A rich mosaic of diary entries and letters from Marilyn Monroe, Cesar Chavez, Susan Sontag, Albert Einstein, and many more, this is the story of Los Angeles as told by locals, transplants, and some just passing through. “Los Angeles is refracted in all its irreducible, unexplainable glory.”—Los Angeles Times The City of Angels has played a distinct role in the hearts, minds, and imaginations of millions of people, who see it as the ultimate symbol of the American Dream. David Kipen, a cultural historian and avid scholar of Los Angeles, has scoured libraries, archives, and private estates to assemble a kaleidoscopic view of a truly unique city. From the Spanish missionary expeditions in the early 1500s to the Golden Age of Hollywood to the strange new world of social media, this collection is a slice of life in L.A. through the years. The pieces are arranged by date—January 1st to December 31st—featuring selections from different decades and centuries. What emerges is a vivid tapestry of insights, personal discoveries, and wry observations that together distill the essence of the city. As sprawling and magical as the city itself, Dear Los Angeles is a fascinating, must-have collection for everyone in, from, or touched by Southern California. With excerpts from the writing of Ray Bradbury • Edgar Rice Burroughs • Octavia E. Butler • Italo Calvino • Winston Churchill • Noël Coward • Simone De Beauvoir • James Dean • T. S. Eliot • William Faulkner • Lawrence Ferlinghetti • Richard Feynman • F. Scott Fitzgerald • Allen Ginsberg • Dashiell Hammett • Charlton Heston • Zora Neale Hurston • Christopher Isherwood • John Lennon • H. L. Mencken • Anaïs Nin • Sylvia Plath • Ronald Reagan • Joan Rivers • James Thurber • Dalton Trumbo • Evelyn Waugh • Tennessee Williams • P. G. Wodehouse • and many more Advance praise for Dear Los Angeles “This book’s a brilliant constellation, spread out over a few centuries and five thousand square miles. Each tiny entry pins the reality of the great unreal city of Angels to a moment in human time—moments enthralled, appalled, jubilant, suffering, gossiping or bragging—and it turns out, there’s no better way to paint a picture of the place.”—Jonathan Lethem “[A] scintillating collection of letters and diary entries . . . an engrossing trove of colorful, witty insights.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the creators of The Assassin's Cloak comes an anthology of powerful and sometimes surprising daily wartime diary entries from war fronts throughout history. The War Diaries brings together--in their own words--the stories of men and women who have endured life at its most intense and dangerous. By turns horrific and comic, the entries retain the candid intimacy that is the particular preserve of those who keep diaries. From Che Guevara, Virginia Woolf, and Davy Crockett to anonymous soldiers in the trenches, these poignant and intense missives capture the immediacy, horror, and pathos of wars that span the centuries. With a remarkable cross-section of contributors--Josef Goebbels, Anaïs Nin, Florence Nightingale, Samuel Pepys, and Salam Pax to name just a few--Irene and Alan Taylor bring unprecedented insight into what has been described as "the most exciting and dramatic thing in life" and "the universal perversion" war. This book is a unique gift for history enthusiasts everywhere.

The career of Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of The Master and Margarita - now regarded as one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century literature - was characterized by a constant and largely unsuccessful struggle against state censorship. This suppression did not only apply to his art: in 1926 his personal diaries were seized by the authorities. From then on he confined his thoughts to letters to his friends and family, as well as to public figures such as Stalin and his fellow Soviet writer Gorky.This ample selection from the diaries and letters of Mikhail Bulgakov, mostly translated for the first time into English, provides an insightful glimpse into the author's world and into a fascinating period of Russian history and literature, telling the tragic tale of the fate of an artist under a totalitarian regime.

In the midst of the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, Etty's writings reveal a young Jewish woman who celebrated life and remained an undaunted example of courage, sympathy, and compassion. Through this splendid translation by Arnold J. Pomerans, commissioned by the Etty Hillesum Foundation, readers everywhere will resonate with the spirit of this amazing young woman.

These 93 stories provide a unique insight into the lives of mostly ordinary colonial people who lived in extraordinary times. Read the first description of the New World in the exploring ship captain's logbook, a letter from the first indentured servant, and the trial of Bridget Bishop, the first person hung for witchcraft in Salem. Compare the diary of the richest man in Virginia to Mary Cooper's diary wherein she longed for rest from her labors.Read 16-year-old George Washington's Rules of Civility, the pathetic letter from near-destitute indentured Elizabeth Sprig, Benjamin Franklin's account of Grime's confession and hanging, John Adams' defense of British soldiers in the Boston Massacre, and the first prayer given in the First Continental Congress.Read 16-year-old Sally Wister's diary of the battle of Germantown, a journal of the participants in the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's account of his Midnight Ride, and newspaper accounts of President Washington's death and funeral.