Product Description: Stars do have real power, but not all of them wield it wisely. This work explores how a variety of celebrities developed their brands and how celebrity can become a jumping-off point to entirely unrelated activities.• Connects artists to their frequent collaborators, giving readers the benefit of an expansive introduction that leads logically into an advanced discussion of each star• Documents how pioneering individuals such as Woody Allen and Clint Eastwood expand their professional activities, thereby setting the precedent for what is now commonplace: the performer as writer, director, producer, and brand• Covers a broad range of individuals, including Ezra Pound, Charlie Chaplin, Mario Puzo, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee, Fran Drescher, and even President Theodore Roosevel...read more

Product Description: American individualism: It is the reason for American success, but it also tears the nation apart.• Documents how the concept and execution of "American individualism" is as diverse as America itself• Explains how the American notion of individualism has roots that extend back to cultural myths that predate the founding of the nation• Spotlights the role of the "Borderer" culture spearheaded by the Scots-Irish, whose legacy fuels much of America's contemporary cultural and political divides• Provides eye-opening information for any reader who wishes to know why so many of our 21st-century political debates in America seem hopelessly irreconcilabl...read more

Product Description: Africa is a complicated place, and the Peace Corps Volunteers who have worked in 43 African nations have seen it all: from public executions to public celebrations to life in a time of AIDS. This heartfelt collection is the first of its kind to chronicle 50 years of Peace Corps service...read more

Product Description: A Narrative in Documents and Letters Relating to the WWI Experiences of Infantry Lieutenant Alfred Barlow

Product Description: A series of essays on the writing and ideas of Philip K. Dick presented in eight chapters. This in-depth look at the philosophies behind Dick's SF and mainstream novels is based on Barlow's 1988 doctoral dissertation at the University of Iowa.

Product Description: The introduction of the DVD marked the beginning of one of history's most successful technological innovations, and capped a 75-year development of home-viewing possibilities. Never before have film fans had access in their living rooms to something so remarkably close to the theatrical experience...read more

Product Description: Perceptions of the First World War usually come through words written long after the conflict ended. We see the war through times broader pictures. Rarely do we see the war as it was presented to those involved. Though we can place the war within historical perspectives, most of what we find does little to aid the seeker of an approximation of the direct experience of that war...read more