- Low
Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York, Luc Sante,
Vintage Books 1992
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Opium
Dens and old-law tenements, brothels, dives, and suicide saloons-
these are some of the ports of call in Luc Sante's exuberant and
formidably learned journey through the underbelly of old New York.
Pimps, madams, rat-killing dogs, ear-chewing thugs, con men, and
extravagantly crooked cops are among the natives. Low Life is a
masterpiece of outlaw urban history- pungently written, voluminously
researched, and illustrated with a wealth of archival photographs.
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- The
New Bohemia: The Combine Generation, John Gruen,
Shorecrest,Inc. 1966
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The
author studies the motives of the people who have gravitated to
the East Village, discusses the masterpieces and trash they have
created, and evaluates the effect their work is having on the arts
throughout the world. 50 photographs. Detailed street map.
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Confessions of a Spy, The Real Story of Aldrich Ames, Pete Early,
G.P.
Putnam's Sons 1997
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-
Confessions
of a Spy is the first and only complete story of the "spy of the
century"--the story that no one could tell until now--from the author
of the best selling Family of Spies. When Aldrich Ames was arrested
in February 1994, he had been feeding the KGB information for nine
years; he had been paid more than two and a half million dollars,
with the promise of two million more; and he had been personally
responsible for the betrayal that led to the execution of most of
the United States' top assets in the Soviet Union. Never before
had one man done so much damage to American security. This is an
extraordinary human drama, a modern morality play charged with love,
greed, betrayal, and heroism--and it is still unfolding.
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Holy
Cow, Sarah Macdonald,
Bantam, 2002
In her twenties, journalist
Sarah Macdonald backpacked around India and came away with a lasting
impression of heat, pollution and poverty. So when an airport beggar
read her palm and told her she would return to India-and for love-she
screamed, "Never!" and gave the country, and him, the finger.
But eleven years later, the prophecy comes true. When the love of
Sarah's life is posted to India, she quits her dream job to move to
the most polluted city on earth, New Delhi. Holy Cow is Macdonald's
often hilarious chronicle of her adventures in a land of chaos and
contradiction, of encounters with Hinduism, Islam and Jainism, Sufis,
Sikhs, Parsis and Christians and a kaleidoscope of yogis, swamis and
Bollywood stars. From spiritual retreats and crumbling nirvanas to
war zones and New Delhi nightclubs, it is a journey that only a woman
on a mission to save her soul, her love life-and her sanity-can survive.
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- Armed
and Dangerous: My Undercover Struggle Against Apartheid,
Ronnie Kasrils,
Heinemann Educational 1993
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Ronnie
Kasrils is the Deputy Defense Minister of South Africa, a leading
igure in the South African Communist Party and a former head of
military intelligence in Umkhonto weSizwe, the armed wing of the
African National Congress. This is the true story of Ronnie Kasrils,
alias the Red Pimpernel, at times South Africa's most wanted man.
As a member of the ANC since he was 20, he participated in sabotage
operations against the apartheid state in the 1960s before escaping
into exile. He spent the next 27 years operating from London, Lusaka,
and Luanda and organizing training for comrades in Cuba, East Germany,
and the Soviet Union. On his return to South Africa in 1990 he was
hunted by the police, who described him as 'armed and dangerous'.
This is the extraordinary story of a white man who helped mastermind
the people's war against apartheid in South Africa.
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| My
Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru,
Tim Guest, Granta
My Life In Orange is a
non-fiction book about Tim Guest’s childhood in the communes
of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, in the late‘seventies and early eighties.
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| Like
a Lampshade in a Whorehouse, My Life in Comedy,
Phyllis Diller with Richard Buskin,
Penguin Group, 2005
From housewife to humorist,
Phyllis Diller has been making millions laugh for five decades with
her groundbreaking comedy. Now the laughter continues with her uproarious
autobiography. Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse recounts the story
of how, against all odds, Phyllis Diller became America's first successful
and best-loved female stand-up comic. She began her professional career
at age thirty-seven, in spite of the fact that she was a housewife,
mother of five, and working at a radio station due to her husband's
chronic unemployment. Now, fifty years later, after two traumatic
marriages; extensive cosmetic surgery; numerous film, television,
and stage appearances; and separate careers as an artist and piano
soloist with symphony orchestras, Phyllis Diller finally tells her
story. With her trademark laugh, incredible wit, and self-deprecating
humor, Phyllis Diller has etched her way into comedic history. And
while her wild hair and outrageous clothes may make her look "like
a lampshade in a whorehouse," her strength, self-belief, perseverance,
and raucous sense of humor are what make her truly unforgettable.
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Bel
Canto, Ann Patchett, Harper Collins, 2001
Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president,
a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a
powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered
soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing.
It is a perfect evening -- until a band of gun-wielding terrorists
breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire
party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario
slowly evolves into something quit different, as terrorists and hostages
forge unexpected bonds and people from different countries and continents
become compatriots. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great
love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set
in motion and cannot be stopped.
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Keepers
of the House,
Shirley Ann Grau,
Random House, Vintage, 1965
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1965, The Keepers of the House is
Shirley Ann Grau’s masterwork, a many-layered indictment of
racism and rage that is as terrifying as it is wise. Entrenched on
the same land since the early 1800s, the Howlands have, for seven
generations, been pillars of their Southern community. Extraordinary
family lore has been passed down to Abigail Howland, but not all of
it. When shocking facts come to light about her late grandfather William’s
relationship with Margaret Carmichael, a black housekeeper, the community
is outraged, and quickly gathers to vent its fury on Abigail. Alone
in the house the Howlands built, she is at once shaken by those who
have betrayed her, and determined to punish the town that has persecuted
her and her kin. Morally intricate, graceful and suspenseful, The
Keepers of the House has become a modern classic.
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