On My Radar:

 A Change for BookSpin

by BookDude

Before my previous Twitter account was cancel cultured by Jack, I had a decent following for a part-time book blogger.  I never fooled myself into believing I was any kind of influencer, I merely hoped that readers sometimes found out about books from my humble little blog.

I was very political on my Twitter feed and that had its benefits and its pitfalls.  Some people followed me for my political views, but I probably lost some book people along the way.  When Twitter suspended my account, all that work was for naught in the end.

It took me awhile to feel like book blogging again.  I missed it.  I remembered I had created a backup account in case my primary one was suspended.  (It took me longer than it should have to remember the old account, though.)  Even though I am not the typical blogger, I am nothing but persistent. I don't have time to review much...I work 70 hours a week and am the caregiver for my 83-year-old mother.  However, I post well over 300 books a year consistently.

I know that my political (and sometime use of profanity) has cost me following from publishers.  I wish I could change that, but I have never begged for followers in my life, and will not start now.

Having said all of that, I am in the process of scrubbing my "new" account of all the non-book tweets.   This account will now be "all books, all the time," as stated in my Twitter bio.

I appreciate the friends I have made along the way.   Please rest assured that my political views have not changed.  However, over time I realized I was getting weary of hearing everyone else's opinions all the time, and it would be hypocritical of me to continue posting my own.

All the best,

Tim

In My TBR Stack:

What the Hell Are They Thinking? The 100 Debates That Govern Your Life, Written in a Way That Tells Both Sides of Every Story

Edited by Daniel Ravner

Perspective Media LTD

Trade Paperback


From the book publicity:



When was the last time you saw a politician or a protestor on television pushing their agenda on climate change, parenting, gun control, or (fill in the blank), and thought to yourself: What the hell are they thinkiing?

The Perspective came into the world in 2017 to answer that question. It is based on a unique psychological writing methodology designed to open minds by showing readers what they're missing due to media biases and filter bubbles. Our "Big Debates" are written with the goal of circumventing total rejection of opposing points of view. Our methodology was proven effective through academic research conducted in 2019 and 2021 by the interdisciplinary Center Herzilya.

What The Hell Are they Thinking is the first book from the multi-award-winning website The Perspective and is a collection of the site's most popular, most engaged-with "Big Debates" —with 30 new ones added exclusively for the book's release.

On My Radar:

Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers
by James Andrew Miller
Henry Holt
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Sex and the City, The Wire, Succession…HBO has long been the home of epic shows, as well as the source for brilliant new movies, news-making documentaries, and controversial sports journalism. By thinking big, trashing tired formulas, and killing off cliches long past their primes, HBO shook off the shackles of convention and led the way to a bolder world of content, opening the door to all that was new, original, and worthy of our attention.

In Tinderbox, award-winning journalist James Andrew Miller uncovers a bottomless trove of secrets and surprises, revealing new conflicts, insights, and analysis. As he did to great acclaim with SNL in Live from New York; with ESPN in Those Guys Have All the Fun; and with talent agency CAA in Powerhouse, Miller continues his record of extraordinary access to the most important voices, this time speaking with talents ranging from Abrams (J. J.) to Zendaya, as well as every single living president of HBO—and hundreds of other major players.



Over the course of more than 750 interviews with key sources, Miller reveals how fraught HBO’s journey has been, capturing the drama and the comedy off-camera and inside boardrooms as HBO created and mobilized a daring new content universe, and, in doing so, reshaped storytelling and upended our entertainment lives forever.

Coming Soon:

All About Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business
by Mel Brooks
Ballantine Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

For anyone who loves American comedy, the long wait is over. Here are the never-before-told, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and remembrances from a master storyteller, filmmaker, and creator of all things funny.

All About Me! charts Mel Brooks’s meteoric rise from a Depression-era kid in Brooklyn to the recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Whether serving in the United States Army in World War II, or during his burgeoning career as a teenage comedian in the Catskills, Mel was always mining his experiences for material, always looking for the perfect joke. His iconic career began with Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows, where he was part of the greatest writers’ room in history, which included Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. After co-creating both the mega-hit 2000 Year Old Man comedy albums and the classic television series Get Smart, Brooks’s stellar film career took off. He would go on to write, direct, and star in The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, and Spaceballs, as well as produce groundbreaking and eclectic films, including The Elephant Man, The Fly, and My Favorite Year. Brooks then went on to conquer Broadway with his record-breaking, Tony-winning musical, The Producers.
 
All About Me! offers fans insight into the inspiration behind the ideas for his outstanding collection of boundary-breaking work, and offers details about the many close friendships and collaborations Brooks had, including those with Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Gene Wilder, Madeleine Kahn, Alfred Hitchcock, and the great love of his life, Anne Bancroft.
 

Filled with tales of struggle, achievement, and camaraderie (and dozens of photographs), readers will gain a more personal and deeper understanding of the incredible body of work behind one of the most accomplished and beloved entertainers in history. 

In My TBR Stack:

The Adventurer's Glossary
by Joshua Glenn & Mark Kingwell
McGill-Queen's University Press
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Adventure is always escapist and often utopian, yet we find solidarity with others and Kafkaesque existential rabbit holes within the words we use to celebrate high-flying escapades. Even when adventures are small in the cosmic scope, the terminology of thrilling exploits promotes a life lived at a high pitch. This go-to glossary for the philosophical explorer delves into these contradictions and insights through more than five hundred terms, from A-OK to zoom. Semiotician Joshua Glenn sourced terms from Shakespeare, military and biker jargon, hip hop and surfer slang, survivalist and gamer subcultures, comic books, extreme sports, and beyond to ask questions about meaning and selfhood. This diverting survey, paired with copious illustrations by the acclaimed cartoonist Seth, is introduced by Mark Kingwell in a thought-provoking essay.

The Adventurer's Glossary extends the entertaining and incisive critique found in the trio's previous books, The Idler's Glossary and The Wage Slave's Glossary. This third installment turns its lens to the language of risk, excitement, and journeying into the unknown, taking readers on their own semantic adventure.

On My Radar:

The Dark Side of Memory: Uruguay's Disappeared Children and the Families That Never Stopped Searching
by Tessa Bridal
Invisible Ink Publishing
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

The Dark Side of Memory by Tessa Bridal examines the largely unknown history of the state-sponsored kidnapping of children in Uruguay and Argentina during the Cold War. The author interviewed parents, family members, and the children (now adults) for first person accounts detailing the circumstances of the kidnappings and the illegal adoption of newborns from the torture centers where they were born. Mothers and grandmothers, often involved in decades-long searches for their missing children and grandchildren, shared their determined and courageous confrontations with the kidnappers and with the governments and military forces that protected them.

In My TBR Stack:

Daughters of War
by Dinah Jefferies
Harper Collins
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

In an old stone cottage, on the edge of a beautiful French village, three sisters long for the end of the war.

Hélène, the eldest, is trying her hardest to steer her family to safety, even as the Nazi occupation becomes more threatening.

Elise, the rebel, is determined to help the Resistance, whatever the cost.

And Florence, the dreamer, just yearns for a world where France is free.

Then, one dark night, the Allies come knocking for help. And Hélène knows that she cannot sit on the sidelines any longer. But secrets from their own mysterious past threaten to unravel everything they hold most dear…




The first in an epic new series from the #1 international bestselling author, Daughters of War is a stunning tale of sisters, secrets and bravery in the darkness of war-torn France…

On My Radar:

The Devil Pulls the Strings
by J.W. Zarek
Trade Paperback


From the author's website:

Boone Daniels burns with guilt. Stalked by the wendigo that murdered his parents, his every waking minute bleeds with terror and regret. But now doused in a new fire of blame for almost killing his friend Flynn in a Ren Faire joust, Boone fills in for Flynn at his New York City big break gig.

And as soon as Boone arrives, things get weird. He catches Paganini sheet music in the air. Then a stunning girl clutching a violin case barrels into him. Her summer thunderstorm expression interrupted by the patron Professor Stone who Boone’s to meet falls three stories to the sidewalk—splat, along with a piano. Then the place explodes with gun fire and Boone helps the girl escape. She introduces herself as Sapphire Anjou, Stone’s Student Assistant, then drags Boone to meet Professor Wickhamby, where Boone uncovers a sinister plot to perform a rare Paganini piece that summons the Devil, Boone races through time to capture the cursed melody. But when steampunk vampires, a crazed Romani immortal, and Baba Yaga herself set the stage for war, he’ll have to risk death for redemption.

On My Radar:

Amy Winehouse: Beyond Black
by Naomi Parry
Abrams Books
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Amy Winehouse left an indelible mark on both the music industry and pop culture with her soulful voice and bold 60s-inspired aesthetic. Featuring stories and anecdotes from a wide range of characters connected to Amy, specially commissioned photography of memorabilia, styled and dressed themed sets incorporating Amy's clothing, possessions, and lyrics, and previously unseen archival images, this volume presents an intimate portrait that celebrates Amy's creative legacy.

Interspersed throughout are personal reflections on Amy's life and work, provided by her friends colleagues, and fans. These include Ronnie Spector, Vivienne Westwood, Bryan Adams, Little Simz, and Carl Barat, as well as goddaughter Dionne Bromfield, and DJ Bioux. Each one has a personal story to share, and together their anecdotes and reflections build into a complex picture of a much admired but troubled star. Vice Culture Editor Emma Garland puts these insights into context with an introduction that highlights the principal events and achievements in Amy's life and work, and the key characters that played a part in it.

Organized broadly chronologically, the book features newly shot lyric sheets, sketches, and ephemera together with contextual photographs and video stills, including album, single, and promotional artworks and outtakes. Punctuating the story are photographs of dressed room sets each created, designed, and styled especially for the book by Naomi Parry to evoke a period or aspect of Amy's life or personality, incorporating Amy's clothing, possessions, lyrics, and other memorabilia.

On My Radar:

Leonard Cohen: On a Wire

A Graphic Novel
by Philippe Girard
Drawn & Quarterly
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Leonard Cohen opens in Los Angeles on the last night of the man’s life in 2016. Alone in his final hours, the beloved writer and musician ponders his existence in a series of flashbacks that reveal the ups and downs of a storied career.

A young Cohen traded in the promise of steady employment in his family’s upscale Montreal garment business for the unlikely path of a literary poet. His life took another sharp turn when, already in his 30s, he recorded his first album to widespread international acclaim. Along the way he encountered a who’s who of musical luminaries, including Lou Reed, Nico, Janis Joplin, and Joni Mitchell. And then there’s Phil Spector, the notorious music impresario who held a gun to Cohen’s head during a coke-fueled, all-night-long recording session.

Later in Cohen’s life, there’s the story of Hallelujah, one of his most famous songs, and its slow rise from relative obscurity when first recorded in the 1980s to its iconic status a decade later with covers by John Cale and Jeff Buckley. And then there’s the period when Cohen went broke after his manager embezzled his lifetime savings, which ironically sparked an unlikely career resurgence and several worldwide tours in the 2000s.

Written with careful attention to detail and drawn with a palette of warm, lush colors by Quebec-based cartoonist Philippe Girard, Leonard Cohen is an engaging portrait of a cultural icon.

Leonard Cohen: On a Wire is translated by Helge Dascher and Karen Houle.

On My Radar:

The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World
by Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Get ready for a journey through every country in the world.

In this fourth edition of The Travel Book each country features an all-new profile that includes details of when to visit, what to see and do, and how to learn more about the country’s culture from its film, music, food and drink.

All brand new, incredible photography illustrates each country, depicting what life is like in each nation from photographic portraits of people, to beautiful landscapes and vibrant scenes of street life. Supported by colourful and detailed mapping, this title will bring the world to life for a new generation of travellers. As a premium 416-page hardback package it will inspire wanderlust and make an impressive gift!

In My TBR Stack:

WWII POWs in America and Abroad: An Astonishing Guide to an Unknown Chapter in World War II History
by Gary Slaughter with Joanne Fletcher Slaughter
Fletcher House Publishing
Trade Paperback


From the book jacket:

Little has been written about the six million people interned in prison camps around the world between 1939 and 1945.

We are aware that the Allies and the Axis powers held one another's armed forces as military prisoners of war (POWs).

The Axis powers also confined millions of civilian prisoners in death or concentration camps. In addition, the Axis imprisoned Russians, Slavs, European Jews, Gypsies, medically or physically handicapped persons, non-Jewish intellectuals, and religious leaders.

Even the United States interned its own citizens in camps throughout America. Over 125,000 Japanese Americans and 11,000 German Americans were held in the camps. Most were naturalized American citizens. Like military camps, these civilian sites were also surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.

In 1944 when a German POW camp was built in his hometown, the author, as a young boy, became fascinated with POWs. During the last two decades, Gary Slaughter has authored five Cottonwood novels set on the American home front during the last five seasons of World War II, each containing POW storylines. Following book talks, most attendee's questions related to POWs. His extensive research resulted in this captivating book.

In My TBR Stack:

A Way Back to Health: 12 Lessons from a Cancer Survivor
by Kelley Murray Skoloda
She Writes Press
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

Kelley Skoloda was the healthiest person she knew—until the day she became a cancer patient.

During her first, routine colonoscopy—without having experienced any symptoms—Kelley received a shocking diagnosis: colon cancer. Based on the true story of her subsequent cancer journey, A Way Back to Health reveals how surprising lessons paved the way for her recovery, shares helpful action steps for those who find themselves in a similar situation, and illuminates how personal stories can powerfully motivate and heal. In addition to telling her own story, Kelley also features examples of how other, amazing survivors have learned to manage, survive and thrive in the face of cancer. She also explores how often overlooked actions, such as trusting your instincts, speaking up, getting a second opinion, and watching for miracles, can have a profound impact on recovery—lessons meant to help patients advocate for themselves and help friends, family, and caregivers as they wrestle with cancer and its treatment.

Much more prevalent than COVID-19, cancer will affect one in three people directly, and many more indirectly, in their lifetime. A Way Back to Health, with its real-life stories and unexpected lessons, is a helpful and relatable guide to the most important information you need to know about cancer—for the time you need it most.

In My TBR Stack:

50 Years Lost in Medical Advance: The Discovery of Hans Selye's Stress Mechanism
by Lewis S. Coleman, MD
The American Institute of Stress Press
Trade Paperback



From the book publicity:

The worldwide warfare of the 20th century produced an era of research rigor, vigor, integrity, and progress that inspired a prominent physician researcher named Hans Selye to hypothesize that a "stress mechanism" regulates physiology and explains disease. His concept was and remains the most promising prospect for an effective theory of medicine, and it inspired an intense international search for the stress mechanism that was abandoned and mostly forgotten after years of fruitless failure. However, powerful new theories typically arrive long before evidence becomes available to confirm them. Another 30 years of accumulating evidence from unrelated research has now enabled the author to identify the stress mechanism.

Coming Soon:

Unfear: Transform Your Organization to Create Breakthrough Performance and Employee Well-Being

Available November 18th, 2021
by Gaurav Bhatnagar and Mark Minukas
McGraw Hill Education
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Fear and uncertainty have been undermining performance and well-being in the workplace for as long as we have had workplaces. Here’s a little-known fact of business: mismanaged fear is responsible for almost all of the dysfunction that most organizations experience. While fear can drive short-term results, it does so at the cost of high employee burnout and turnover. It also undermines long-term business performance. But we can’t eradicate it entirely; it is inherent to the human condition. Winning organizations aren’t fear-free; they know how to reframe fear into opportunities for learning and growth. They create resilient cultures of unfear.

In this timely and essential guide, McKinsey alumni Gaurav Bhatnagar and Mark Minukas show leaders:

The impact of fear, its biological underpinnings, and the archetypes through which it is expressed as patterns of behavior in organizations
The strategies, techniques, and actions to bring about an unfear transformation
The process begins with yourself—how to become an unfear individual
Transformation doesn’t start with systems and structures but with mindsets and behavior—how to build unfear teams
Employee well-being leads to high performance for your business—how to build unfear organizations

This proven approach to workplace anxiety reduces stress, boosts engagement, and overcomes obstacles that get in the way of success. It leads to personal rewards greater profits, and sustainable growth. This is only possible with a culture of unfear.

On My Radar:

Writer's Market: The Most Trusted Guide to Getting Published
100th Edition
Edited by Robert Lee Brewer
Writer's Digest Books
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

Want to get published and paid for your writing? Let Writer’s Market, 100th edition guide you through the process. It’s the ultimate reference with thousands of publishing opportunities for writers, listings for book publishers, consumer and trade magazines, contests and awards, and literary agents—as well as new playwriting and screenwriting sections, along with contact and submission information.

Beyond the listings, you’ll find articles devoted to the business and promotion of writing. Discover 20 literary agents actively seeking writers and their writing, how to develop an author brand, and overlooked funds for writers. This 100th edition also includes the ever-popular pay-rate chart and book publisher subject index.

You’ll gain access to:

• Thousands of updated listings for book publishers, magazines, contests, and literary agents
• Articles devoted to the business and promotion of writing
• A newly revised “How Much Should I Charge?” pay rate chart
• Sample query letters for fiction and nonfiction
• Lists of professional writing organizations

Coming Soon:

Carpenters: The Musical Legacy

Available November 16, 2021
by Mike Cidoni Lennox & Chris May, with Richard Carpenter
Princeton Architectural Press
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

After becoming multimillion-selling, Grammy-winning superstars with their 1970 breakthrough hit “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” Richard and Karen Carpenter would win over millions of fans worldwide with a record-breaking string of hits including “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Top of the World,” and “Yesterday Once More.”

By 1975, success was taking its toll. Years of jam-packed work schedules, including hundreds of concert engagements, proved to be just too much for the Carpenters to keep the hits coming—and, ultimately, to keep the music playing at all. However, Richard and Karen never took their adoring public, or each other, for granted.

In Carpenters: The Musical Legacy, Richard Carpenter tells his story for the first time. With candor, heart, and humor, he sheds new light on the Carpenters’ trials and triumphs—work that remains the gold standard for melodic pop. This beautifully illustrated definitive biography, with exclusive interviews and never-before-seen photographs, is a must-have for any Carpenters fan.

On My Radar:

Our First Civil War:  Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution
by H.W. Brands
Doubleday Books
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

What causes  people to forsake their country and take arms against it? What prompts their neighbors, hardly distinguishable in station or success, to defend that country against the rebels?  That is the question H. W. Brands answers in his powerful new history of the American Revolution.

George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were the unlikeliest of rebels. Washington in the 1770s stood at the apex of Virginia society. Franklin was more successful still, having risen from humble origins to world fame. John Adams might have seemed a more obvious candidate for rebellion, being of cantankerous temperament. Even so, he revered the law. Yet all three men became rebels against the British Empire that fostered their success.

Others in the same circle of family and friends chose differently. William Franklin might have been expected to join his father, Benjamin, in rebellion but remained loyal to the British. So did Thomas Hutchinson, a royal governor and friend of the Franklins, and Joseph Galloway, an early challenger to the Crown. They soon heard themselves denounced as traitors–for not having betrayed the country where they grew up. Native Americans and the enslaved were also forced to choose sides as civil war broke out around them.

After the Revolution, the Patriots were cast as heroes and founding fathers while the Loyalists were relegated to bit parts best forgotten. Our First Civil Warreminds us that before America could win its revolution against Britain, the Patriots had to win a bitter civil war against family, neighbors, and friends.

In My TBR Stack:

The Wilkes Insurrection: A Contemporary Thriller

by Robbie Bach
Greenleaf Book Group
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

The relative calm at Offutt Air Force Base is shattered when commercial Flight 209 crashes down onto its runway. From the flaming wreckage, Major Tamika Smith must try to rescue survivors and make sense of the tragedy. But this isn’t just an isolated incident. In a time of national unrest and division, a cunning shadowy mastermind is tearing down the United States from the inside out, playing law enforcement like puppets. Soon, thousands are dying and there are precious few leads. Can Tamika and an unlikely collection of committed Americans stop the destruction in time to rescue a nation descending into chaos?

With heart-pounding action, compelling plot twists, and a rich tapestry of characters, The Wilkes Insurrection is a contemporary thriller of anarchic obsession and heroic ambition. Its perfect blend of callous villains, iconic heroes, and political intrigue will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Coming Soon:

My Body

Available November 9, 2021
by Emily Ratajkowski
Metropolitan Books
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

A deeply honest investigation of what it means to be a woman and a commodity from Emily Ratajkowski, the archetypal, multi-hyphenate celebrity of our time

Emily Ratajkowski is an acclaimed model and actress, an engaged political progressive, a formidable entrepreneur, a global social media phenomenon, and now, a writer. Rocketing to world fame at age twenty-one, Ratajkowski sparked both praise and furor with the provocative display of her body as an unapologetic statement of feminist empowerment. The subsequent evolution in her thinking about our culture’s commodification of women is the subject of this book.

My Body is a profoundly personal exploration of feminism, sexuality, and power, of men's treatment of women and women's rationalizations for accepting that treatment. These essays chronicle moments from Ratajkowski’s life while investigating the culture’s fetishization of girls and female beauty, its obsession with and contempt for women’s sexuality, the perverse dynamics of the fashion and film industries, and the grey area between consent and abuse.

Nuanced, fierce, and incisive, My Body marks the debut of a writer brimming with courage and intelligence.

Coming Soon:

Unguarded

Available November 9, 2021
by Scottie Pippen with Micheal Arkush
Atria Books
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Scottie Pippen has been called one of the greatest NBA players for good reason.

Simply put, without Pippen, there are no championship banners—let alone six—hanging from the United Center rafters. There’s no Last Dance documentary. There’s no “Michael Jordan” as we know him. The 1990s Chicago Bulls teams would not exist as we know them.

So how did the youngest of twelve go from growing up poor in the small town of Hamburg, Arkansas, enduring two family tragedies along the way, to become a revered NBA legend? How did the scrawny teen, overlooked by every major collegiate basketball program, go on to become the fifth overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft? And, perhaps most compelling, how did Pippen set aside his ego (and his own limitless professional ceiling) in order for the Bulls to become the most dominant basketball dynasty of the last half century?

In Unguarded, the six-time champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist finally opens up to offer pointed and transparent takes on Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, and Dennis Rodman, among others. Pippen details how he cringed at being labeled Jordan’s sidekick, and discusses how he could have (and should have) received more respect from the Bulls’ management and the media.

Pippen reveals never-before-told stories about some of the most famous games in league history, including the 1994 playoff game against the New York Knicks when he took himself out with 1.8 seconds to go. He discusses what it was like dealing with Jordan on a day-to-day basis, while serving as the facilitator for the offense and the anchor for the defense.

On the 30th anniversary of the Bulls’ first championship, Pippen is finally giving millions of adoring basketball fans what they crave; a raw, unvarnished look into his life, and role within one of the greatest, most popular teams of all time.

Coming Soon:

Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There
Available November 9, 2021
by Marc Myers
Grove Press
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Decades after the rise of rock music in the 1950s, the rock concert retains its allure and its power as a unifying experience—and as an influential multi-billion-dollar industry. In Rock Concert, acclaimed interviewer Marc Myers sets out to uncover the history of this compelling phenomenon, weaving together ground-breaking accounts from the people who were there.

Myers combines the tales of icons like Joan Baez, Ian Anderson, Alice Cooper, Steve Miller, Roger Waters, and Angus Young with figures such as the disc jockeys who first began playing rock on the radio, like Alan Freed in Cleveland and New York; the audio engineers that developed new technologies to accommodate ever-growing rock audiences; music journalists, like Rolling Stone’s Cameron Crowe; and the promoters who organized it all, like Michael Lang, co-founder of Woodstock, to create a rounded and vivid account of live rock’s stratospheric rise.

Rock Concert provides a fascinating, immediate look at the evolution of rock ’n’ roll through the lens of live performances —spanning from the rise of R&B in the 1950s, through the hippie gatherings of the ’60s, to the growing arena tours of the ’70s and ’80s. Elvis Presley’s gyrating hips, the British Invasion that brought the Beatles in the ’60s, the Grateful Dead’s free-flowing jams, and Pink Floyd’s The Wall are just a few of the defining musical acts that drive this rich narrative. Featuring dozens of key players in the history of rock and filled with colorful anecdotes, Rock Concert will speak to anyone who has experienced the transcendence of live rock.

Coming Soon:

Led Zeppelin: The Biography

Available November 9, 2021
by Bob Spitz
Penguin Press
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Rock star. 

Whatever that term means to you, chances are it owes a debt to Led Zeppelin. No one before or since has lived the dream quite like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. In Led Zeppelin, Bob Spitz takes their full measure, separating the myth from the reality with his trademark connoisseurship and storytelling flair.

From the opening notes of their first album, the band announced itself as something different, a collision of grand artistic ambition and brute primal force, of English folk music and African American blues. That record sold over 10 million copies, and it was just the beginning; Led Zeppelin’s albums have sold over 300 million certified copies worldwide, and the dust has never settled.

The band is notoriously guarded, and previous books provided more heat than light. But Spitz’s authority is undeniable and irresistible. His feel for the atmosphere, the context–the music, the business, the recording studios, the touring life, the whole ecosystem of popular music–is unparalleled. His account of the melding of Page and Jones, the virtuosic London sophisticates, with Plant and Bonham, the wild men from the Midlands, in a scene dominated by the Beatles and the Stones but changing fast, is in itself a revelation. Spitz takes the music seriously and brings the band’s artistic journey to full and vivid life.

The music, however, is only part of the legend: Led Zeppelin is also the story of how the sixties became the seventies, of how playing clubs became playing stadiums, of how innocence became decadence. Led Zeppelin wasn’t the first rock band to let loose on the road, but as with everything else, they took it to an entirely new level. Not all the legends are true, but in Spitz’s careful accounting, what is true is astonishing and sometimes disturbing.

Led Zeppelin gave no quarter, and neither has Bob Spitz. Led Zeppelin is the full and honest reckoning the band has long awaited, and richly deserves.

Coming Soon:

Will

Available November 8, 2021
by Will Smith, with Mark Manson
Penguin Press
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Will Smith’s transformation from a West Philadelphia kid to one of the biggest rap stars of his era, and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, is an epic tale—but it’s only half the story.

Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, his whole family was at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Only they didn’t see it that way: they felt more like star performers in his circus, a seven-days-a-week job they hadn’t signed up for. It turned out Will Smith’s education wasn’t nearly over.

This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Written with the help of Mark Manson, author of the multi-million-copy bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Will is the story of how one person mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same. Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world’s biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home. The combination of genuine wisdom of universal value and a life story that is preposterously entertaining, even astonishing, puts Will the book, like its author, in a category by itself.