This seductive sourcebook of rare visual delights from pre-Nazi, Cabaret-period “Babylon on the Spree” has the distinction of being praised both by scholars and avatars of contemporary culture, inspiring hip club goers, filmmakers, gay historians, graphic designers, and musicians like the Dresden Dolls and Marilyn Manson.This expanded edition includes “Sex Magic and the Occult,” documenting German pagan cults and their often-bizarre erotic rituals, including instructions for enteri...

Here is a kaleidoscopic analysis of Jewish humor as seen through Funnyman, a little-known super-heroic invention by the creators of Superman. Included are complete comic-book stories and daily and Sunday newspaper panels from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s creative fiasco.Siegel and Shuster, two Jewish teenagers from Cleveland, sold the rights to their amazing and astonishingly lucrative comic book superhero to Detective Comics for $130 in 1938. Not only did they ...

"Bloodcurdling shrieks, fiendish schemes, deeds of darkness, mayhem and mutilation—we all have a rough idea of what Grand Guignol stands for. But until now it has been hard to find out much more about it than that. According to the American theater historian Mel Gordon, no major history of the theater so much as mentions it, although it is a form of entertainment that held its own on the Paris stage for more than half a century. But Mr. Gordon has made a thorough job of filling the gap."—J...

Pulaski The Forgotten Hero, is an action packed historical novel set in 18th century Europe and America. It follows Casimir Pulaski from birth through the wars and battles he fought in Poland and America. In spite of, or perhaps because of, what was considered an abnormality, he became a hero on both continents, a masterful horseman, and the Father of the American Cavalry. He saved the most sacred religious site in Poland from invading Russians and General George Washington’s life at the B...

General Lachlan McIntosh, George Washington's Scottish General, is the story of Lachlan McIntosh and of early America. It chronicles the hardships endured by McIntosh and others who crossed the stormy Atlantic Ocean, settled the wilderness that would become South Georgia, fought Indians, wild animals, highwaymen, and British troops, and traversed thousands of miles on foot and horseback to wage ferocious battles. Colorful characters of the times, such as Colonel Francis Marion (th...

Stanislavsky in America explores the extraordinary legacy that Constantin Stanislavski’s system of actor-training has left on acting in the US.Mel Gordon outlines the journey of Stanislavski’s theories through twentieth century American history, from the early US tours of the Moscow Art Theatre to the ongoing impact of 'The System' on modern American acting.This fascinating study by a leading theatre critic and practitioner provides hundreds of original acting exer...

A brilliantly insightful and witty examination of beloved and little-known films, directors, and stars by one of America’s most esteemed critics.In his illuminating new work, Gary Giddins explores the evolution of film, from the first moving pictures and peepshows to the digital era of DVDs and online video-streaming. New technologies have changed our experience of cinema forever; we have peeled away from the crowded theater to be home alone with classic cinema. Re...

Drawing on the extraordinary collection of The Library of Congress, one of the greatest repositories for silent film and memorabilia, Peter Kobel has created the definitive visual history of silent film. From its birth in the 1890s, with the earliest narrative shorts, through the brilliant full-length features of the 1920s, Silent Movies captures the greatest directors and actors and their immortal films.Silent Movies also looks at the technology of early film, the...

Discover the revelatory and illuminating interviews with literary luminaries that have graced the pages of The Paris Review for over half a century.This critically acclaimed series continues with another eclectic lineup, featuring intimate conversations with renowned authors such as Philip Roth, Ezra Pound, Haruki Murakami, Marilynne Robinson, Stephen Sondheim, E. B. White, Maya Angelou, and William Styron. In these remarkable extended interviews, the authors delve...

A master film critic is at her witty, exhilarating, and opinionated best in this career-spanning collection featuring pieces on Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather, and other modern movie classics“Film criticism is exciting just because there is no formula to apply,” Pauline Kael once observed, “just because you must use everything you are and everything you know.” Between 1968 and 1991, as regular film reviewer for The New Yorker, Kael used ...

**A Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award"The definitive book about Depression culture for our time." —San Francisco Chronicle**Hailed as one of the best books of 2009 by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, this vibrant portrait of 1930s culture masterfully explores the anxiety and hope, the despair and surprising optimism of distressed Americans during the Great Depression. Morris Dickstein, whom Norman Mailer called "one ...

This chronicle of vaudeville is "an essential (and very funny) history of American popular entertainment" (Greg Kotis, creator of Urinetown ).When Groucho Marx and Charlie Chaplin were born, variety entertainment had been going on for decades in America, and like Harry Houdini, Milton Berle, Mae West, and countless others, these performers got their start on the vaudeville stage. From 1881 to 1932, vaudeville was at the h...