Peter Bogdanovich, known primarily as a director, film historian and critic, has been working with professional actors all his life. He started out as an actor (he debuted on the stage in his sixth-grade production of Finian’s Rainbow); he watched actors work (he went to the theater every week from the age of thirteen and saw every important show on, or off, Broadway for the next decade); he studied acting, starting at sixteen, with Stella Adler (his work with her became the foundation for all he would ever do as an actor and a director). Now, in his new book, Who the Hell’s in It, Bogdanovich draws upon a lifetime of experience, observation and understanding of the art to write about the actors he came to know along the way; actors he admired from afar; actors he worked with, directed, befriended. Among them: Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, John Cassavetes, Charlie Chaplin, Montgomery Clift, Marlene Dietrich, Henry Fonda, Ben Gazzara, Audrey Hepburn, Boris Karloff, Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier, Frank Sinatra, and James Stewart. Bogdanovich captures—in their words and his—their work, their individual styles, what made them who they were, what gave them their appeal and why they’ve continued to be America’s iconic actors. On Lillian Gish: “the first virgin hearth goddess of the screen . . . a valiant and courageous symbol of fortitude and love through all distress.” On Marlon Brando: “He challenged himself never to be the same from picture to picture, refusing to become the kind of film star the studio system had invented and thrived upon—the recognizable human commodity each new film was built around . . . The funny thing is that Brando’s charismatic screen persona was vividly apparent despite the multiplicity of his guises . . . Brando always remains recognizable, a star-actor in spite of himself. ” Jerry Lewis to Bogdanovich on the first laugh Lewis ever got onstage: “I was five years old. My mom and dad had a tux made—I worked in the borscht circuit with them—and I came out and I sang, ‘Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?’ the big hit at the time . . . It was 1931, and I stopped the show—naturally—a five-year-old in a tuxedo is not going to stop the show? And I took a bow and my foot slipped and hit one of the floodlights and it exploded and the smoke and the sound scared me so I started to cry. The audience laughed—they were hysterical . . . So I knew I had to get the rest of my laughs the rest of my life, breaking, sitting, falling, spinning.” John Wayne to Bogdanovich, on the early years of Wayne’s career when he was working as a prop man: “Well, I’ve naturally studied John Ford professionally as well as loving the man. Ever since the first time I walked down his set as a goose-herder in 1927. They needed somebody from the prop department to keep the geese from getting under a fake hill they had for Mother Machree at Fox. I’d been hired because Tom Mix wanted a box seat for the USC football games, and so they promised jobs to Don Williams and myself and a couple of the players. They buried us over in the properties department, and Mr. Ford’s need for a goose-herder just seemed to fit my pistol.” These twenty-six portraits and conversations are unsurpassed in their evocation of a certain kind of great movie star that has vanished. Bogdanovich’s book is a celebration and a farewell.

Amid the turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s—an era that included the Black Civil Rights movement, the war in Vietnam, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland—young Irish Americans in New York began to question what it meant to be Irish in America. Led by Irish revolutionary socialist Brian Heron, these young people discarded outdated stereotypes and created an inclusive space to explore, celebrate, and share their culture. Thus was born An Claidheamh Soluis, the Irish Arts Center, an organization that is still going strong fifty years later. As an early organizer and director of the Irish Arts Center, James F. Olwell recounts how this premier cultural institution came to be. Beginning with his own experiences growing up Irish American in the Bronx, Olwell describes how Irish Americans grew to reclaim their cultural identity and share their art, traditions, and language through the Irish Arts Center. Olwell combines his personal experiences with extensive interviews and broader historical context to bring the story of the 1970s Irish Arts Center to life. Well researched and replete with funny, moving, and thoughtful anecdotes, The Art of Being Irish in Hell’s Kitchen is an essential cultural history of the Irish American community in New York. Pull up a chair and enjoy the tale. All are welcome here.

Includes material on Luke Short, Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Sam Bass, and Butch Cassiday.

Gangs of bloodthirsty and ruthless outlaws terrorized the American Southwest before and after Mexico ceded the land now called Texas. One such pack of thirty or forty cutthroats had what they thought was a perfectly impregnable hideout until a trio of U.S. Marshals was given the mission of bringing them to justice. These marshals were no barroom toughs, they'd been brought up church-going citizens, and all three had been schooled in the art of self-defense and survival. The leader of this outlaw gang made a fatal mistake when he ordered a rancher's beautiful virgin daughter kidnapped. His gunmen terrorized this beautiful maiden with a rattlesnake while threatening her with a life of abuse and humiliation at the hands of the outlaw boss. The boss of this lawless low-life gang of killers took great pride in using his blacksnake whip to maintain his unshakeable hold on his captives and even on the outlaws if they displeased him. He and his gang killed for the thrill of watching the innocent die. Members of this gang would lead the marshals on a chase throughout the Southwest and across the Rio Grande into Mexico, leaving a bloody trail of robbery and death.

Two ebooks for the price of one! Old flames reunite for a second chance at love in this $4.99 ebook duo from beloved, bestselling author Carolyn Brown and rising star Nicole Helm. Includes an excerpt from Nicole Helm's new holiday romance, True-Blue Cowboy Christmas. Hell, Yeah: Cathy O'Dell has been all over the country, but she never felt at home until she moved into the tiny apartment at the back of the Honky Tonk beer joint. Now she figures she's here to stay, loving every minute of the rowdy crowd, down-home juke box music, and constant pool tournaments. She's a beautiful blonde with big blue eyes and enough sass to make a grown man beg for mercy. Then gorgeous, rich, oil man Travis Henry gets it into his fool head that Cathy deserves a better life—with him, of course—and the sparks start to fly so bad they're like to set fire to the beer joint, if they don't go up in flames themselves first! Outlaw Cowboy: Ever since his father's accident, Caleb promised his older sister that he'd fix his terrible reputation. But when Delia Rogers, the town's baddest of the bad girls, needs his help hiding from the cops, Caleb is torn between his squeaky new image and his outlaw roots. Delia's out of options, so asking her reformed ex for help is her only choice. When a helping hand and seriously close quarters turn into more, Delia can't help but fall all over again...but she has a secret that will ruin everything, unless they're both willing to leave their reputations behind for something much more lasting. Praise for Carolyn Brown: "The most difficult thing about reading a Brown book is putting it down." —Fresh Fiction "Carolyn Brown is a master storyteller who never fails to entertain." —Night Owl Reviews Praise for Nicole Helm: "Helm delves into the depths of her characters' emotions, revealing their foibles and making them incredibly human." —Publishers Weekly "A beautifully crafted romance." —USA Today HEA for Rebel Cowboy