Books Reviews - Page 16

“Platinum” means the silver screen; “Fox” refers to the 15 years the blonde bombshell spent under contract to 20th Century Fox, where she starred in 20 movies that grossed more than $200 million for the studio. Focusing on her films rather than her already highly examined private life, this lavish, luxurious coffee-table volume chronicles Monroe’s Hollywood career with hundreds of photos, including candid, never-published-before on-the-set snapshots, and insights into the dramatic skills that were usually overshadowed by a hyper-glamorized sexpot facade.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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In 1965, Bill Carlson—now a professional photographer and cinematographer—was a 17-year-old high school kid with a camera and, as improbable as it sounds, a press pass to cover The Beatles. Now presented together for the first time, along with newspaper accounts of the event and memories from others who were present, Carlson’s 150 photos of the day John, Paul, George and Ringo came to Bloomington, Minn., on their North American tour depict the frenzied, flashpoint moment in time when mop-top mania swept through the Midwest on its march across America.
Neil Pond, American Profile

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University of Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant was a giant of the game whose influence reached far beyond the playing field. With a hard-charging, no-nonsense style grounded on solid moral bedrock, he guided hundreds of young men to learn about confidence, courage and teamwork. Sports broadcaster Eli Gold profiles Bryant’s impact on 36 former players, including Pro Football Hall of Famers Joe Namath and John Hannah, all offering living proof how the Bear’s “Crimson Tide” shaped them profoundly and prepared them for the bigger game of life.
Neil Pond, American Profile

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As the American manager of the Beatles’ Apple Records label during the 1960s, Ken Mansfield had a ringside seat for one of the wildest rides in the evolution of popular music. In this candid, conversational biography (packaged just like The Beatles’ classic 1968 so-called “White Album”), his colorful tales of cavorting with the Fab Four, plus many other rock, pop and country titans of the day, make for a fascinating tour of the era with one of its ultimate insiders as your guide.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Guess what? Negative political campaigning is nothing new. In 1876, Democrats spread rumors that Rutherford B. Hayes shot his own mother in a fit of rage; in 1836, Davy Crockett accused Martin Van Buren of wearing women’s underwear; in 1864, Abraham Lincoln’s opponent, George McClellan, described him as a “well-meaning baboon.” This fascinating, fun and fact-filled look at the many dirty tricks, stinging slurs, below-the-belt potshots and other shady strategies and smear tactics in U.S. presidential campaigns includes a wealth of wonderful, obscure information you probably didn’t learn in history class.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Can you become addicted to carrots? Who invented the shopping cart? What movie inspired the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan? This latest edition in a four-decade-long line of compellingly comprehensive compendiums has the answers—and a lot more. A browser’s delight with 18 categorized chapters and thousands of factoids, it’s the perfect gift for someone who seems to think he already knows everything—as well as everyone else who admits they don’t.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Thousands of films have been made about, or revolving around, athletes and athletic competition. Here are 100 of the best, presented in “countdown” order with an informative, authoritative synopsis of plots, key moments, stars, the “inside” story behind each film, and expert commentary about their places in the cultural pantheon. Sports fans and movie buffs alike will be reminded of the multitude of ways that Hollywood has relied on baseball, basketball, billiards, boxing, bull riding, football, racing, skiing and other contests of skill, strength and stamina to produce box-office gold.
Neil Pond, American Profile

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A hilariously spot-on “survival guide” based on the many clichés of horror movies from the dawn of cinema to the present, this handy little helper will alert you to the things you should do if you find yourself stalked by a werewolf, seduced by a vampire, chased by zombies, trapped in a haunted house or confronted by any of hundreds of other scary, frightfully formulaic scenarios.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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At the close of the 1800s, former militia officer Lee Moorehouse began to photograph the Umatilla, Walla Walla and Cayuse Indians of the interior Pacific Northwest, rounded up and confined by the U.S. government onto a single reservation. Several years later, he had produced more than 9,000 glass-plate negatives. This collection of 80 of his striking black-and-white images, the first major examination of Moorehouse and his work, is a haunting, frozen-in-time snapshot of a proud people holding onto the tatters of a vanishing way of life.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Lynch, an award-winning wildlife photographer, spent 28 years and logged more than 313,000 miles all over the Earth documenting one of nature’s most intriguing birds. Penguins—the only family of bird in which all members are flightless—have captured our imagination for decades, and Lynch brings them up and close and personal with more than 130 stunning color photos, maps, charts and a fact-filled flow of details that bring you cozily inside their endangered, ever-shrinking world.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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