Finding Oz

The Last Lone Inventor

A Tale of Genius Deceit & the Birth of Television

Evan I. Schwartz

A "cogent and elegant" chronicle of the young television pioneer and the corporate executive determined to steal his invention ( Publishers Weekly). Many men have laid claim to the title "father of television," but Philo T. Farnsworth is the true genius behind what may be the most influential invention of our time. In 1927, at only twenty years old, he created the first fully electronic television system, beating out inventors working on similar projects across the globe. Driven by his obsession to demonstrate his idea, Farnsworth operated his own laboratory above a garage in San Francisco while filing for patents. The resulting publicity caught the attention of RCA tycoon David Sarnoff, who was driven by an obsession of his own: to control television in the same way he monopolized radio. Based on original research, including interviews with Farnsworth family members, The Last Lone Inventor is the story of the epic struggle between two equally passionate adversaries whose clash symbolized a turning point in the culture of creativity.

The Last Lone Inventor

A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television

Evan I. Schwartz

In a story that is both of its time and timeless, Evan I. Schwartz tells a tale of genius versus greed, innocence versus deceit, and independent brilliance versus corporate arrogance. Many men have laid claim to the title "father of television," but Philo T. Farnsworth is the true genius behind what may be the most influential invention of our time. Driven by his obsession to demonstrate his idea, by the age of twenty Farnsworth was operating his own laboratory above a garage in San Francisco and filing for patents. The resulting publicity caught the attention of RCA tycoon David Sarnoff, who became determined to control television in the same way he monopolized radio. Based on original research, including interviews with Farnsworth family members, The Last Lone Inventor is the story of the epic struggle between two equally passionate adversaries whose clash symbolized a turning point in the culture of creativity. Book jacket.

Digital Darwinism

7 Breakthrough Business Strategies for Surviving in the Cutthroat Web Economy

Evan I. Schwartz

Don’t let the rapid evolution of the Internet economy leave your business extinct before its time! Here are the key strategies you need to keep your company alive, growing, and profitable in today’s volatile Web climate. The dramatic boom that took place in the Web economy is over. The glory days when companies with strong ideas and weak business plans could easily get millions to launch their businesses are long gone, and in today’s tougher, more cutthroat economic arena, natural selection is rampant. Companies need to be smarter, faster, more innovative, and more adaptable than ever before just to survive, let alone succeed. In Digital Darwinism, Evan Schwartz provides seven business strategies that can make or break any Web business. In a new preface and updated case studies, Schwartz discusses the dramatic rise and fall of the Web and analyzes the companies that have made it and those that haven’t, from Priceline to Pets.com, and spells out step-by-step techniques such as building your brand, remaining flexible as supply and demand fluctuate, and integrating the Web into every part of your business. The perfect source for everyone from novice entrepreneurs to corporate CEOs, Digital Darwinism provides a comprehensive and unflinching look inside the highly competitive world of e-commerce and distills the critical strategies that Web-based businesses need to follow in order to survive in what has become the world’s fastest, and most dangerous, marketplace.

Webonomics

Nine Essential Principles for Growing Your Business on the World Wide Web

Evan I. Schwartz

The World Wide Web has become the most important new communications medium since television, with tens of millions of people now on-line and Web sites springing up at the rate of one per minute. It has also created a digital marketplace where consumers can search for the best deals and services in an instant. While almost everyone agrees that the Web provides excellent marketing opportunities, many businesses don't know how to use it effectively and have been losing millions of dollars because of it. In "Webonomics, Evan I. Schwartz shows how the new Web economy mirrors the traditional economy in some ways but also exhibits entirely unique properties of its own. Using numerous case studies of corporations such as IBM, Volvo, Playboy Enterprises, and Wells Fargo bank, as well as smaller companies and web-based start-ups, Schwartz documents both the tremendous failures and successes on the Web in a multitude of industries. Defining nine essential principles for growing your business on the Web, Schwartz challenges the conventional wisdom and shows how using traditional business approaches on the Web can backfire. Why are some products better suited to being sold on the Web than others? Why are certain brand names gaining status and how do you create and then reinforce yours? What are the new patterns of consumer behavior? Webonomics answers these questions and shows how to capture the only scarce commodity on this information-based terrain: the attention of the busy people who are spending time there. Putting the frenetic activity in a context, Schwartz delves into the new economic rules, new forms of currency, new ways to do business globally, and shows how to add valueto existing products and build customer loyalty. In addition to offering practical wisdom, "Webonomics tells a larger story about life in the Information Age. It's about rising new communities, the next phase of capitalism, a shift in the role of government, and surviving amidst accelerating change, where only the most agile and adaptable businesses will thrive.

Juice

The Creative Fuel that Drives Today's World-class Inventors

Evan I. Schwartz

Modern-day inventors reveal the "secret sauce" that fuels their creative processes - and offer strategies anyone can use to unleash their own innovative juices.

Darwinismo Digital: Estrategias Ganadoras Para Sobrevivir en la Asesina Economia de la Web

Evan I. Schwartz

Construir una marca que represente una verdadera garantía de solución de problemas. Deje que sus precios fluctúen libremente con la oferta y la demanda. Cree paquetes valiosos de información y servicios. Integre el comercio digital con absolutamente cualquier cosa.

The Year of Magical Thinking

Joan Didion

An autobiographical portrait of marriage and motherhood by the acclaimed author details her struggle to come to terms with life and death, illness, sanity, personal upheaval, and grief.

Letter to My Daughter

Maya Angelou

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Maya Angelou shares her path to living well and with meaning in this absorbing book of personal essays. Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter transcends genres and categories: guidebook, memoir, poetry, and pure delight. Here in short spellbinding essays are glimpses of the tumultuous life that led Angelou to an exalted place in American letters and taught her lessons in compassion and fortitude: how she was brought up by her indomitable grandmother in segregated Arkansas, taken in at thirteen by her more worldly and less religious mother, and grew to be an awkward, six-foot-tall teenager whose first experience of loveless sex paradoxically left her with her greatest gift, a son. Whether she is recalling such lost friends as Coretta Scott King and Ossie Davis, extolling honesty, decrying vulgarity, explaining why becoming a Christian is a “lifelong endeavor,” or simply singing the praises of a meal of red rice–Maya Angelou writes from the heart to millions of women she considers her extended family. Like the rest of her remarkable work, Letter to My Daughter entertains and teaches; it is a book to cherish, savor, re-read, and share. “I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native Americans and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all. Here is my offering to you.”—from Letter to My Daughter

Haunted Heart

The Life and Times of Stephen King

Lisa Rogak

An unauthorized portrait of the influential pop-culture author evaluates the life experiences that shaped his literary achievements, from his disadvantaged childhood in rural Maine to his rapid fame as a writer and struggles with substance abuse.

Books

A Memoir

Larry McMurtry

In a prolific life of singular literary achievement, Larry McMurtry has succeeded in a variety of genres: in coming-of-age novels likeThe Last Picture Show; in collections of essays likeIn a Narrow Grave; and in the reinvention of the Western on a grand scale in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel,Lonesome Dove. Now, inBooks: A Memoir, McMurtry writes about his endless passion for books: as a boy growing up in a largely "bookless" world; as a young man devouring the vastness of literature with astonishing energy; as a fledgling writer and family man; and above all, as one of America's most prominent bookmen. He takes us on his journey to becoming an astute, adventurous book scout and collector who would eventually open stores of rare and collectible editions in Georgetown, Houston, and finally, in his previously "bookless" hometown of Archer City, Texas. In this work of extraordinary charm, grace, and good humor, McMurtry recounts his life as both a reader and a writer, how the countless books he has read worked to form his literary tastes, while giving us a lively look at the eccentrics who collect, sell, or simply lust after rare volumes.Books: A Memoiris like the best kind of diary -- full of McMurtry's wonderful anecdotes, amazing characters, engaging gossip, and shrewd observations about authors, book people, literature, and the author himself. At once chatty, revealing, and deeply satisfying, Books is, like McMurtry, erudite, life loving, and filled with excellent stories. It is a book to be savored and enjoyed again and again.

Dear Papa, Dear Hotch

The Correspondence of Ernest Hemingway and A.E. Hotchner

Ernest Hemingway

Table of contents

Kahlil Gibran, Man and Poet

A New Biography

Suheil B. Bushrui, Joe Jenkins

Bushrui and Jenkins have produces a biography that meticulously explores the complex intricacies of this philosopher-poet. Offering fresh insights into his life, times and work, this unique book sets new criteria in evaluating Gibran.

Finding Oz

How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story

Evan I. Schwartz

A groundbreaking new look at an American icon, The Wizard of Oz. Finding Oz tells the remarkable tale behind one of the world's most enduring and best loved stories. Offering profound new insights into the true origins and meaning of L. Frank Baum's 1900 masterwork, it delves into the personal turmoil and spiritual transformation that fueled Baum's fantastical parable of the American Dream. Prior to becoming an impresario of children's adventure tales—the J. K. Rowling of his age—Baum failed at a series of careers and nearly lost his soul before setting out on a journey of discovery that would lead to the Land of Oz. Drawing on original research, Evan Schwartz debunks popular misconceptions and shows how the people, places, and events in Baum's life gave birth to his unforgettable images and characters. The Yellow Brick Road was real, the Emerald City evoked the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and Baum's mother-in-law, the radical women's rights leader Matilda Joslyn Gage, inspired his dual view of witches—as good and wicked. A narrative that sweeps across late nineteenth-century America, Finding Oz ultimately reveals how failure and heartbreak can sometimes lead to redemption and bliss, and how one individual can ignite the imagination of the entire world.

Amazons in America

Matriarchs, Utopians, and Wonder Women in U.S. Popular Culture

Keira V. Williams

With this remarkable study, historian Keira V. Williams shows how fictional matriarchies—produced for specific audiences in successive eras and across multiple media—constitute prescriptive, solution-oriented thought experiments directed at contemporary social issues. In the process, Amazons in America uncovers a rich tradition of matriarchal popular culture in the United States. Beginning with late-nineteenth-century anthropological studies, which theorized a universal prehistoric matriarchy, Williams explores how representations of women-centered societies reveal changing ideas of gender and power over the course of the twentieth century and into the present day. She examines a deep archive of cultural artifacts, both familiar and obscure, including L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz series, Progressive-era fiction like Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s utopian novel Herland, the original 1940s Wonder Woman comics, midcentury films featuring nuclear families, and feminist science fiction novels from the 1970s that invented prehistoric and futuristic matriarchal societies. While such texts have, at times, served as sites of feminist theory, Williams unpacks their cyclical nature and, in doing so, pinpoints some of the premises that have historically hindered gender equality in the United States. Williams also delves into popular works from the twenty-first century, such as Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise and DC Comics/Warner Bros.’ globally successful film Wonder Woman, which attest to the ongoing presence of matriarchal ideas and their capacity for combating patriarchy and white nationalism with visions of rebellion and liberation. Amazons in America provides an indispensable critique of how anxieties and fantasies about women in power are culturally expressed, ultimately informing a broader discussion about how to nurture a stable, equitable society.

Searching for the Spirit of the West

Social Utopias and World Wars – A Hidden History of the USA in the Twentieth Century

Luigi Morelli

How can the West rediscover its authentic spirit? Exploring the period from 1899 to 1945 – from the end of the US frontier and the writing of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to the conclusion of World War II and the dropping of the atom bomb – Luigi Morelli traces the events that led the United States to become the world’s dominating imperial force. America, he demonstrates, is deeply connected to Britain, Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly Russia. Yet despite their tragic collective histories, there is hope for the future – if only America can claim its true task. Searching for the Spirit of the West challenges many of the falsehoods that pass for mainstream history. Utilizing a wealth of documented evidence from the research of overlooked historians, economists, social and spiritual thinkers, the author takes a symptomatic view of the past, revealing hidden, longer-term trends. This approach offers a new understanding of events such as the rise of Nazism, the Great Depression, the new Deal, and even the roles of banking and clandestine ‘brotherhoods’ in world history. Morelli also appraises The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in parallel with America’s cultural achievements. Through imagination, L. Frank Baum’s contemporary fairy-tale enables us to intuit the true mission of the West and its potential contribution to world culture, now and in the future.

The Assimilation of Yogic Religions through Pop Culture

Paul G. Hackett

The image of the meditating yogi has become a near-universal symbol for transcendent perfection used to market everything from perfume and jewelry to luxury resorts and sports cars, and popular culture has readily absorbed it along similar lines. Yet the religious traditions grounding such images are often readily abandoned or caricatured beyond recognition, or so it would seem. The essays contained in The Assimilation of Yogic Religions through Pop Culture explore the references to yogis and their native cultures of India, Tibet, and China as they are found in the stories of many famous icons of popular culture, from Batman, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange to Star Trek, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, and others. In doing so, the authors challenge the reader to look deeper into the seemingly superficial appropriation of the image of the yogi and Asian religious themes found in all manner of comic books, novels, television, movies, and theater and to carefully examine how they are being represented and what exactly is being said.

Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable

The Cultural Links between the Human and Inhuman

Lisa Wenger Bro, Mary Ann Gareis, Crystal O'Leary-Davidson

Monsters are a part of every society, and ours is no exception. They are deeply embedded in our history, our mythos, and our culture. However, treating them as simply a facet of children’s stories or escapist entertainment belittles their importance. When examined closely, we see that monsters have always represented the things we fear: that which is different, which we can’t understand, which is dangerous, which is Other. But in many ways, monsters also represent our growing awareness of ourselves and our changing place in a continually shrinking world. Contemporary portrayals of the monstrous often have less to do with what we fear in others than with what we fear about ourselves, what we fear we might be capable of. The nineteen essays in this volume explore the place and function of the monstrous in a variety of media – stories and novels like Baum’s Oz books or Gibson’s Neuromancer; television series and feature films like The Walking Dead or Edward Scissorhands; and myths and legends like Beowulf and The Loch Ness Monster – in order to provide a closer understanding of not just who we are and who we have been, but also who we believe we can be – for better or worse.

Film Remakes, Adaptations and Fan Productions

Remake/Remodel

K. Loock, C. Verevis

A dynamic investigation of processes of cultural reproduction – remaking and remodelling – which considers a wide range of film adaptations, remakes and fan productions from various industrial, textual and critical perspectives.