Great Theater

Includes an introduction written and read by Jesmyn Ward, a foreword written and read by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan, and an afterword written and read by Professor James L. W. West III The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family...

This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction; critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos; and much more. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The...

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of We Are Lincoln Men comes a stunning portrait of Abraham Lincoln’s life and presidency. “A book of investigative tenacity, interpretive boldness and almost acrobatic balance” (The Chicago Tribune), Lincoln brilliantly depicts Abraham Lincoln’s...

Winner of the 2025 Audie Award for Multi-Voiced Performance A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Absolutely gripping.” —The Washington Post “A masterpiece of oral history…stirring, surprising, grim, joyous, moving, and always riveting.” —Evan Thomas From the New York Times...

I can hardly believe that it is more than half a century since I first stepped on to the stage of the Old Vic Theatre and into a way of life that has brought me the most rewarding professional relationships and friendships. I cannot imagine now ever doing anything else with my life except...

“32 cheers for Ernessa T. Carter! She’s created one of the freshest, funniest characters I’ve ever read….32 Candles is a charmer.” —Carleen Brice, author of Orange Mint and Honey 32 Candles by exciting newcomer Ernessa T. Carter is the slightly twisted, utterly romantic, and deftly...

In the late Fifties and Sixties, iconoclastic young rebels in Chicago opened two tiny theaters—The Compass and The Second City—where they satirized politics, religion, and sex. Developing scenes by improvising based on audience suggestions turned out to be a fine way to develop great actors, directors, and writers. Alumni went on to create such groundbreaking works as The Graduate, Groundhog Day, and Don't Look Up. Many of them also became stars on Saturday Night Live. Something Wonderful Right Away features the pioneers who founded the empire that transformed American comedy.

The next big idea from bestselling author Dan Sullivan, rooted in the same high-level teachings his clients pay thousands to learn—stop hiring for jobs and start casting for roles to build teams that perform, not just function. Stop hiring. Start casting. Most companies hire to fill jobs. The...

For all of her days, Reta Winters has enjoyed the useful monotony of happiness: a loving family, good friends, growing success as a writer of light fiction, novels 'for summertime.' This placid existence cracks open one fearful day when her beloved oldest daughter, Norah, drops out of life to...

Since she was a little girl, the wind has dictated every move Vianne Rocher has made, buffeting her from the small French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes to the crowded streets of Paris. Cloaked in a new identity, that of widow Yanne Charbonneau, she opens a chocolaterie on a small Montmartre...

Oh No! What antics has that lovable Ghost Farley, Jinx the Cat and Pierre the Rat been up to since the last production at Mystery Theater? Escape to the town of Peculiar and find out in this fun, twisty mystery with some of your favorite characters you love to curl up with at the end of the day. When a well-known actor, with a failing career, signs up to play the lead role in the next production of the small theater in Peculiar, strange things begin to happen. A nosy, over-bearing, crew member goes missing. Odd occurrences surround the new actor. Will Ghost Farley get blamed for mishaps ...

At the height of the McCarthy era, an experimental theater troupe set up shop in a bar near the University of Chicago. Via word-of-mouth, astonished crowds packed the ad-hoc venue to see its unscripted, interactive, consciousness-raising style. From this unlikely seed grew the Second City, the massively influential comedy theater troupe, and its offshoots - the Groundlings, Upright Citizens Brigade, SNL, and a slew of others. Sam Wasson charts the meteoric rise of improv in this richly reported, scene-driven narrative.

This collection contains twelve of the greatest mystery shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio! You'll hear Richard Widmark starring in Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Orson Welles in The Black Museum, Peter Lorre in Mystery in the Air, William Conrad in The Whistler, Ernest Chappell in...

In Nothing Like a Dame, theater journalist Eddie Shapiro opens a jewelry box full of glittering surprises, through in-depth conversations with twenty leading women of Broadway. He carefully selected Tony Award-winning stars who have spent the majority of their careers in theater, leaving aside those who have moved on or occasionally drop back in. The women he interviewed spent endless hours with him, discussing their careers, offering insights into the iconic shows, changes on Broadway over the last century, and the art (and thrill) of taking the stage night after night.  

Are you stuck in a rut in the entertainment industry, yearning for more acting opportunities and financial success? Does life feel like a never-ending loop, leaving you sleepwalking through your days? Imagine a world where you can break into the entertainment industry on your terms, showcasing your unique talents. Picture yourself climbing the mountain of success, changing directions, and finally making things happen in your acting career. Introducing GOING SOLO, the industry's most comprehensive guide that blends the art and business of solo theatre. Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned...

In Girls of Tender Age, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith fully articulates with great humor and tenderness the wild jubilance of an extended French-Italian family struggling to survive in a post-World War II housing project in Hartford, Connecticut. Smith seamlessly combines a memoir whose intimacy matches...

July 1945. The patrol is almost over. Two torpedoes left. Fourteen days until Midway. Torpedoman Roy Decker has spent twelve patrols reducing his survival to arithmetic: days remaining, probability of contact, odds acceptable. Aboard USS Barb, running submerged off the coast of Karafuto — the remote Soviet island the Japanese call their own — the math has always held. Then Commander Fluckey spreads a hand-drawn chart on the wardroom table. The chart shows a tidal flat. A railway. A plan so far outside the mission profile that Decker has no equation for it. Eight men. A rubber raft. Nine...

“Hystericaland often touching. . . . Domestic Violets is a fast, fun, hilariousread."" —Jessica Anya Blau, critically-acclaimed author of The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and DrinkingCloser to HomeInthe tradition of Jonathan Tropper and Tom Perrotta comes Matthew Norman's Domestic...

Discover the dark, hidden history of the US Navy's WWII morale machine. The popular narrative of World War II is filled with heroic sailors, USO dances, and sanitized Hollywood romances. But behind the victory parades lies a horrific reality that the top brass deliberately buried. Flesh & Saltwater: The Toxic Logistics of WWII Navy Morale by Laurence Blake provides a groundbreaking, unvarnished look at the systemic exploitation that fueled the Allied war effort. From the sprawling, sweat-drenched "Bull Pens" of Honolulu's Hotel Street to the bombed-out rubble of Naples and the segregated ...

Theatre journalist Eddie Shapiro sits down for intimate, career-encompassing conversations with 19 of Broadway's most prolific and fascinating leading men. Full of detailed stories and reflections, his conversations with such luminaries as Joel Grey, Ben Vareen, Norm Lewis, Gavin Creel, Cheyenne Jackson, Jonathan Groff, and a host of others dig deep into each actor's career; together, these chapters tell the story of what it means to be a leading man on Broadway over the past 50 years.