American Entertainment

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Arsenio Hall, America’s beloved late-night TV host, reveals the ups and downs of his remarkable career as a trailblazing pioneer with this “vivid, outrageous” (The New York Times) behind-the-scenes, star-studded, no-holds-barred memoir of celebrity, race...

From the legendary Ted Turner, who reinvented TV—and the world—by breaking all the rules, a tell-all memoir. "Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise!" These words of fatherly advice helped shape Ted Turner's remarkable life, but they only begin to explain the colorful...

Starting with the Civil War and cartoonist Thomas Nast, creator of the lasting images of Uncle Sam and Santa Claus, author Jeremy Dauber whizzes listeners through the progress of comics in the 20th century and beyond. Follow the history from the golden age of newspaper comic strips - Krazy Kat, Yellow Kid, Dick Tracy - to the midcentury superhero boom - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman - and from the moral panic of the Eisenhower era to the underground comix movement; from the grim and gritty Dark Knights to the graphic novel’s rise.

A groundbreaking history, decades in the making, that chronicles how blackface dominated American society culturally, financially, and racially for nearly two centuries. Never before has the disturbing story of blackface and its piercing reflection of American society been so comprehensively...

ONE OF THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER'S 100 GREATEST FILM BOOKS OF ALL TIME The definitive portrait of one of the most important cultural figures in American history: Walt Disney. Walt Disney was a true visionary whose desire for escape, iron determination and obsessive perfectionism transformed...

Cuando El chavo del ocho se estrenó en los años 70, el programa ofrecía un retrato poco común de la vida de la clase trabajadora que resonó en la gente de toda América Latina. En el pico de su popularidad, 350 millones de personas lo sintonizaban cada semana. Y durante casi 50 años, el legado de “el chavo” se mantuvo vivo a través de una creciente base de fans multigeneracional y sus retransmisiones diarias. Hasta 2020, cuando El Chavo dejó de emitirse repentinamente.

Television writer, producer, and bestselling author of the acclaimed The Broke Diaries and Mixed charts her unexpected role as her terminally ill mother's caretaker in this funny, moving, and unforgettable memoir. Angela Nissel always wanted her mother’s approval. But two defining events...

In Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, Jad Abumrad—creator of Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton's America—tells the story of one of the great political awakenings in music: how a classically trained 'colonial boy' traveled to America, in search of Africa, only to return to Nigeria and transform his sound into a battering ram against the state—creating a new musical language of resistance called Afrobeat.

After facing his biggest sin, Ethic finds forgiveness within the love of his life. Alani is the woman he’s been searching for his entire existence, but loving her comes with a price: his soul. She wants his soul. When Alani tells Ethic she can’t be with a man who doesn’t believe in God, Ethic must face his only fear, trusting something he can’t see. With Alani’s heart in his hands and his soul in hers, they must try to piece together a life where love and forgiveness outweigh the burden of pain they have placed on one another.

Audiobook read by Grammy award-winning author, Blair Underwood In this moving biography and memoir, Blair Underwood, acclaimed star of film, stage, and television, pays homage to his mother, sharing her well-lived life, and key lessons learned as a fashion designer, mother, and soldier’s wife...

Look closely at any typically "American" article of clothing these days, and you may be surprised to see a Japanese label inside. From high-end denim to oxford button-downs, Japanese designers have taken the classic American look - known as ametora, or "American traditional" - and turned it into a huge business for companies like Uniqlo, Kamakura Shirts, Evisu, and Kapital. This phenomenon is part of a long dialogue between Japanese and American fashion.

In The Comedians, comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff brings to life a century of American comedy with real-life characters, forgotten stars, mainstream heroes and counterculture iconoclasts. Based on over 200 original interviews and extensive archival research, Nesteroff's groundbreaking work is a narrative exploration of the way comedians have reflected, shaped, and changed American culture over the past 100 years.

He was the Golden Boy of the Golden Age. Dashing and debonair, Tony Curtis arrived on the scene in a blaze of bright lights and celluloid. His good looks, smooth charm, and natural talent earned him fame, women, and adulation–Elvis copied his look and the Beatles put him on their Sgt. Pepper...

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER A humorous collection of autobiographical essays from comedian andEmmy Award–winning actor Jeff Hiller, who shares his journey from growing up “profoundly gay” in 1980s Texas to his experiences as an inept social worker and how he clawed, scraped, and brawled to...

The cofounder of BET and first African American woman billionaire shares her deeply personal, “highly readable” (Kirkus Reviews) journey through love and loss, tragedy and triumph—an inspiring story of overcoming toxic influences, discovering her true self, and at last finding happiness in...

***An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!*** From international drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul, comes his most revealing and personal work to date--a deeply intimate memoir of discovery, found family, and self-acceptance. The House of Hidden Meanings is a self-portrait of the...

Life has never been easy for Ethic. Since he was a young boy he has battled loss after loss while struggling to navigate through a treacherous world. When he met Alani Lenika Hill, he knew that he had met the woman who would love him back to life. They have weathered a storm together, and their love is so fated that neither wants to let it go, but it seems their bubble of happiness is an illusion, because life around them is falling apart.

Letitia Vincent is a puppeteer who has spent the last three years pouring her heart into Jellybean Junction, a beloved but struggling children’s show barely clinging to public funding. She is quirky, creative, and fiercely protective of the show’s mission. Letitia is used to juggling...

The definitive biography of country legend Merle Haggard by the New York Times bestselling biographer of Clint Eastwood, Cary Grant, The Eagles, and more. Merle Haggard was one of the most important country music musicians who ever lived. His astonishing musical career stretched across the...

Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon dives deep into the singer’s inner demons, triumphs, and gradual return to faith. Laurie interviews Cash’s family, friends, and business associates to reveal how the singer’s true success came through finding the only Person whose star was bigger than his own.