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Hollywood's Eve : Eve Babitz and the secret history of L.A.
by Lili Anolik
A portrait of the Hollywood artist details the iconic photograph that catapulted Eve Babitz to notoriety, her high-profile affairs, her unheralded literary achievements, her years in seclusion and her recent re-emergence. By the author of Hollywood's Eve.
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Feel Free: Essays
by Zadie Smith
What it is: a collection of essays from novelist Zadie Smith, on topics from social media and British politics to pop culture and American race relations. She also writes about books, paintings, and people (like singer Billie Holliday, comedy duo Key and Peele, and author J.G. Ballard).
Why you might like it: Conversational and perceptive, Smith reveals the creative processes behind her well-received novels.
You might also like: the analytical essays of fellow novelist Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist.
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Marilyn Monroe : the private life of a public icon by Charles Casillo "Based on new interviews and research, this groundbreaking biography explores the secret selves behind Marilyn Monroe's public façades. Marilyn Monroe. Her beauty still captivates. Her love life still fascinates. Her story still dominates popular culture. Now, drawing on years of research and dozens of new interviews, this biography cuts through decades of lies and secrets and introduces you to the Marilyn Monroe you always wanted to know: a living, breathing, complex woman, bewitching and maddening, brilliant yet flawed. Charles Casillo studies Monroe's life through the context of her times--in the days before feminism, and before there was adequate treatment for bipolar disorder, which Marilyn struggled with. Starting with her abusive childhood, this biography exposes how--in spite of her fractured psyche--Marilyn's extreme ambition inspired her to transform each celebrated love affair and each tragedy into another step in her journey towards immortality. Casillo fully explores the last two years of her life, including her involvement with both John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, and the mystery of her last day. Just a few of the revelations in [this book]: Despite reports of their bitter rivalry, Elizabeth Taylor secretly reached out and tried to help Marilyn during one of her darkest moments; the existence of Marilyn's semi-nude love scene with Clark Gable--long thought to be lost; a few nights before she died, Marilyn encountered Warren Beatty at a party and disclosed some of the reasons for her final despair; a meticulously detailed account of the events of her last day, revealing how a series of miscommunications and misjudgments contributed to her death."--Dust jacket.
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Videocracy: How YouTube Is Changing the World -- With Double Rainbows...
by Kevin Allocca
What it's about: Remember "double rainbow"? "Charlie bit my finger"? Friday? Combining a history of YouTube with an exploration of the site's influence on pop culture around the world, Videocracy is an entertaining tour of all that the video-sharing platform offers.
Did you know? YouTube was created in part to help developers meet women; the first video posted was of a trip to the San Diego zoo; the company has a Culture and Trends department, and the author of this book heads it.
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Books You Might Have Missed
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50 years of Rolling stone : The Music, Politics and People That Changed Our Culture
by Jann S. Wenner
"For the past fifty years, Rolling Stone has been a leading voice in journalism, cultural criticism, and--above all--music. This landmark book documents the magazine's rise to prominence as the voice of rock and roll and a leading showcase for era-defining photography. From the 1960s to the present day, the book offers a decade-by-decade exploration of American music and history. Interviews with rock legends--Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Kurt Cobain, Bruce Springsteen, and more--appear alongside iconic photographs by Baron Wolman, Annie Leibovitz, Mark Seliger, and other leading image-makers. With feature articles, excerpts, and exposés by such quintessential writers as Hunter S. Thompson, Matt Taibbi, and David Harris, this book is an irresistible and essential keepsake of the magazine that has defined American music for generations of readers" -- provided by publisher
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Teenagers : the rise of youth culture in New Zealand by Chris Brickell "A ground-breaking history of young people in New Zealand from the nineteenth century to the 1960s. Through the diaries and letters, photographs and drawings that teenagers left behind, we meet New Zealanders as they transition from children to adults: sealers and bushfellers, factory girls and newspaper boys, the male ‘mashers’ of the 1880s and the female ‘flappers’ of the 1910s and ’20s, schoolgirls and rock’n’rollers, larrikins and louts. By taking us inside the lives of young New Zealanders, the book illuminates from a new angle large-scale changes in our society: the rise and fall of domestic service, the impact of compulsory education, the movement of Pākehā and then Māori from country to city, the rise of consumer culture and popular psychology. Teenagers shows us how young people made sense of their personal and social transformations: in language and song and dress, at dances and picnics and social clubs, in talking and playing and reading."--Publisher's website.
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Fashion + Music : Fashion Creatives Shaping Pop Culture by Katie Baron As twin agents of creative expression, fashion and music have long shared a powerful mutual attraction: from the Sex Pistols to Madonna, Kylie Minogue to Lady Gaga, fashion has consistently amplified our understanding of the band (and in many cases the brand) - fuelling the fantasy, giving context to the sound and adding depth to artists' wider agendas. From pop videos to editorial shoots, via the evolution of some of the industry's most significant and era-defining pairings/collaborations, this book focuses on the power of fashion as a make-or-break tool within the music industry's creative process - making it an essential reference point for anyone interested in fashion's role as a medium with which to innovate, communicate and build enduring brands.
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Bad girls throughout history : 100 remarkable women who changed the world
by Ann Shen
"Bad Girls Throughout History features some of the fiercest women of all time - the famous, the infamous, and the ones you haven't even heard of yet. Explore the notable works, impressive feats, and striking portraits of these wild women from around the globe who challenged the status quo"
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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