Ray of Light and Dark
“Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director”By Patrick McGilligan560 pages, $30Harper PerennialJuly, 2011
By the time Nicholas Ray directed "Rebel Without a Cause," he was one of the most accomplished ...
Really Wilde
"The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition"
Edited by Nicholas Frankel304 pages, illustratedHarvard University Press$35 (oversize hardcover)April, 2011
If ever there were a reason to revisit a literary classic, it is the publication of ...
Modigliani: A Life
By Meryle Secrest387 pages, with photos and platesKnopf, $35 (hardcover)March 2011
Meryle Secrest attempts what many art historians have considered impossible: a substantive, comprehensive biography of the life of Amedeo Modigliani. His short, tragic life ...
John Rember, the writer, dispenses writing advice in "MFA in a Box."Photo from mfainabox.com
'MFA in a Box: A Why To Write Book'
By John RemberDream of Things, 2011262 pages; $16.95
John Rember’s “MFA in a Box: A Why ...
Sal Mineo (left) with James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause"
Sal Mineo: A Biography
By Michael Gregg Michaud384 pages, plus photosCrown Archetype, $25.99, hardcoverISBN 978-0-307-71868-6
Sal Mineo was one of the most promising new stars of the 1950s, ...
Larry Kramer (right) comforts Vito Russo in his California home several months before he died.Photo from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration website
La Dolce Vito
"Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo"By Michael SchiaviUniversity of ...
Life Is a Trip: The Magic of Transformative Travel
By Judith Fein128 pagesSpirituality & Health BooksAugust 2010(See video clip below.)
One famous travel writer, Bruce Chatwin, once asked another, Paul Theroux, what he thought about his work. (This ...
Peter Heller, author of "Kook"Photo by Eric Weber
Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life and Catching the Perfect Wave
By Peter HellerFree PressJuly 2010304 pages
There are worse ways to indulge a midlife crisis than to take ...
Good Books for Hard TimesReprinted with permission from the author, San Francisco Chronicle. Sunday, March 8, 2009 "In a democratic society, where every individual opinion counts, [literature's] incomparable ability to instruct, to make alternatives intellectually and emotionally clear, to ...
Moshpit: The Violent World of Mosh Pit Culture Joe Ambrose I've a confession to make to you, dear readers: I spent a good deal of my youth running around in circles, bumping into fellow frustrated, disenfranchised ...
