The legendary television star tells the backstage stories of the classic comedy of Your Show of Shows, Caesar's Hour, and other landmark programs.

"Scott Raab's big-hearted companion to his darkly comic "sports-jeremiad-slash-memoir" The Whore of Akron follows the first two years of LeBron James's return to Cleveland, where everybody just loves a good story of forgiveness--especially when you fulfill your promise and bring home an NBA Championship, the first major title for a Cleveland team since 1964. "If I had a chance to return to Cleveland, and those fans welcomed me back, that'd be a great story." --LeBron James in 2010, days after "The Decision" In 2010, when LeBron James announced to the world that he was leaving for Miami, he broke the collective heart of his native city and destroyed the hopes of an entire tortured generation. As LeBron headed south, unofficial spokesman Scott Raab sent him off with a middle-finger salute of his own--a deliciously obscene aria of sports fandom, Jewishness, and weight gain that became infamous as The Whore of Akron. Four years--and two NBA championships later--LeBron came home to the Rust Belt faithful who had vilified him mercilessly, none more so than Raab. You're Welcome, Cleveland is the story of both LeBron's and Scott's redemption as they pursue the one thing they crave more than anything in life--an NBA title for the city that made them men. LeBron is back. So is Scott Raab. It's a great story. You're Welcome, Cleveland"--

This is a book of recollections and reflections of the authors experiences over a long period from Warsaw, Poland where she was born, through WW11 and the Warsaw Uprising. Arrival in England after the war as a refugee, School and College subsequent marriage enjoying a career as dancer, teacher and choreographer in six countries including New York where she received a MA degree in Theatre Arts form Hunter College. She now lives in London where she still pursues her career as an actor.

A National Jewish Book Award-winning biography: A look at the early years of Israel's statehood, experienced through the life of a pioneering nurse. During her extraordinary career, nurse Raquela Prywes was a witness to history. She delivered babies in a Holocaust refugee camp and on the Israeli frontier. She crossed minefields to aid injured soldiers in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and organized hospitals to save the lives of those fighting the 1967 Six-Day War. Along the way, her own life was a series of triumphs and tragedies mirroring those of the newly formed Jewish state. Raquela is a moving tribute to a remarkable woman, and an unforgettable chronicle of the birth of Israel through the eyes of those who lived it.

Tropicana is to Cuba what the Bolshoi is to Russia, the Moulin Rouge to Paris, or the Blue Note to New York--an enduring cultural mecca. This definitive biography of the place that was known as Paradise Under the Stars, vividly describes the 1950s nightclub that was part casino, part cabaret and was the only club owned and run by Cubans rather than the American mob. Nat "King" Cole, Liberace, and Carmen Miranda performed there before audiences that included Joan Crawford, Marlon Brando, and Ernest Hemingway. The book portrays the cultural richness and roiling social problems of pre-Revolutionary Cuba and takes the reader on a tour of one of the world's most glamorous venues at its most brilliant moment.

In this new series of books: James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls I, renowned biblical scholar Robert Eisenman revisits the subject of James the brother of Jesus connecting him even more effectively, not only to the Leadership of Early Christianity in Palestine, but to the Dead Sea Scrolls in Palestine too. In a more reader-friendly format that compresses the results of his several previous works, Eisenman uses the Dead Sea Scrolls and early Church texts to create the most comprehensive picture of Jesus' brother James conceivable. The private specialist and enthusiastic aficionado will not want to miss it. The James, Eisenman presents, is the pivotal Opposition Jewish Leader leading up to the fall of the Temple and beyond in the First Century. As a typical Essene or Dead Sea Scrolls sectarian, James wears only linen, bathes daily in cold water, was a vegetarian, and is a life-long Nazirite; but he and the Party, the New Testament attests he led, are also "zealous for the Law" and insist on "Circumcision". Moreover Eisenman makes compelling arguments that James not Peter -- whoever he was and however he existed -- and certainly not Paul, was the true heir to his brother Jesus and the Leader of early Christianity everywhere. Eisenman will also cover subjects like "the Brothers of Jesus as Apostles," "the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus," and Paul's almost mortal attack on James in the Temple. Eisenman's work will also extend to the competition between Paul and James in Antioch and over the conversion of Queen Helen of Adiabene and her two sons in Northern Syria, who not only led the 'famine relief" efforts ascribed to Paul in Acts, but also gave the fabulous golden candelabra depicted as booty from the Temple on the Arch of Titus in Rome. Eisenman will show the figure of James to have been so influential and highly-regarded in the Jerusalem of his day that his death was the capstone event that led up to the Jewish Revolt against Rome. In this series, Eisenman's revelations will extend far beyond these examples. Adapted from a lifetime of research, James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, both I and II, will complete the task of rescuing James from the oblivion into which he was cast either intentionally or via benign neglect. His conclusion will therefore definitively bear on the problem of "the Historical Jesus": "Who and whatever James was, so was Jesus."

Formerly titled "In the Face of Surrender," this updated, revised book is a compendium of short, simple stories of the love and strength of ordinary Christians who reflected the extrordinary love of Christ in the face of unspeakable evil, even if it cost them their lives. Pastor Wurmbrand calls these Christians, "the persecuted saints," and rather than be horrifed by the stories of atrocities they suffered, many of which he personally witnessed, he found grace, peace, and triumph in them. Moreover, he leads the reader into this same perspective. The effect is both inspiring and humbling.

In 1944, a band of Jewish guerrillas joined the Russian army in its attack on Vilna, Lithuania. The band, called the Avengers, was led by Abba Kovner. In the ghetto, Abba had built bombs, sneaking out through the city's sewer tunnels to sabotage German outposts. Abba's lieutenants were two teenage girls, Vitka Kempner and Ruzka Korczak. After the liquidation of the ghetto, the Avengers escaped to the forest, where they fought alongside other partisan groups, and ultimately bombed Vilna in order to pave the way for its liberation.After the war, Vitka and Abba were instrumental in orchestrating the massive Jewish exodus to Israel, and Ruzka went to Palestine, where she would be the first person to bring a first-hand account of the Holocaust to Jewish leaders.The Avengers is the story of what happened to these rebels in the ghetto and in the forest, and how, fighting for the State of Israel, they moved beyond the violence of the Holocaust and made new lives.

People are odd; we do weird things. Even the most predictable of us sometimes defy expectations. Other times life plays tricks on us. We find ourselves characters in a farce. As an award-winning actor and comic writer, Rebecca Front has always been fascinated by life's little quirks. This book presents a collection of true stories about surprising turns of events, bizarre misunderstandings and improbable life lessons. We learn, among other things, how to prepare for a role as a villainous 'she-mountain' when you're five-foot-four, why beach holidays require military-precision planning, and the joys of wearing a cape.

Phillip Lopate's richest and most ambitious book yet--the final volume of a trilogy that began with Bachelorhood and Against Joie de Vivre -- Portrait of My Body is a powerful memoir in the form of interconnected personal essays. One of America's foremost essayists, who helped focus attention on the form in his acclaimed anthology The Art of the Personal Essay , Lopate demonstrates here just how far a writer can go in the direction of honesty and risk taking. In thirteen essays, Lopate explores the resources and limits of the self, its many disguises, excuses, and unmaskings, with his characteristic wry humor and insight. From the title essay, a hilarious physical self-exam, to the haunting portrait of his ex-colleague Donald Barthelme, to the bittersweet account of his long-delayed surrender to marriage, "On Leaving Bachelorhood," Lopate wrestles with finding the proper balance between detachment and empathy, doubt and conviction. In other essays, he celebrates his love of film and city life, and reflects on his religious identity as a Jew. A wrenchingly vivid, unforgettable portrait of the author's eccentric, solipsistic, aged father, a self-proclaimed failure, is the centerpiece of a suite of essays about father-figures and resisted mentors. The book ends with the author's own introduction to fatherhood, as witness to the birth of his daughter. A book that will engage readers with its conversational eloquence, skeptical intelligence, candor, and mischief, Portrait of My Body is a captivating work of literary nonfiction.

Leonard Wolf, a retired professor now in his early eighties, is the kind of person who likes to use a medieval astrolabe, dress in Basque shepherd's clothing, and convince otherwise sensible people to quit their jobs and follow their passions. Leonard believes that inside everyone is an artist, and that happiness in life depends on valuing and acting upon one's creative impulse. In The Treehouse, her most personal book yet, Naomi Wolf outlines her father's lessons in creating lasting success and happiness, and offers inspiration for the artist in all of us. Drawn from Leonard's lecture notes, the chapters of The Treehouse remind us to "Be Still and Listen," "Use Your Imagination," and "Do Nothing Without Passion," and that "Your Only Wage Will Be Joy" and "Mistakes Are Part of the Draft." This is a journey of self-discovery in which the creative endeavor is paramount. The Treehouse is a stirring personal history, a meditation on fathers and daughters, an argument for honoring the creative impulse, and a unique instruction in the art of personal happiness.

"From his parents roots in villages of Eastern Europe to his own childhood in Massachusetts, Meltzer's memoir is not just a look at life but an introspective exploration of the influences of an era of history on that life." Booklinks 9/98

CHINA SPY by Maury Allen is the true, heroic story of the only American CIA agent to die with honor in a Chinese Communist prison during the height of the cold war. Hugh Francis Redmond, a World War II paratrooper with landings at Normandy on D-Day & at the Market-Garden in Holland with the famed 101st Airborne Division, died in 1970 in the Ward Prison in Shanghai under mysterious circumstances. Unlike every other captured CIA agent, Redmond never admitted his connection with the Company. His gravesite in his hometown of Yonkers, New York reads, "His Country Above All Else." The book includes interviews with boyhood friends of Redmond, fellow paratroopers, CIA officials, priests who spent time in Chinese prisons with him & many who worked tirelessly for his freedom. His dramatic tale has been read by Bill & Hillary Clinton, General Colin Powell, CIA & FBI leaders & dozens of key government leaders. See what has excited all of them. Available single copies with photos $19.95 each or $17.75 each for ten or more directly from Maury Allen, 157 Northfield Ave., Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522 or phone: 914-693-5547.

A great critic’s quarrels with himself and others, as revealed in his correspondence In the mid-twentieth century, Lionel Trilling was America’s most respected literary critic. His powerful and subtle essays inspired readers to think about how literature shapes our politics, our culture, and our selves. His 1950 collection, The Liberal Imagination , sold more than 100,000 copies, epitomizing a time that has been called the age of criticism. To his New York intellectual peers, Trilling could seem reserved and circumspect. But in his selected letters, Trilling is revealed in all his variousness and complexity. We witness his ardent courtship of Diana Trilling, who would become an eminent intellectual in her own right; his alternately affectionate and contentious rapport with former students such as Allen Ginsberg and Norman Podhoretz; the complicated politics of Partisan Review and other fabled magazines of the period; and Trilling’s relationships with other leading writers of the period, including Saul Bellow, Edmund Wilson, and Norman Mailer. In Life in Culture , edited by Adam Kirsch, Trilling’s letters add up to an intimate portrait of a great critic, and of America’s intellectual journey from the political passions of the 1930s to the cultural conflicts of the 1960s and beyond.

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"To all those who have for several years sought to discredit the new American literature, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has just dealt a most powerful blow," wrote French critic Pierre Lepape in 1961 when Her was published in France as La Quatrième Personne du Singulier. Calling it "a masterpiece of the young American novel," Lepape declared it was "the confirmation of a great American writer who, in the hall of American literary glories, takes the place left vacant by the death of Hemingway." Lepape went on to speak of the "incredible verbal virtuosity" by which the reader is led through this "laby-rêve," and it is this image of the "labyrinth-dream" which relates Her to the anti-novels of the young French school of Robbe-Grillet and Butor. Being thus very far from the kind of novels produced by Ferlinghetti's immediate contemporaries (whether Beat or academic) this book has met with little but bafflement among American critics. With well over 50,000 now in print Her nevertheless continues to make its own way.

With Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis , one of today’s most exciting literary voices arrives at the crossroads of culture and spirituality. Lauren Winner, author of Girl Meets God , joins the ranks of writers like Anne Lamott and Barbara Brown Taylor, sharing a memoir that N. T. Wright calls “an unusually painful story, told with rare honesty by an unusually gifted writer.” Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, says “it is a relief to find a book on the life of faith that is honest about the pain of emptiness and the fear of losing all that orients your life. Nothing glib here and nothing superhuman: just putting one foot in front of the other with whatever trust you can manage, because there is no other way to go.”

Lauren Book, now 25, was 11 years old when her new nanny, Waldina Flores, joined the family. For the next six years Lauren endured daily sexual and physical abuse. "I was a people pleaser," she says. "I was beaten every day...Waldy was very smart, like all predators are. She hit me and bruised me where my parents wouldn't look. When you are 13 and 14 parents never look at their children's stomachs or lower backs or butts or upper thighs." Lauren is the oldest of three children; her father, Ron Book, is a prominent Florida attorney and lobbyist. In 2002, after being encouraged by her boyfriend, Lauren confessed to her therapist, who in turn called her parents. Her father fired Flores. She fled to Oklahoma and was arrested one month later while coaching a 10-year-old girls' soccer team. While in prison, Flores wrote love letters to Lauren asking for money and ultimately was sentenced to another 10 years on top of the initial 15 years. Since then, Lauren and her father have successfully mounted a legislative onslaught against predators; the many laws they are responsible for include the right to get 48-hour access to predators' HIV test results, a ban on molesters from ever contacting their victims or families, passed legislation to create a statewide network of sexual assault treatment centers, and the controversial act that barred predators from living 2500 feet from public places where children gather such as schools, parks, and playgrounds. Lauren's memoir is a book about hope in the face of extreme adversity. While it deals with a tremendously sensitive and "dark" subject, the hope that it delivers to readers carries an everlasting positive impact. Her story will empower readers to address abuse issues in their own lives and move them to understand the resulting deep emotional matrix that results from abuse and the incredible power of an individual's ability to recover and embrace life.