The Wall Street Journal - April 23, 2024
Requirements: .PDF reader, 13mb TRUE PDF
Overview: The Wall Street Journal is an American business-focused daily newspaper based in New York City.
Genre: Magazines & Newspapers


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I Just Keep Talking: A Life in Essays by Nell Irvin Painter
Requirements: .ePUB reader, 73.3 Mb
Overview: From the New York Times bestselling author of The History of White People and Old in Art School, a finalist for the NBCC Award, comes a comprehensive new collection of essays spanning art, politics, and the legacy of racism that shapes American history as we know it.
Throughout her prolific writing career, Nell Painter has published works on such luminaries as Sojourner Truth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Malcolm X. Her unique vantage on American history pushes the boundaries of personal narrative and academic authorship. Led by an unbridled curiosity for her subjects, Painter asks readers to reconsider ideas of race, politics, and identity. I Just Keep Talking assembles her writing for the first time into a single volume, displaying the breadth and depth of Painter’s decades-long historical inquiry and the evolution of Black political thought—and includes a dazzling introduction and coda being published for the first time in this collection. From her mining of figures like Carrie Buck and Martin Delaney for their resonance today, to a deep dive into the history of exclusion through the work of Toni Morrison, to a discussion of the American political landscape after the 2016 election, Painter nimbly portrays the trials of a country frequently at war with itself.
Along with Painter’s writing, this collection offers her original artwork, threaded throughout the book as counterpoint and emphasis. Her visual art shows a deft mind turning toward the tragedy and humor of her subjects; pulling from newspapers, personal records, and original sketches, Painter’s artwork testifies to the dialectic of tremendous change and stasis that continues to shape American history.
These essays resist easy answers in favor of complexity, the inescapable sense of our country’s potential thwarted by its failures. This collection will surely solidify Painter’s place among the finest critics and writers of the last half century.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational > Essays


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Married… With Children vs. the World: The Inside Story of the Shock-Com that Launched FOX and Changed TV Comedy Forever by Richard Gurman
Requirements: .ePUB reader, 2 mb
Overview: A rollicking account of the groundbreaking show from one of the show’s producers, featuring the voices of the stars, creators, and executives involved with bringing it to life.

“I had the pleasure of working with Richard Gurman for eleven years. When he sent me his new book Married… With Children vs. the World, I figured it would be a trip down memory lane. So I was stunned by some revelations I never knew. And reminded how brilliant much of the writing was. What a time that was. If you liked Married… With Children, then you should read this book. You’re in for a treat!” —Ed O’Neill

Married… With Children burst onto the airwaves with a full-frontal attack on the myth of domestic tranquility depicted in family comedies since the dawn of TV. The outlier series, created by two rebellious writers given carte blanche from a fledgling FOX, became one of the longest running live-action sitcoms in television history and forever changed the way married life was portrayed on the very networks it so scathingly satirized. But it was far from smooth sailing as the creators bucked up against Barry Diller—then CEO of FOX—on everything from casting to content and then butted heads with network standards as they sought to shatter traditional broadcast norms.

"Reading Married… With Children vs. the World jolted me right back into the mindset where our little show was the rock ’n’ roll of sitcoms fighting to get heard in an easy-listening world. Richard Gurman, who was there for the whole ride, digs deep into the joys and frustrations of the entire experience and turns it up loud.” —Katey Sagal

Married… With Children writer-producer Richard Gurman takes us behind the scenes of this boundary-breaking show to reveal how its inner workings were at times as disruptive and contentious—yet at other times, as hysterical and raunchy—as the Bundy family themselves. Featuring exclusive interviews with the cast, including Ed O’Neill and Katey Sagal, media moguls, network executives, writers, directors, critics, and even the woman who was so offended by one episode she launched a sponsor boycott that almost got the series canceled, Married… With Children vs. the World celebrates the rebellious, satirical vision of the show and the battle to keep it alive that paved the way for the tremendous diversity in family comedy style we see today.

“Not only is this an accurate chronicle of both families, on either side of the camera, but what should also serve as a valuable lesson of never giving up on a dream.” —Michael G. Moye, Co-Creator

“I had almost as much fun reading Married… with Children vs. the World as I had working on the show. Almost. Richard Gurman chronicles, from his vantage point inside the writers’ room and the sound booth, how we broke the china in the family sitcom kitchen, and upended the television industry by doing so. What could be more fun than that?” —David Garrison
Genre: Non-Fiction > General


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Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show by Tommy Tomlinson
Requirements: .ePUB reader, 5 mb
Overview: "Extraordinary...Tomlinson's book is a gem." --Minneapolis Star Tribune * "Delightful." --Town & Country * "This book wants to lick your face. Let it." --Kirkus Reviews

From Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Tomlinson comes an inside account of the Westminster Dog Show that follows one dog on his quest to become a champion--and explores the bond between dogs and their people.

Tommy Tomlinson was watching a dog show on television a few years ago when he had a sudden thought: Are those dogs happy? How about pet dogs--are they happy? Those questions sparked a quest to venture inside the dog-show world, in search of a deeper understanding of the relationship between dogs and humans that has endured for thousands of years. Dogland shares his surprising, entertaining, and moving adventures.

Tomlinson spends three years on the road and goes behind the scenes at more than one hundred competitions across the country, from Midwestern fairgrounds to Madison Square Garden. Along the way he is licked, sniffed, and rubbed up against by dogs of nearly every size, shape, and breed. Like a real-life version of the classic mockumentary Best in Show, Dogland follows one champion show dog--a Samoyed named Striker--as well as his handler, Laura King, and his devoted entourage of breeders and owners as he competes in the 2022 Westminster Dog Show.

Striker's whole career has been leading up to this moment. As Tomlinson writes, picking a top show dog is like drafting an NFL quarterback when they're still in elementary school. Now Striker has made it to the Super Bowl. Tomlinson takes readers on the long road to glory, bringing the dog-show circuit to life as he witnesses teams scrambling from town to town in search of championship points and large, colorful ribbons. (Striker and his crew travel in a custom-built RV named after Betty White.)

Tomlinson's limitless curiosity about people and dogs reaches far beyond the show tents and into the ordinary lives of dogs. We hear from experts who have discovered new insights into how dogs and humans formed their bond--and how that bond has changed over the centuries. We discover the fascinating origins of different dog breeds, learn about the elaborate breed standards that determine an ideal show dog, and consider the health issues that can arise in purebred dogs. We also meet dog lovers who applaud every dog, regardless of breed, simply for being themselves, such as WeRateDogs, the social media phenomenon with millions of followers, all for posts celebrating the day-to-day goofiness in most dog owners' lives.

Engaging, charming, and insightful, Dogland is an irresistibly appealing read that invites us on a rollicking backstage tour through the rituals, tricks, and wonders of the dog-show world--and reveals what matters most for the happiness of dogs and dog lovers everywhere.
Genre: Non-Fiction > General


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