Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

New York

One Child’s Courage to Survive

A Child Called “It”

Charlamagne Tha God

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

California

Why Small Talk Sucks

From Charlamagne Tha God, host of the morning radio phenomenon The Breakfast Club, and founder and CEO of iHeartRadio’s Black Effect Podcast Network, a rundown on how small talk from small minds has taken over our world, and the BIG conversations needed to climb our way back. For fourteen years, Charlamagne Tha God has been cohost of iHeartRadio’s nationally syndicated morning radio show The Breakfast Club and has proven his power as a culture mover and thought leader, by being his completely authentic self on-air, from his famous “You ain't black” moment with President Biden, to heartfelt chats with cultural icons like Sean “Jay-Z” Carter and Judy Blume, to viral classics with Kamala Harris and Soulja Boy, his incredible reach and impact on the pulse of America continues to grow. In his new book, Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks, Charlamagne takes full command of his new perch, broadening his scope and embracing his life roles as a cultural curator, social commentator, job-creator, mental health advocate, and Girl Dad in ways we’ve never seen before. In his signature irreverent style, he looks at the world through his own lens, concluding that our divisions, our unhappiness, and our dissatisfactions stem from our failure to have meaningful conversations with each other. With lessons pulled from his past, and an eye on the future, Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks makes us laugh, cry, and think as Charlamagne’s shares his thoughts on growth, empowerment, and evolution in our fast-changing world. In short—it’s time to stop lying to each other, and ourselves. Fame, money, social media, politics, hip-hop culture, and fatherhood, he takes it all on here. In the process, Charlamagne reveals more about himself than we’ve ever seen before. This master of seeing through the BS even calls it on himself, as he delivers his most insightful and heartfelt work yet—his call to stop the insanity while we still can.

Get Honest or Die Lying

c94b9ad7-0acb-4c5f-a8ba-d4d3446b94ee-0

Elizabeth Gilbert

New Jersey

One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

The 10th anniversary edition of one of the most iconic, beloved, and bestselling books of our time from the bestselling author of City of Girls and Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert. Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love touched the world and changed countless lives, inspiring and empowering millions of readers to search for their own best selves. Now, this beloved and iconic book returns in a beautiful 10th anniversary edition, complete with an updated introduction from the author, to launch a whole new generation of fans. In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want—husband, country home, successful career—but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and set out to explore three different aspects of her nature, against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.

Eat Pray Love 10th-Anniversary Edition

fc1f7725-2c3d-466b-9ced-4d067d874d41-1

Cheryl Strayed

From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

A powerful, blazingly honest, inspiring memoir: the story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again.

Wild

b085a593-b161-41ce-ad7d-7297218200e4-1

Rhode Island

A Memoir

A powerful memoir from the Saturday Night Live cast member Cecily Strong about grieving the death of her cousin—and embracing the life-affirming lessons he taught her—amid the coronavirus pandemic. Cecily Strong had a special bond with her cousin Owen. And so she was devastated when, in early 2020, he passed away at age thirty from the brain cancer glioblastoma. Before Strong could attempt to process her grief, another tragedy struck: the coronavirus pandemic. Following a few harrowing weeks in the virus epicenter of New York City, Strong relocated to an isolated house in the woods upstate. Here, trying to make sense of Owen’s death and the upended world, she spent much of the ensuing months writing. The result is This Will All Be Over Soon—a raw, unflinching memoir about loss, love, laughter, and hope. Befitting the time-warped year of 2020, the diary-like approach deftly weaves together the present and the past. Strong chronicles the challenges of beginning a relationship during the pandemic and the fear when her new boyfriend contracts COVID. She describes the pain of losing her friend and longtime Saturday Night Live staff member Hal Willner to the virus. She reflects on formative events from her life, including how her high school expulsion led to her pursuing a career in theater and, years later, landing at SNL. Yet the heart of the book is Owen. Strong offers a poignant account of her cousin’s life, both before and after his diagnosis. Inspired by his unshakable positivity and the valuable lessons he taught her, she has written a book that—as indicated by its title—serves as a moving reminder: whatever challenges life might throw one’s way, they will be over soon. And so will life. So make sure to appreciate every day and don’t take a second of it for granted.

This Will All Be over Soon

21ba5aa4-ec96-4481-9856-b0e4e2af5595-1

Timothy Ferriss

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers

"Fitness, money, and wisdom--here are the tools. Over the last two years ... Tim Ferriss has collected the routines and tools of world-class performers around the globe. Now, the distilled notebook of tips and tricks that helped him double his income, flexibility, happiness, and more is available as Tools of Titans"--Page 4 of cover.

Tools of Titans

79c170ee-d22b-42fc-ba20-45f253b74981-1

David Sedaris

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

A lavish gift edition of David Sedaris's best stories, spanning his spectacular bestselling career. Hand-picked by David himself, these are stories that will make you laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time, from "the funniest man alive" (Time Out New York). What could be a more tempting holiday gift than a compendium of David Sedaris's best stories, selected by the author himself? From a spectacular career spanning almost three decades, these stories have become modern classics and are now for the first time collected in one volume. The collection will also feature an introduction by the author; a never-before-collected story, "Unbuttoned"; and a new interview with David Sedaris. Table of Contents Glen's Homophobia Newsletter Vol. 3, No. 2 Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol Christmas Means Giving The Incomplete Quad You Can't Kill the Rooster Me Talk Pretty One Day Jesus Shaves Us and Them Let It Snow The Ship Shape The Girl Next Door Repeat After Me Six to Eight Black Men Possession Nuit of the Living Dead The Understudy In the Waiting Room Solution to Saturday's Puzzle Town and Country The Cat and the Baboon The Motherless Bear The Faithful Setter Dentists Without Borders Think Differenter Memory Laps Loggerheads If I Ruled the World Easy, Tiger Laugh, Kookaburra A Guy Walks into a Bar Car Standing By Understanding Understanding Owls Now We Are Five A House Divided The Perfect Fit Leviathan A Modest Proposal Why Aren't You Laughing? The Spirit World Unbuttoned

The Best of Me

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Robert Kolker

Washington

Inside the Mind of an American Family

The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease. Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins--aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony--and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after the other, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family? What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institutes of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother, to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amidst profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations. With clarity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family's unforgettable legacy of suffering, love and hope.

Hidden Valley Road

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#hardcover #nonfiction #memoir #autobiography #cult 

Alaska

“A Gen-X This Boy’s Life...Music and his fierce brilliance boost Jollett; a visceral urge to leave his background behind propels him to excel... In the end, Jollett shakes off the past to become the captain of his own soul. Hollywood Park is a triumph." —O, The Oprah Magazine "This moving and profound memoir is for anyone who loves a good redemption story." —Good Morning America, 20 Books We're Excited for in 2020 “Jollett engagingly narrates his story...result[ing] in a shocking but contemplative memoir about the aftermath of an unhealthy upbringing.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW HOLLYWOOD PARK is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country’s most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer. We were never young. We were just too afraid of ourselves. No one told us who we were or what we were or where all our parents went. They would arrive like ghosts, visiting us for a morning, an afternoon. They would sit with us or walk around the grounds, to laugh or cry or toss us in the air while we screamed. Then they’d disappear again, for weeks, for months, for years, leaving us alone with our memories and dreams, our questions and confusion. ... So begins Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollett’s remarkable memoir. His story opens in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country’s most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader’s mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult’s “School.” After spending years in what was essentially an orphanage, Mikel escaped the cult one morning with his mother and older brother. But in many ways, life outside Synanon was even harder and more erratic. In his raw, poetic and powerful voice, Jollett portrays a childhood filled with abject poverty, trauma, emotional abuse, delinquency and the lure of drugs and alcohol. Raised by a clinically depressed mother, tormented by his angry older brother, subjected to the unpredictability of troubled step-fathers and longing for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con, Jollett slowly, often painfully, builds a life that leads him to Stanford University and, eventually, to finding his voice as a writer and musician. Hollywood Park is told at first through the limited perspective of a child, and then broadens as Jollett begins to understand the world around him. Although Mikel Jollett’s story is filled with heartbreak, it is ultimately an unforgettable portrayal of love at its fiercest and most loyal.

Hollywood Park

33b744e2-8769-4e37-90ae-dc3c1f34db05

#paperback #nonfiction #biography #autobiography #barackobama #obama #politicalscience #bestseller 

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Mississippi

A Story of Race and Inheritance

The son of an African father and white American mother discusses his childhood in Hawaii, his struggle to find his identity as an African American, and his life accomplishments.

Dreams from My Father

eb398080-1479-4ec4-bc84-1b1b53c8d0b1-1

#nonfiction #biography #autobiography #hardcover 

Ohio

I Can’t Beleive I Said That

Autobiography Kathie Gifford 

One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time

Three Cups of Tea

0d97e7f8-e9af-40d5-9075-b9b123ef77e6-1

#autobiography #biography #firstedition #memoir #nonfiction #hardcover #pretenders#chrissiehynde

Texas

My Life As a Pretender

Chrissie Hynde, for nearly four decades the singer/songwriter/ undisputed leader of the Pretenders, is a justly legendary figure.

Few other rock stars have managed to combine her swagger, sexiness, stage presence, knack for putting words to music, gorgeous voice and just all-around kick-assedness into such a potent and alluring package. From "Tatooed Love Boys" and "Brass in Pocket" to "Talk of the Town" and "Back on the Chain Gang," her signature songs project a unique mixture of toughness and vulnerability that millions of men and women have related to. A kind of one- woman secret tunnel linking punk and new wave to classic guitar rock, she is one of the great luminaries in rock history.
 
Now, in her no-holds-barred memoir Reckless, Chrissie Hynde tells, with all the fearless candor, sharp humor and depth of feeling we've come to expect, exactly where she came from and what her crooked, winding path to stardom entailed. Her All-American upbringing in Akron, Ohio, a child of postwar power and prosperity. Her soul capture, along with tens of millions of her generation, by the gods of sixties rock who came through Cleveland--Mitch Ryder, David Bowie, Jeff Back, Paul Butterfield and Iggy Pop among them. Her shocked witness in 1970 to the horrific shooting of student antiwar protestors at Kent State. Her weakness for the sorts of men she calls "the heavy bikers" and "the get-down boys." Her flight from Ohio to London in 1973 essentially to escape the former and pursue the latter. Her scuffling years as a brash reviewer for New Musical Express, shop girl at the Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood boutique 'Craft Must Wear Clothes But The Truth Loves To Go Naked', first-hand witness to the birth of the punk movement, and serial band aspirant. And then ,at almost the last possible moment, her meeting of the three musicians who comprised the original line-up of The Pretenders, their work on the indelible first album "The Pretenders," and the rocket ride to "Instant" stardom, with all the disorientation and hazards that involved. The it all comes crashing back down to earth with the deaths of lead guitarist James Honeyman Scott and bassist Peter Farndon, leaving her bruised and saddened, but far from beaten. Because Chrissie Hynde is, among other things, one of rock's great survivors.
 
We are lucky to be living in a golden age of great rock memoirs. In the aptly titled Reckless, Chrissie Hynde has given us one of the very best we have. Her mesmerizing presence radiates from every line and page of this book.

Reckless

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Maitland Ward

Unapologetic, Unfiltered, and Unashamed

A celebrity memoir unlike any other, this is an empowering, sex-positive, behind-the-scenes look at both Hollywood and the porn industry. Perfect for fans of Pleasure Activism and How to Make Love Like a Porn Star. Maitland Ward got her start in acting as a teenager when she was cast in The Bold and the Beautiful, but it wasn’t until she joined the later seasons of the sitcom Boy Meets World that she got her first taste of fame. As the loveable co-ed Rachel McGuire, Ward soon found herself being typecast as the good girl next door and was repeatedly denied darker, more intriguing roles. So she made a career change—one that required her to turn away from the Disney universe—and eventually established herself as one of the most-respected actresses in the porn industry today. Now, Ward reveals the ups and downs of her fascinating career, including personal stories from her time on one of the most beloved shows of the 1990s, in this anything but a run-of-the-mill memoir. By showing Hollywood and triple-X stardom in a whole new light, she offers a fresh and stirring perspective on the sex industry and “champions the discovery of freedom in sexuality” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Ultimately a story of hope and triumph, this is a sharp and provocative look at a former Disney princess who found her fairy tale in porn.

My Escape from Hollywood

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Trevor Noah

Oregon

Stories from a South African Childhood

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime story of one man's coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Michiko Kakutani, New York Times * USA Today * San Francisco Chronicle * NPR * Esquire * Newsday * Booklist Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents' indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa's tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle. Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man's relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother--his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life. The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother's unconventional, unconditional love. Praise for Born a Crime "[A] compelling new memoir . . . By turns alarming, sad and funny, [Trevor Noah's] book provides a harrowing look, through the prism of Mr. Noah's family, at life in South Africa under apartheid. . . . Born a Crime is not just an unnerving account of growing up in South Africa under apartheid, but a love letter to the author's remarkable mother."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "[An] unforgettable memoir."--Parade "What makes Born a Crime such a soul-nourishing pleasure, even with all its darker edges and perilous turns, is reading Noah recount in brisk, warmly conversational prose how he learned to negotiate his way through the bullying and ostracism. . . . What also helped was having a mother like Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah. . . . Consider Born a Crime another such gift to her--and an enormous gift to the rest of us."--USA Today "[Noah] thrives with the help of his astonishingly fearless mother. . . . Their fierce bond makes this story soar."--People

Born a Crime

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Illinois

One Name, Two Fates

The Other Wes Moore

1098cb07-a5f6-4cd3-974b-221428aab968-1

#paperback #nonfiction  #autobiography #amypoehler #humor #comedy #biography 

Massachusetts

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Do you want to get to know the woman we first came to love on Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade? Do you want to spend some time with the lady who made you howl with laughter on Saturday Night Live, and in movies like Baby Mama, Blades of Glory, and They Came Together? Do you find yourself daydreaming about hanging out with the actor behind the brilliant Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation? Did you wish you were in the audience at the last two Golden Globes ceremonies, so you could bask in the hilarity of Amy's one-liners? If your answer to these questions is "Yes Please!" then you are in luck. In her first book, one of our most beloved funny folk delivers a smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read. Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy, Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice. With chapters like "Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend," "Plain Girl Versus the Demon" and "The Robots Will Kill Us All" Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous, Yes Please is full of words to live by.

Yes Please

a20c676c-0246-4e30-a47f-8fbc6c62604f

Jaycee Dugard

The cover is a little dirty, but the book itself is in great condition ￼

Michigan

The woman abducted at age 11 by a man and woman who subsequently held her hostage and sexually abused her for 18 years discusses her life. Reprint.

A Stolen Life

9df7c479-c785-40bb-9eef-edf891d02c80-1

#womenslit #blackwomenauthors #drmayaangelou #mayaangelou #memoirs #autobiography 

In a sixth memoir, the author and poet describes her return from Africa to the U.S., her work with the civil rights movement, and the writing of her first autobiographical work, "I know Why the Caged Bird Sings."

A Song Flung up to Heaven

bf75504b-67ef-469d-8aa0-260daaa98b23-1

... and You Too!

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The funny, sad, super-honest, all-true story of Chelsea Handler’s year of self-discovery—featuring a nerdily brilliant psychiatrist, a shaman, four Chow Chows, some well-placed security cameras, various family members (living and departed), friends, assistants, and a lot of edibles A SKIMM READS PICK • “This will be one of your favorite books of all time.”—Amy Schumer In a haze of vape smoke on a rare windy night in L.A. in the fall of 2016, Chelsea Handler daydreams about what life will be like with a woman in the White House. And then Donald Trump happens. In a torpor of despair, she decides that she’s had enough of the privileged bubble she’s lived in—a bubble within a bubble—and that it’s time to make some changes, both in her personal life and in the world at large. At home, she embarks on a year of self-sufficiency—learning how to work the remote, how to pick up dog shit, where to find the toaster. She meets her match in an earnest, brainy psychiatrist and enters into therapy, prepared to do the heavy lifting required to look within and make sense of a childhood marked by love and loss and to figure out why people are afraid of her. She becomes politically active—finding her voice as an advocate for change, having difficult conversations, and energizing her base. In the process, she develops a healthy fixation on Special Counsel Robert Mueller and, through unflinching self-reflection and psychological excavation, unearths some glittering truths that light up the road ahead. Thrillingly honest, insightful, and deeply, darkly funny, Chelsea Handler’s memoir keeps readers laughing, even as it inspires us to look within and ask ourselves what really matters in our own lives. Praise for Life Will Be the Death of Me “You thought you knew Chelsea Handler—and she thought she knew herself—but in her new book, she discovers that true progress lies in the direction we haven’t been.”—Gloria Steinem “I always wondered what it would be like to watch Chelsea Handler in session with her therapist. Now I know.”—Ellen DeGeneres “I love this book not just because it made me laugh or because I learned that I feel the same way about certain people in politics as Chelsea does. I love this book because I feel like I finally really got to know Chelsea Handler after all these years. Thank you for sharing, Chelsea!”—Tiffany Haddish

Life Will Be the Death of Me

c32610d6-8081-4f8e-82a1-10250cce67aa-1

Donald J. Trump

Charles Leerhsen

Florida

Vintage First Edition Hardcover 1990

The business magnate discusses his purchases of the Eastern Shuttle and Plaza Hotel, his construction of the Taj Mahal, and his sponsorship of heavyweight boxing, and gives advice on dealing with success and the importance of toughness

Trump. Surviving at the Top.

d2b85bcb-e74e-4f7b-8ef4-47a3ccc8b319-1

Jenny Lawson

Purchased from used book store, but appears to never have been read. 

Oklahoma

A Funny Book about Horrible Things

#1 New York Times Bestseller In Furiously Happy, a humor memoir tinged with just enough tragedy and pathos to make it worthwhile, Jenny Lawson examines her own experience with severe depression and a host of other conditions, and explains how it has led her to live life to the fullest: "I've often thought that people with severe depression have developed such a well for experiencing extreme emotion that they might be able to experience extreme joy in a way that ‘normal people' also might never understand. And that's what Furiously Happy is all about." Jenny’s readings are standing room only, with fans lining up to have Jenny sign their bottles of Xanax or Prozac as often as they are to have her sign their books. Furiously Happy appeals to Jenny's core fan base but also transcends it. There are so many people out there struggling with depression and mental illness, either themselves or someone in their family—and in Furiously Happy they will find a member of their tribe offering up an uplifting message (via a taxidermied roadkill raccoon). Let's Pretend This Never Happened ostensibly was about embracing your own weirdness, but deep down it was about family. Furiously Happy is about depression and mental illness, but deep down it's about joy—and who doesn't want a bit more of that?

Furiously Happy

ecdf4544-e137-441a-97d5-93a5ab2827e8-1

Ali Wong

Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets and Advice for Living Your Best Life

Wong's heartfelt and hilarious letters to her daughters cover everything they need to know in life, like the unpleasant details of dating, how to be a working mom in a male-dominated profession, and how she trapped their dad. Though addressed to her daughters, the letters are absurdly funny, surprisingly moving, and enlightening (and gross) for all.

Dear Girls

2c36fd6a-98c9-450d-a790-b73a56d11236-1

Robert Greenfield

Sam Shepard's Life, Work, and Times

A revelatory biography of the world-famous playwright and actor Sam Shepard, whose work was matched by his equally dramatic life, including collaborations with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan as well as tumultuous relationships with Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, and Jessica Lange

True West- Sam Shepard's Life, Work, and Times is the story of an American icon, a lasting portrait of Sam Shepard as he really was, revealed by those who knew him best. This sweeping biography charts Shepard's long and complicated journey from a small town in Southern California to become an internationally known playwright and movie star. The only son of an alcoholic father, Shepard crafted a public persona as an authentic American archetype- the loner, the cowboy, the drifter, the stranger in a strange land. Despite his great critical and financial success, he seemed, like so many of his characters, to remain perpetually dispossessed.

Much like Robert Greenfield's biographies of Jerry Garcia and Timothy Leary, this book delves deeply into Shepard's life as well as the ways in which his work illuminates it. True West takes readers through the world of downtown theater in Lower Manhattan in the early sixties; the jazz scene at New York's Village Gate; fringe theater in London in the seventies; Bob Dylan's legendary Rolling Thunder tour; the making of classic films like Zabriskie Point, Days of Heaven, and The Right Stuff; and Broadway productions of Buried Child, True West, and Fool for Love.

For this definitive biography, Greenfield interviewed dozens of people who knew Shepard well, many of whom had never before spoken on the record about him. While exploring his relationships with Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Jessica Lange across the long arc of his brilliant career, Greenfield makes the case for Shepard as not just a great American writer but a unique figure who first brought the sensibility of rock 'n' roll to theater.

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Dave Pelzer