1980s

Weird but True Stories from the 1980s: Bizarre, Shocking, and Unbelievable Tales from the Decade of Excess explores the wildest, strangest, and most astonishing true events that actually happened during one of the most unforgettable decades in modern history. From Cold War close calls and covert cult operations to lost video games buried in the desert and pop culture disasters on live television, this fascinating collection reveals the bizarre underbelly of the 1980s. Meet the Soviet officer who saved the world by ignoring a computer warning of nuclear war. Discover how Pepsi briefly became...

Holt Davidson, a Kansas firefighter, hasn’t been back to his hometown of Thompsonville, Colorado, for more than two decades, but when he learns that his estranged mother has taken her own life, he returns for the funeral, hoping to make peace with her memory. He spends the night at his childhood home, rummaging through each room, exploring the past. But instead of nostalgic souvenirs, he discovers a gun, a love letter, and a Polaroid photograph of a man lying in his own blood. Who is the dead man? Was his mother the one who killed him, and, if so, why? Who sent the love letter?

"Read this book to understand human nature." (Preet Bharara) "An amazing story, well told.” (Anderson Cooper) "A masterful telling." (Dahlia Lithwick) From CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams, a revelatory account of how one man, four teenagers, and a struggling city collided over race...

Gen X is the “forgotten generation.”

Take a trip back to your favorite video store with this in-depth journey through the highs and lows of 80s cinema—with profiles of hundreds of films—and how Hollywood studios around the globe reflected a period of cultural change. The movies were flying blind in 1980. “New Hollywood” was...

If you were asked when America became polarized, your answer would likely depend on your age: You might say during Barack Obama’s presidency, or with the post-9/11 war on terror, or the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s, or the “Reagan Revolution” and the the rise of the New Right. How did the US become so divided? Fault Lines offers a richly told, wide-angle history view toward an answer.

What was it like to work at a small-town Texas movie theater in the summer of 1980? For seventeen-year-old Neil, it meant his first job, his first love, and the release of the most anticipated movie of his lifetime, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. He never counted on meeting the girl of his dreams or that she would become his boss. But if he was ever going to have a shot at an older woman, he would need a car, some spending cash, and the respect of the guys in the projection booth of the Lone Star Six.

Five complete time travel novels, packed full of comedy, drama, romance, and vivid 1980s culture — all in one unforgettable collection. Linked by a mysterious bracelet that passes from hand to hand, these five stories span 1980 to 1984, each giving one person the chance to relive a single year of their life. Together they create a sweeping journey through the first half of Britain’s most colourful decade.

The Ultimate History of the '80s Teen Movie goes behind the scenes of a genre where cult hits mingled with studio blockbusters, where giants like Spielberg and Coppola rubbed shoulders with baby-faced first-timers, and where future superstars Sean, Demi, and Tom all got their big break. Music, comedy, and politics all play a part in the surprisingly complex history of the '80s teen movie. And while the films might have been aimed primarily at adolescents, the best tackle universal issues and remain relevant to all ages.

A wayward son. A struggling bookstore. A stepfather he never wanted. A mother who won’t stop praying. And a Christmas none of them will ever forget. Rick Denton lives his life on his terms. He works hard, plays hard and answers to no one. So when his mother calls on Thanksgiving weekend begging him to come home after his stepfather has a stroke, Rick is reluctant. He's never liked Art, despite the fact his own father abandoned them when Rick was twelve. Rick's attitude sours even more when a couple of days helping at the family bookstore turns into weeks of cashing out old ladies and ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER David Byrne’s incisive and enthusiastic look at the musical art form, from its very inceptions to the influences that shape it, whether acoustical, economic, social, or technological—now updated with a new chapter on digital curation. “How Music Works is a...

Can '80s pop culture really teach us valuable life lessons? Yes, it can! And in the words of the immortal Jeff Spicoli, it is "Awesome. Totally Awesome!" Life skills. Most of us learned them the hard way and the practical way -- through painful personal trial and error or by witnessing the successes and failures of those around us. Experience and observation can teach us a lot. But what if you could learn powerful life lessons the easy, fun, rad, and totally awesome way? What if your future mantras and bullet-proof perspectives for a happier, more balanced, and more productive life could be...

Told from behind rock and roll's most notorious blue eyes, We've Got Tonight is the true story from one of rocks most notorious and sought after groupies. Most notable as the woman with legendary Who bassist, John Entwistle, when he died, Alycen Rowse spent almost three decades backstage seducing some of the world's most desirable rockers. From the bed of David Lee Roth in 1984 to the wildest years with rock gods Metallica to the side of the stage during the infamous AC/DC death concert all the way through to the new millennium and into that infamous Las Vegas bed, Alycen will tell it like ...

Stephen King meets Quentin Tarantino! For the first time in the history of the world, all three Parker Ames novels are collected in one great, big, bloody box set of madness! At the end of every horror movie, one girl always survives the deadly slasher… In this case, Parker Ames not only survives, she turns the tables and dedicates her life to hunting and destroying the monsters that stalk slumber parties and campsites all across the country. Watch Parker get bloody revenge on the infamous slasher that murdered her parents in ESCAPE FROM HAPPYDALE. After that massacre, follow our heroine ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today From the author of Carrie Soto Is Back, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo . . . “Irresistible . . . High drama at the beach, starring four sexy, surfing siblings and their deadbeat...

In the follow-up to Anthem: Rush in the '70s, Martin Popoff brings together canon analysis, cultural context, and extensive firsthand interviews to celebrate Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart at the peak of their persuasive power. Rush was one of the most celebrated hard rock acts of the '80s, and the second book of Popoff's staggeringly comprehensive three-part series takes listeners from Permanent Waves to Presto, while bringing new insight to Moving Pictures, their crowning glory.

In the eyeliner-smudged chaos of 1982 London, where synth-pop rules the airwaves, New Romantics clash with rude boys, and every mixtape feels like a manifesto, two rivals are about to find harmony in the last place they expect. JJ Ryder is a Smash Hits journalist with a mullet teased to the gods and a devotion to Duran Duran so intense, he dreams of fronting his own band. Marisa Schmidt is a graphic designer with Boy George in her bloodstream, Culture Club stickers on her smock, and a permanent eye-roll reserved just for JJ’s frilly blouses and “yacht-pop fantasy.” When their editor ...

From the do-or-die early days of self-financed recordings and D.I.Y. concert productions that were as flashy as they were foolhardy, to the multi-platinum, MTV-powered glory years of stadium-shaking anthems and chart-topping power ballads, to the ultimate crash when grunge bands like Nirvana forever altered the entire climate of the business, Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock's Nothin' But a Good Time captures the energy and excess of the hair metal years in the words of the musicians and industry insiders who lived it.

Dr. Arthur Noble is a brilliant first-year medical resident in San Francisco, who has a stellar career ahead of him. However, all of Noble’s skills are put to the test when he encounters a strange new illness. The ailment seemingly appears out of nowhere, and serves its victims a most horrible and brutal death. Noble struggles to find answers to the medical mystery, even as many researchers and society refuse to believe it is a serious threat, or that it even exists. 1980 is an authentic medical story about a disease that will eventually have an unimaginable impact on the entire world.

Aaron Saylor's acclaimed first novel SEWERVILLE introduced the world to Seward County. Now, ADVENTURES IN TERROR: MOSTLY THE 1980s takes a nostalgic journey into the shadowy corners at the other end of the county - the magical end. The end where the real monsters live. The Whistle Mill end, where young Grady Claremont and Jasper Bohanon forge a lifelong friendship while battling the ghosts and demons that haunt the woods around their tiny home town. Chock full of Reagan-era pop culture and already hailed as "pure joy for those who grew up with the likes of Stephen King, Fangoria magazine, ...