Search results for ""Author Richard""

In an unprecedented television program last year, Woody Allen spoke to the camera for the first time about the entire range of his work, in an interview with Richard Schickel, the distinguished film critic and historian. Mr. Allen talked about how he does it, why he does it, its roots in his early life, and his current thinking about the state of his art. The result Woody Allen: A Life in Film, was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed programs in the history of Turner Classic Movies. But the presentation contained only a small fraction of Mr. Schickel's four-hour interview with the famed writer-director-actor. This new book reprints the complete conversation between the two men and includes a long essay of introduction by Mr. Schickel, which places Woody Allen's entire career in critical perspective. Readers will find Mr. Allen's reflections on his major preoccupations—the battle of the sexes; the conflict between reality and fantasy in his major films; mortality, religion, and the role that chance plays in the unfolding of our lives. The book also offers insights into Mr. Allen's working methods as a writer and the growth of his skills as a director, as well as his assessment of himself as an actor and his surprising views of his long life in the public eye. Brief but sharply honed, Woody Allen: A Life in Film is an essential book for anyone seeking to understand the life and times of one of the most important and least understood American filmmakers of our era.

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A mage’s ungodly goal: rule among the dead. A noblewoman’s destiny: deliver the kingdom of Endar from evil. The final battle is at hand. Kragan, wielder of malignant magic, is nearing his ultimate goal. Lorness Carol Rafel is pursuing her millennia-old destiny as well. It has been prophesized that the noble sorceress will destroy Kragan before he lays waste to the kingdom of Endar and reigns as an unholy god. In Kragan’s favor is the mighty Dread Lord, bound to Kragan’s will, and an army of the resurrected dead that far outnumbers the Forsworn followers at Carol’s side. But Carol has the edge. She and her seer husband, Arn, possess the last remaining pieces of a magical puzzle. In the shards of a shattered trident lies the very key to Kragan’s dark dreams. If Carol and Arn can unleash its undiscovered powers in time to intercept Kragan’s horde. The end is at hand. The final battle on the besieged fortress is upon them. And Arn’s visions of its outcome are terrifying. As Carol draws on her own increasing forces of magic, more is at stake than she imagines in an endgame in the land of the dead that no one could have foreseen.

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The story of America's cavalry is extraordinarily rich in colourful, and often flamboyant, personalities and exciting action. Indeed, much of the early military history of the United States is dominated by the exploits of its horse-soldiers. In this comprehensive and lively account, the author - who was himself an enthusiastic horseman - narrates the major events and characters of the US Cavalry's formative, and, some might say fruitful, years. From the American Revolution and the exploits of men such as Henry 'Light-Horse Harry' Lee III and Francis Marion, the first of the guerrillas, the author follows on with Stephen Kearny, the 'Father of the Cavalry' whose Dragoons went West to California on mules, and his nephew Philip, who organized the famed Gray Horse Troop of the Mexican War. Other famous names that feature in this narrative are those of Jonathan 'Stonewall' Jackson, George Crook, who admired the Indians it was his duty to hunt down, and George Armstrong Custer. A United States Army officer and cavalry commander who served with distinction in the American Civil War, Custer is most commonly remembered for leading more than 200 of his men to their deaths in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876\. Also known as 'Custer's Last Stand', Bighorn was part of the Black Hills War against a confederation of Plains Indians, including the Cheyenne and Dakota Sioux. It remains one of the most controversial battles in American history. Roosevelt's Roughriders and Black Jack Pershing, who led his troops in an automobile, complete the narrative - one which is undoubtedly a saga of daring raids, of epic marches, and of gruelling battles. As the author reveals, the story of the US Cavalry is also the story of the birth and growth of America itself.

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In their battle to save Earth from becoming another conquest of the alien Kasari Collective, Mark and Heather Smythe have struck crucial blows against the enemy. But their best efforts have still failed to derail the completion of the wormhole gateway that would give the insidious extraterrestrial invaders access to the planet—and doom humankind as helpless slaves of the Kasari hive mind. The Smythes and their intrepid allies—including the mentally altered humans, The Enhanced—stand ready to beat back the Kasari onslaught once and for all. Not by mortal combat, but with scientific cunning. Still, the success of their plan depends on a daring stealth mission into the heart of the aliens' nerve center on Earth. And multiple threats lie in wait—including the ruthless Kasari commander, a brutal double agent with a deadly vendetta to settle, and the alien entity Khal Teth, who wears a human face but is ready to strike with monstrous force. In this stunning conclusion to the Rho Agenda Assimilation by the bestselling author of The Second Ship, the small but fierce band of altered humans and Earth's resistance fighters face their greatest opportunity to stop the Kasari. But with the remnants of humanity and a battered Earth caught in the cross fire, can they secure a victory without sacrificing everything they're trying to protect?

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“A lighthearted, entertaining trip down Memory Lane” (Kirkus Reviews), Don’t Make Me Pull Over! offers a nostalgic look at the golden age of family road trips—before portable DVD players, smartphones, and Google Maps.The birth of America’s first interstate highways in the 1950s hit the gas pedal on the road trip phenomenon and families were soon streaming—sans seatbelts!—to a range of sometimes stirring, sometimes wacky locations. In the days before cheap air travel, families didn’t so much take vacations as survive them. Between home and destination lay thousands of miles and dozens of annoyances, and with his family Richard Ratay experienced all of them—from being crowded into the backseat with noogie-happy older brothers, to picking out a souvenir only to find that a better one might have been had at the next attraction, to dealing with a dad who didn’t believe in bathroom breaks. Now, decades later, Ratay offers “an amiable guide…fun and informative” (New York Newsday) that “goes down like a cold lemonade on a hot summer’s day” (The Wall Street Journal). In hundreds of amusing ways, he reminds us of what once made the Great American Family Road Trip so great, including twenty-foot “land yachts,” oasis-like Holiday Inn “Holidomes,” “Smokey”-spotting Fuzzbusters, twenty-eight glorious flavors of Howard Johnson’s ice cream, and the thrill of finding a “good buddy” on the CB radio. An “informative, often hilarious family narrative [that] perfectly captures the love-hate relationship many have with road trips” (Publishers Weekly), Don’t Make Me Pull Over! reveals how the family road trip came to be, how its evolution mirrored the country’s, and why those magical journeys that once brought families together—for better and worse—have largely disappeared.

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In a Maine coastal village toward the end of the 19th century swaggering carefree carnival barker Billy Bigelow captivates and marries naive millworker Julie Jordan. Billy loses his job just as he learns that Julie is pregnant and ä desperately intent upon providing a decent life for his family ä he is coerced into being an accomplice to a robbery. Caught in the act and facing the certainty of prison he takes his own life and is sent up there. Billy is allowed to return to earth for one day 15 years later and he encounters the daughter he never knew. She is a lonely friendless teenager her father's reputation as a thief and bully having haunted her throughout her young life. How Billy instills a sense of hope and dignity in both the child and her mother is a dramatic testimony to the power of love. It's easy to understand why of all the shows they created ÊCarouselÊ was Rodgers and Hammerstein's personal favorite.

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In the tradition of C.S. Forester, ex-sailor Richard Woodman brings history to life in a rousing tale of daring deeds and clashing cutlasses. it is the summer of 1804 and Napoleon is massing his vast army for the invasion of England. His powerful Combined Fleet is preparing to meet Admiral Nelson's British Fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar. In the annals of history this battle completely decimated the Combined Fleet, ranking second in destructiveness only to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater, newly appointed commander of the frigate Antigone, is preparing for battle off the French coast, as part of Admiral Nelson's highly effective blockade. As the fleets draw together, Drinkwater is unprepared for the irregular role destiny deals him when he becomes a prisoner of the French and takes the brunt of the British bombardment in the orlop of an enemy ship.

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The Funland Amusement Park provides more fear than fun these days. A vicious pack known as the Trolls are preying on anyone foolish enough to be alone at night. Folks in the area blame them for the recent mysterious disappearances, and a gang of local teenagers has decided to fight back. But nothing is ever what it seems in an amusement park. Behind the garish paint and bright lights waits a horror far worse than anything found in the freak show. Step right up. The terror is about to begin!

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If I Could Tell You Just One Thing... curates invaluable wisdom from 50 of today's most remarkable, diverse, and influential voices in an engaging collection of profiles. Paired with a specially commissioned pen-and-ink portrait, each essay and its illuminating nugget of life advice is gathered together in a handsome package (featuring an embossed cover and pop of colour on the page edges) that will surprise, entertain, and encourage readers – and leave a lasting impression.

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As capital of Scotland, Edinburgh has always boasted a bus service to be proud of. The municipal operator survived deregulation and avoided becoming part of the big bus groups that expanded rapidly throughout the UK. The company transformed from Edinburgh Corporation Transport into Lothian Region Transport and subsequently Lothian Buses, with a wide network of routes expanding throughout not just Edinburgh, but the whole of the Lothian area. Most recently the company has split into a ‘family’ of operating groups not only providing core bus services in the city, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian, but also a large range of city and out-of-town open-top tours and coach excursions. It also boasts a heritage fleet of old Edinburgh vintage vehicles as well as superbly restored London-liveried Routemasters available for private hires. Here, Richard Walter looks at the Lothian Buses story. A range of rare and previously unpublished images from the present and the past explore how the vehicles, the routes and the locations have changed over the second part of the company’s first hundred years.

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