.

This book obviously does not set out a complete record of the Nixon scandals or of the Nixon career. It doesn't even include all the cartoons about Nixon or relating to him--which probably number more than those Block did on almost any other public figure (good or bad), including such long-in-the-limelight persons as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. It does include a large number of the Nixon cartoons, along with dates of some incidents, and comments and recollections about their subject--a political career which in some way has affected all of us.

Osher Gunsberg, one of Australia's most loved celebrities, opens up in a powerful, dark, funny and heartwrenching memoir about life, love and living with mental illness. It's hard to remember a time when Osher Gunsberg (or Andrew G as he was then) wasn't on TV - he's just always been there, looking at ease in the spotlight, beaming a big smile, with a questionable haircut. He was there hanging out with The Offspring backstage at the Warped Tour on Channel V; announcing to a national audience of three million people that Guy Sebastian was our first Australian Idol; and later capturing the heart of the nation by hosting every season of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and now Bachelor in Paradise. But while everything looks great from the outside, the real picture has not always been quite so rosy. Osher has always known he's different to most people. Struggling with anxiety, panic attacks and weight issues since he was young, he tried for years to drink away the anxiety and depression. He ended up unemployed, divorced, suicidal and certifiable on the other side of the world, yet somehow he managed to put the broken pieces of his mind back together and make a life for himself again. He lives with a mental illness - and he's come to terms with it to live an authentic, rich and fulfilling life. A revealing, raw, funny and heartfelt memoir from one of Australia's most well-known and well-liked celebrities.