Customer Reviews (1)

Good book!
Product arrived very fast! It's in great condition, even though it was a library book. It was from Beverly Hills Public Library...so I can't help but wonder whose hands it's been in... ... Read more

Product Description
Photographic portraits of such celebrities as Harrison Ford, Natalie Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, Derek Jacobi, and Barbara Walters are accompanied by intimate, personal profiles by other distinguished personalities. 20,000 first printing. $30,000 ad/promo. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

DOUBLE EXPOSURE, TAKE FOUR
The four volume set of photographs of celebrities, with short comments by their friends, is beautifully done, and interesting, as well as historically significant.Delivery from the seller was very swift and secure.

Excellant Condition
and quick delivery time. I will buy more books from this dealer in the future. ... Read more

Product Description
Portraits of actors, actresses, dancers, and writers are accompanied by brief appreciations written by their peers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very Happy -
This book, though 'used', was in amazing condition and arrived so quickly! Thanks for the service and I will be purchasing more from this seller in the future.

Beautiful Photography
Mr. McDowell was as gifted behind a camera as he was in front of one.The photographs of celebrities are both thought-provoking and sensitive.Some are playful while others are intense.Now I'm looking for the sequel hepublished a few years prior to his death. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Elizabeth Taylor - An informal memoir
This is a wonderful retroperspective look on one of the most famous women of our time. Elizabeth Taylor is one of the last of the old Hollywood stars. In this book she talks candidly about her love for Richard Burton, Mike Todd, her four children and also about her career. She goes into details about how she transformed herself into Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf". The book is written when Elizabeth was in her 30s and she comes across as a very perceptual woman who is well aware of that the public image of her is a commodity and she separates that part of herself from her private self, who she at this time describes as a broad named "Betty Burton". The person who emerges from all this is more down to earth, intelligent and nicer than her image at that time had her out to be. The book is illustrated with some unusual black and white photographs that I had not seen anywhere else.
I loved reading this book and could barely put it down. Elizabeth Taylor has lead a very fascinating life and experienced more before the age of 30 than others has in a lifetime. I can recommend this book to anyone who is interested in movie stars and especially for other fans of Elizabeth Taylor. :) ... Read more

Product Description
"The finest picture-star biography I have read"
-Peter Bogdanovich, Los Angeles Times

In an achievement as grand and sweeping as Dietrich's own life, Steven Bach reveals the woman and examines her myth in a biography that will stand as the ultimate authority on a singular star. Based on six years of research and hundreds of interviews-including conversations with Dietrich herself-this is the last, best word on one of the century's greatest movie actresses and performers, an icon who embodied glamour and sophistication for audiences around the globe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Legendary Life Wrapped in Purple Prose
Steven Bach is a good writer.His prologue to this exhaustive biography (more than 600 pages, with 477 being text and the rest being copious filmography and source notes) whetted my appetite for something really special.He shares with us that Marlene knew of his work on this book and tried to stop it.He tells us that she had a sister whose existence she denied.He advises of his relationship with Josef von Sternberg, and how it informs this work.I couldn't wait to start reading.

However, when I actually did start reading, there were some pages that were so dry that I felt I should stop to blow dust off of them.It isn't that Marlene didn't have a fascinating life, and it isn't that Bach hasn't gone to herculean lengths to chronicle that life.There are things here that he uncovered despite years of obfuscation on the part of Frau Dietrich.It's that he takes such a long time in telling us these things, in self-consciously "clever" prose, that by the time he gets to the point, I almost stopped caring about what that point was.

Further, it was clear to me that von Sternberg, Dietrich's Svengali, was an unpleasant piece of work.Bach is fairly transparent in detailing Sternberg's pettiness and downright cruelty in dealing with Marlene and others.In my personal opinion, many of her worst films were made with this man, but still I found myself reading a book that, for a segment of time, was more a biography of this director than of the lady I'd picked it up learn about.She denied herself health and wealth in order to do whatever he asked of her, and to save him from himself (to no avail), and yet he continually treated her like dirt.In 477 pages of biography, I was never able to discern why she allowed him to do so.

I have had great respect for Marlene Dietrich ever since reading Leatrice Gilbert Fountain's "Dark Star," about her father, John Gilbert.That book details his relationship with Marlene and how she attempted to care for him at the end of his life.My respect deepened when I learned of her heroic work during World War II.It was these things I looked forward to most in reading "Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend" and, for the most part, they were covered well.Even here, however, Bach can't resist the cleverness he carries in his own perception."Marlene made Technicolor tests with John Gilbert, who would have played in 'Desire.'He died instead."True?Well, yes.Necessary or in good taste to state it in this way?No.These sorts of "witty" asides grew very stale very quickly.

And yet I kept reading - the research is unparalleled, and the life is unmatched.Bach had access to information and records that had eluded previous biographers.On occasion, the information is provided in such a way that it is fascinating verging on beautiful.If that were consistently true, this would be a five-star review.

I said at the outset, Steven Bach is a good writer.He could be great, if he self-edited a bit (saying the same thing ten different ways in the same paragraph is not artful, only tiresome) and if he let the artist's life speak for itself without attempting to inject his own weak witticisms.This book is well worth reading in order to learn about Marlene, but there is a lot to wade through in order to earn that knowledge.

Dietrich: the Lord of Discipline
Having read Maria Riva's book on her mother along with Dietrich's own autobiography, I didn't really expect any new revelations from this book -- but I couldn't have been more wrong!Mr. Bach is to be congratulated on his fascinating and respectable work honoring Miss Dietrich and her life.What a remarkable performer and a remarkable human being.We could sure use a few more like her in today's world.This is a must read for fans of the Lady and the Legend!! ... Read more

Product Description
London 1975. The World War is grinding to a halt. A force more sinister than Hitler's Nazi regime has seized control of Europe and is systematically destroying every adversary. Ordered by his superiors to return to British Headquarters, located in a vast underground fortress, "the Lieutenant" is torn between abiding by military codes and doing what he knows is right for his country. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

quickie
Recieved in less time than was told it would take.Brand new and excellent price.

The Insanity of War
Most of us today cannot help but evaluate L. Ron Hubbard without thinking of him in terms of his connection with Dianetics and Scientology. My view of Hubbard in this context is generally negative.

But Hubbard wrote a lot of fiction before the days of Dianetics in the early fifties. Much of it was bad, but some of it was quite good. _Final Blackout_ (1948) was first written in 1939 and serialized in _Astounding_ in 1940. In a preface to the 1948 book, Hubbard notes that when he wrote the novel "there was still a Maginot line, Dunkirk was just another French coastal town and the Battle of Britain, the Bulge, Saipan, Iwo, V2s and Nagasaki were things unknown" (5). Many gentlemen still wondered "whether or not it _was_ not possible to do business with Hitler" (6).

Hubbard's novel, written in "that quiet world of 1939" (8), generated a lot of controversy, both as a magazine serial and as a book. Hubbard imagines a Europe ravaged by so many wars that almost all traces of civilization have been wiped out. Against this background, a military genius called "the Lieutenant"-- he has no name-- bucks his incompetent superior officers and launches a series of campaigns that begin to win the war and unify England with himself as dictator. The country that is considered to be the main villain is not Germany or Russia. Rather, it is a decadent United States of America.

The novel is violent and grim, and the scenario of the Benevolent Dictator rescuing Civilization is a bit on the fascist side. (Though the novel goes through the motions of attacking fascism.) But these qualities are consistent with Hubbard's premise of a war-torn continent. And it is to Hubbard's credit that the violence is not sensationalized and the characters are not glorified.

Sixty years after the book publication, the faults of the novel are more obvious. The style is competent but pulpish, and its theme is sometimes a little too obvious. It is not as good as some of his early fantasies like _Slaves of Sleep_ (1948) and _Fear_ (1957). But it still has a certain power to it that wears well.

Pulp fiction what-if war novel
This is a pulp fiction, sci-fi novel.Kind of comic book stuff, which makes it an easy read.There is no suspense, clever plots, internal dialogues or character development.

I liked the book for its simplicity and concept of a post World War II.After years of fighting, Europe is covered with roving bands of soldiers, who take food and weapons wherever they travel.They eventually re-conquer England and set up a prosperous and fair government.After a few years, their peace is disrupted by an invading force from the U.S.A. under the pretense that they violated some international law.(This is really Deja vu regarding the Middle East and several of the U.N. Peace Keeping "Humanitarian" missions.)

While Peace Keeping, in Croatia, (former Yugoslavia) I heard reports of the same roving kind of private army bands, pillaging across the country.So, this scenario is very possible.Any history buff or soldier can also relate to concepts of the "field soldiers/officers" and the lazy, self-serving bureaucrats that make up "the brass."

While this is not great book, it is thought-provoking to what could have happened in Europe or Asia, if the west had not intervened.

Doug Setter, author of One Less Victim: A Prevention Guide and Stomach Flattening

A very dark and prescient tale about the world, with an even darker ending
As this book demonstrates, before he turned to Dianetics and founded the religion of Scientology, Hubbard was a pretty good science fiction writer. Originally written in 1940, this book is a dark and prescient tale about a general European war.
The setting is decades after the start of the war, it started with the use of high powered weapons of the 1940 era, but after the involvement of atom bombs, biological and chemical agents, the war continues but the quality of the weapons has declined. Airplanes and all other mechanized weapons of war are no longer, along with nearly all of the people. The soldiers continue to fight on, but now a large unit is a few hundred men. They are called the "unkillables" because they have managed to survive the biological agents, war and the chronic lack of food. Most of what they eat is the remnants of what was packaged years ago, so nearly everyone is on the edge of starvation. The industrial base is gone and there are few civilians and even fewer pockets of civilization.
The lieutenant commands a small British unit that has been in constant warfare on the European mainland for years. Since they are infected with a biological agent, they are forbidden to return to England. The lieutenant is an extremely skilled commander, so as they move around the countryside they easily defeat any opposition they encounter.
Eventually, they come across a unit commanded by British political generals, sent by the British Communist Party, now ruling Britain, to make contact with all remaining British units. The goal of the generals is to strip these units of their distinctive structure and incorporate them into a political fighting force. However, since the generals are militarily incompetent, it is easy for the lieutenant and his unit to defeat them and take over the command. Knowing that it is now biologically safe to do so, the lieutenant and his forces return to England.
Hubbard demonstrates his knowledge of the current status of science and a degree of predictive capability in his use of biological and atomic weapons. However, as dark as the story is, it has an even darker ending, for despite all of the death and destruction; as soon as it is possible, imperialism arises once more in a terrible but predictable way.

Final Blackout
It seems that every time I find one of Hubbard's fiction books they're full of blurbs from famous authors praising them. "Fear" was called a "classic" by Stephen King and the Galaxy edition of "Final Blackout" has a long introduction by Algis Budrys saying how great the book is. Somehow the books never seem to be able to live up to their hype. One exception may be "Battlefield Earth", which I really liked.

Anyway, "Final Blackout" was written in 1940, and its set in the future, the Second World War having never ended. "The Lieutenant" leads his soldiers in battle, exiled from his native Britain, and when they get to the headquarters somewhere in France, military bureaucrats takes his troops away from him. But his soldiers stand by him and they invade Britain, which has been taken overy by communists.

It starts out with rather tedious battle scenes, gets better somewhere in the middle, then more battle scenes. Then there are some political ideas I found rather questionable, and a "clever" ending.

There are some similarities with "Battlefield Earth", but "Final Blackout" never gets anywhere near as good as that novel. It's a quick read. Will be interesting for Hubbard fans but most readers needn't bother. ... Read more

Product Description
Bestselling author Strieber presents a frightening, true account of a mysterious series of "visits" by bizarre beings that he believes are intelligent non-human life forms. 2 cassettes. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Anita Brookner, Roddy Mcdowall, Reginald Victor Jones, Stephen Beckett, George Robey, Claude Buckenham, Micky Stewart, Stuart Surridge, Donald John Dean, David Jacobs. Excerpt:Anita Brookner Anita Brookner CBE (born 16 July 1928) is an English novelist and art historian who was born in Herne Hill , a suburb of London . Background, education and career Brookner's father, Newson Bruckner, was a Polish immigrant, and her mother, Maude Schiska, was a singer whose father had emigrated from Poland and founded a tobacco factory. Maude changed the family's surname to Brookner owing to anti-German sentiment in England . Anita Brookner had a lonely childhood, although her grandmother and uncle lived with the family, and her parents, secular Jews, opened their house to Jewish refugees escaping Nazi persecution during the 1930s and World War II . Brookner, an only child, has never married and took care of her parents as they aged. Brookner was educated at James Allen's Girls' School . She received a BA in History from King's College London in 1949, and a doctorate in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 1953. In 1967 she became the first woman to hold the Slade professorship at Cambridge University . She was promoted to Reader at the Courtauld Institute of Art in 1977, where she worked until her retirement in 1988. Brookner was made a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1990. She is a Fellow of King's College London and of Murray Edwards College , Cambridge . Works Brookner published her first novel, A Start In Life , in 1981 at the age of 53. Since then she has published a novel approximately every year. Her fourth book, Hotel du Lac , published in 1984, won the Booker Prize . Brookner is highly regarded as a stylist. Her fiction, which has been heavily influenced by h... ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 2862. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not so good for the fan, but not bad for the uninitiated
I don't want to be negative but this digital file is not a "biography" but a list of important things such as filmography and a few notes on where to find info on Roddy, but has no information or writing itself that is new. The filmography takes up 2500 of the 3000 words and the other 500 are references for you to look up, not writing by the author. All the info here is on xmoppet.org (Roddy's fan-website), of which this is a repackaging and making money off something which exists for free. Sorry to be basically saying this is useless but as a fan of Roddy I just want to warn people that it is $10 (I'm in NZ) which does not give you anything new. Any Roddy fan would already have this info.

BUT if you just want a reference page and notes, and have little idea who Roddy McDowall is or what he did, and you want a quick, easy list of info then this will do you well. If you are a Roddy fan hoping this will have something new in it, sorry, he remains the most unwritten about A list star in history.

LONG LIVE RODDY! ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Roddy Mcdowall, Christian Bale, Keira Knightley, Murder of Ben Kinsella, Mischa Barton, Kerry Katona, Tommy Knight, Robert Pattinson, Tom Felton, Bonnie Langford, Dani Harmer, Peter Lawford, Dakota Blue Richards, Patsy Kensit, Tony Bignell, Oliver Golding, Thomas Sangster, Gemma Bissix, Freddie Highmore, Jennifer Ellison, Mitch Mitchell, Nicola Stapleton, Warwick Davis, Ray Quinn, Alex Pettyfer, Natalie Cassidy, Asa Butterfield, Jamie Bell, Joseph Mcmanners, Tamsin Egerton, Rebecca Hall, Joseph Gilgun, Blake Ritson, Amanda Mealing, John Clark, Kate Maberly, Skandar Keynes, Juliet Mills, Bonnie Wright, Georgie Henley, Charley Boorman, Anna Popplewell, Richard O'sullivan, Kaya Scodelario, Nikki Sanderson, Keith Chegwin, Anthony Mcpartlin, Thomas Turgoose, Nicholas Hoult, Charlotte Mcdonagh, Kevin Bishop, Daniel Brocklebank, Robbie Kay, Declan Donnelly, Felicity Jones, Gary Russell, Hamilton Camp, Samia Smith, Angela Cartwright, Tom Sturridge, Ben Freeman, Joe Absolom, James Alexandrou, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Aml Ameen, Freddie Bartholomew, Lorna Fitzgerald, Lizzy Clark, Jose Collins, Kirsty Hickey, Jody Latham, Matthew Butler, Richard Dempsey, Richard Fleeshman, Zawe Ashton, Neil Reidman, Gregg Sulkin, Jack Scanlon, Kimberlea Berg, Vivian Pickles, Chelsee Healey, Perry Millward, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, Matthew Garber, William Moseley, Kieran O'brien, Juno Temple, Thomas Law, Edward Speleers, Paul J. Medford, Anthony Valentine, Melissa Suffield, Sam Aston, Dean Lawrence, Dickie Henderson, Ryan Sampson, Adele Silva, Jack P. Shepherd, Mrs. John Wood, Katie Griffiths, Eliza Bennett, Lara Jean Marshall, Ed Sanders, Isabel Hodgins, Mabel Love, Angelica Mandy, Bill Milner, Harry Melling, Kelsey-Beth Crossley, Alex Etel, Scott Chisholm, Anthony Davis, Ben Thompson, Madeline Duggan, Eden Taylor-Draper, Ellie Beaven, Andrew Ray, Toby Regbo, Georgina Sherrington, Holly Kenny, Hania Barton, C...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=149243 ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall (17 September 1928 - 3 October 1998) was an English-born actor and photographer. He began his long career as a child actor.McDowall was born in Herne Hill, London, the son of Winsfriede L. (nee Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a Merchant Mariner. Both of his parents were enthusiastic about the theatre. He had a sister, Virginia (September 23, 1927 - December 8, 2006). ... Read more