A raucous and revealing oral history of the birth of the adult film industry, The Other Hollywood peels back the candy coating to let the true story be told -- by the stars, movie makers, and other industry players who lived it. And what a story it is: Through hundreds of original interviews, contemporary newspaper accounts, police reports, court testimony, and more, Legs McNeil and coauthors Jennifer Osborne and Peter Pavia trace today's billion-dollar industry from its makeshift, mob-connected origins to the Internet age. Along the way we encounter porn stars such as Linda Lovelace, John Holmes, Traci Lords, and Savannah -- along with countless mainstream stars, politicians, FBI agents, and more. 
Epic, hilarious, and moving, The Other Hollywood contributes to the porn industry the one thing missing in all previous accounts: a vivid, tragicomic, irresistible humanity.

The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry

MCNEIL, Legs

Osborne, Jennifer

Pavia, Peter

Reference

Regan Books/Harper-collins

"I collapsed in this same club four years ago and was resuscitated by a smackhead, who pulled me into the toilets, ran my wrists under the cold tap, and slapped me 'round the face -- at the same time giving me the A to Z of self-medication. I've performed the same service for others since. It makes me sad when people say that my generation has learned nothing worth passing on."
Charlie Marshall is not a man who should be getting married. When Charlie, a twenty-five-year-old magazine writer, returns home to London after his New York bachelor party, his arm is broken -- the result of being thrown out of a bar after lighting his boss's hair on fire -- and he is nursing the effects of a near fatal overdose. He arrives wasted at his own wedding, where the sight of his fiancée, Sarah, in a big white dress, mixed with the expectations of two large families, prove to be the final toxic cocktail for a man who has been wide awake for five days. He crumbles to the floor at the altar. 
 In the aftermath of his abject failure, Charlie is buried by the harsh realities of his parents' deteriorating marriage, his feckless, hedonistic friends, and his massive desire to drink. When Sarah goes on what was to be their honeymoon with one of his best friends, Charlie's downward spiral is complete, and there is only one thing he can do. He checks himself into rehab and begins an affair with a suicidal self-mutilator. But instead of love, Charlie finds only memories of Sarah. He becomes desperate to earn back his life with her. No longer numbed by various substances and battling the absurdity of his hospital group sessions, Charlie decides he's got to make some changes on his own, and his biggest hope is that Sarah will take notice. 
Charlie Big Potatoes is at once entertaining and illuminating, hilariously dark, and undeniably hopeful.

Charlie Big Potatoes

Phil, Robinson

Literature & Fiction

"When war comes, you look for certain special qualities in the people you'll be working with. General Tom Franks embodies those qualities: strength, experience, a keen mind, energy, honor, good humor, and a deep loyalty to his troops and to his country. 
"Tom Franks is truly a soldier's soldier."
-- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
 The Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command from July 2000 through July 2003, General Tommy Franks made history by leading American and Coalition forces to victory in Afghanistan and Iraq -- the decisive battles that launched the war on terrorism. 
 In this riveting memoir, General Franks retraces his journey from a small-town boyhood in Oklahoma and Midland, Texas, through a lifetime of military service -- including his heroic tour as an Artillery officer in Vietnam, where he was wounded three times. A reform-minded Cold War commander and a shrewd tactician during Operation Desert Storm, Franks took command of CENTCOM at the dawn of what he calls a "crease in history" -- becoming the senior American military officer in the most dangerous region on earth. 
 Now, drawing on his own recollections and military records declassified for this book, Franks offers the first true insider's account of the war on terrorism that has changed the world since September 11, 2001. He puts you in the Operations Center for the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom just weeks after 9/11, capturing its uncertain early days and the historic victory that followed. He traces his relationship with the demanding Donald Rumsfeld, as early tensions over the pace of the campaign gave way to a strong and friendly collaboration. 
 When President Bush focused world attention on the threat of Iraq, Franks seized the moment to implement a bold new vision of joint warfare in planning Operation Iraqi Freedom. Rejecting Desert Storm–style massive troop deployment in favor of flexibility and speed, Franks was questioned by the defense establishment -- including Secretary of State Colin Powell. Yet his vision was proven on the ground: Within three weeks, Baghdad had fallen.
American Soldier is filled with revelation. Franks describes the covert diplomacy that helped him secure international cooperation for the war, and reveals the role of foreign leaders -- and a critical double agent code-named "April Fool" -- in the most successful military deception since D-Day in 1944. He speaks frankly of intelligence shortcomings that endangered our troops, and of the credible WMD threats -- including eleventh-hour warnings from Arab leaders -- that influenced every planning decision. He offers an unvarnished portrait of the "disruptive and divisive" Washington bureaucracy, and a candid assessment of the war's aftermath. Yet in the end, as American Soldier demonstrates, the battles in Afghanistan and Iraq remain heroic victories -- wars of liberation won by troops whose valor was "unequalled," Franks writes, "by anything in the annals of war." 
Few individuals have the chance to contribute so much of themselves to the American story as General Tommy Franks. In American Soldier, he captures it all.

American Soldier

Biographies & Memoirs

Tommy Franks

Malcolm McConnell

Historical

The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Peter Berley

Diets & Weight Loss

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