Drafted into the US Army in 1954, John S. Bowman was assigned to Frankfurt, Germany, where with other young Americans he produced a comic opera by the 18th-century Italian composer, Pergolesi. Its success led the Army's Special Services to sponsor their company's tour around US bases, and then to two more productions - Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne and Bach's Coffee Cantata--and also to US Information Agency-sponsored performances before German audiences. Working on his memoir to recapture those adventures and to convey what millions of Americans had experienced while serving in West Germany (1945-1990), Bowman came to realize that he had been participating in the so-called cultural Cold War, so he placed his personal story into the context of the astounding amount of US government sponsored cultural activities aimed at thwarting the appeal of Soviet Communism in Europe Not intended as an expose, it is simply the most complete account of the incredible and sometimes hilarious "arsenal" of cultural weaponry deployed in the Cold War - an account that almost all Americans will find both amusing and astonishing.

“9/11 conspiracy theorists beware: Popular Mechanics has popped your paranoid bubble world, using pointed facts and razor-sharp analysis.” —Austin Bay, national security columnist (Creators Syndicate) and coauthor of From Shield to Storm Decades after the World Trade Center disaster, rampant speculation abounds on what actually happened. Wild talk flourishes on the Internet, TV, and radio. Was the Pentagon really struck by a missile? Was the untimely death of Barry Jennings, who witnessed the collapse of Tower 7 and thought he heard “explosions,” actually an assassination? Not everyone is convinced the truth is out there. Once again, in this updated edition of the critically acclaimed Debunking 9/11 Myths, Popular Mechanics counters the conspiracy theorists with a dose of hard, cold facts. The magazine consulted more than 300 experts in fields like air traffic control, aviation, civil engineering, firefighting, and metallurgy, and then rigorously, meticulously, and scientifically analyzed the twenty-five most persistent 9/11 conspiracy theories. Each one was conclusively refuted with facts, not politics and rumors, including five new myths involving the collapse of 7 World Trade Center and four longstanding conjectures now considered in the context of new research. “A reliable and rational answer to the many fanciful conspiracy theories about 9/11 . . . What happened on 9/11 has been well established by the 9/11 Commission. What did not happen has now been clearly explained by Popular Mechanics.” —Richard A. Clarke, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Against All Enemies “Do you have a friend who emails you the most recent documentary ‘proving’ that a missile impacted the Pentagon or that timed explosions brought down WTC-7? Buy him a copy of this book. He’ll thank you later.” —The Weekly Standard

A spectacular book showing life and work of the Finnish icon from an unknown perspective with around 150 illustrations and well researched texts.Tom of Finland has became the most famous and influential Finnish artist of the 20th century. Born Touko Laaksonen in 1920, his iconic depiction of self-confident and life-affirming gayness gave decisive impulses to the international gay movements from the 1960s onwards. But although we clearly associate his portrayals of sensual and powerful cowboys, farm hands, soldiers and leathermen with the USA, Tom of Finland's rise to gay icon received the game-changing impetus neither in his native Finland nor in the USA. It was, of all places, the city of Hamburg and Tom's friendship with key exponents of the local gay scene in the early 1970s that helped him to his first exhibition ever.He even created a grand mural for the legendary "Tom's Bar", until today the only one legitimately named after him. Regular commissions to design posters and ads for gay events in Hamburg allowed him to launch his artistic career after quitting his day job as advertising executive, and led to the creation of the most extensive private collection of his drawings to date. Galerie Judin is now devoting an exhibition and a comprehensive publication to these seminal, but thus far little researched years, the art they generated and the friendships they formed. The book includes texts by Juerg Judin, Pay Matthis Karstens, Kati Mustola and Alice Delage, conversations with Durk Dehner and Michael P. Hartleben - and a facsimile of the artist's German travel diary from 1955.

A handbook of survival and warfare for the citizens of Woodstock Nation A classic of counterculture literature and one of the most influential--and controversial--documents of the twentieth century, Steal This Book is as valuable today as the day it was published. It has been in print continuously for more than four decades, and it has educated and inspired countless thousands of young activists. Conceived as an instruction manual for radical social change, Steal This Book is divided into three sections--Survive! Fight! and Liberate! Ever wonder how to start a guerilla radio station? Or maybe you want to brush up on your shoplifting techniques. Perhaps you're just looking for the best free entertainment in New York City. (The Frick Collection--"Great when you're stoned.") Packed with information, advice, and Abbie's unique outlaw wisdom ("Avoid all needle drugs--the only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon."), Steal This Book is a timeless reminder that, no matter what the struggle, freedom is always worth fighting for. "All Power to the Imagination was his credo. Abbie was the best."--Studs Terkel