This book is for the true fan of James Cagney. Mr. Cagney tells his story as no one can.

Everything was against him from the beginning; poor parents, a sickly infant, bullied as a child, directionless adult, but he still made it. He angered his studio, but fans adored him. What made Cagney, Cagney? You have seen his films, now meet the man. It was not the movies that made the man, it was the man who made the movies. --Ellen Matney

Emmy Award–winning actress Sharon Gless tells all in this laugh-out-loud, juicy, “unforgettably memorable” (Lily Tomlin) memoir about her five decades in Hollywood, where she took on some of the most groundbreaking roles of her time. Anyone who has seen Sharon Gless act in Cagney & Lacey, Queer as Folk, Burn Notice, and countless other shows and movies, knows that she’s someone who gives every role her all. She holds nothing back in Apparently There Were Complaints, a hilarious, deeply personal memoir that spills all about Gless’s five decades in Hollywood. A fifth-generation Californian, Sharon Gless knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actress. After some rocky teenage years that included Sharon’s parents’ divorce and some minor (and not-so-minor) rebellion, Gless landed a coveted spot as an exclusive contract player for Universal Studios. In 1982, she stepped into the role of New York Police Detective Christine Cagney for the series Cagney & Lacey, which eventually reached an audience of 30 million weekly viewers and garnered Gless with two Emmy Awards. The show made history as the first hour-long drama to feature two women in the leading roles. Gless continued to make history long after Cagney & Lacey was over. In 2000, she took on the role of outrageous Debbie Novotny in Queer as Folk. Her portrayal of a devoted mother to a gay son and confidant to his gay friends touched countless hearts and changed the definition of family for millions of viewers. Apparently There Were Complaints delves into Gless’s remarkable career and explores Gless’s complicated family, her struggles with alcoholism, and her fear of romantic commitment as well as her encounters with some of Hollywood’s biggest names. Brutally honest and incredibly relatable, Gless puts it all out on the page in the same way she has lived—never with moderation.

This is an analysis of Cagney's screen characters and career. It recounts how he began his Hollywood career, and claims that he was the movies' symbol of the aspirations of America's urban second generation. Himself the child of immigrants, Cagney represented the spirit they believed could lift them out of the ghetto to power and prosperity. The drama of his first films, mostly comedies, revolved around the energetic assertion of his sprightly self in a world that was far from sprightly - Depression America.

Defining Women explores the social and cultural construction of gender and the meanings of woman, women, and femininity as they were negotiated in the pioneering television series Cagney and Lacey, starring two women as New York City police detectives. Julie D'Acci illuminates the tensions between the television industry, the series production team, the mainstream and feminist press, various interest groups, and television viewers over competing notions of what women could or could not be--not only on television but in society at large. Cagney and Lacey, which aired from 1981 to 1988, was widely recognized as an innovative treatment of working women and developed a large and loyal following. While researching this book, D'Acci had unprecedented access to the set, to production meetings, and to the complete production files, including correspondence from network executives, publicity firms, and thousands of viewers. She traces the often heated debates surrounding the development of women characters and the representation of feminism on prime-time television, shows how the series was reconfigured as a 'woman's program,' and investigates questions of female spectatorship and feminist readings. Although she focuses on Cagney and Lacey, D'Acci discusses many other examples from the history of American television.

The poems in BLACK STEEL MAGNOLIAS IN THE HOUR OF CHAOS THEORY interrogate identity, family, loneliness, and the expectations of masculinity. Using dreams, blues, and a chorus of voices, this collection of poems examines the complexities of intimacy for an adopted person trying to find balance between two families--one rattled by age and illness; the other, holding space for a son that doesn't exist. Poetry. Second Edition.