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Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
In the midseventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up In 1981 he quit forever This book is, in his own words, the story of "why I did stand-up and why I walked away." Emmy and Grammy Award winner, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company, and a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Martin has always been awriter. His memoir of his years in stand-up is candid, spectacularly amusing, and beautifully written. At age ten Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park. In the decade that followed, he worked in the Disney magic shop and the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott's Berry Farm, performing his first magic/comedy act a dozen times a week. The story of these years, during which he practiced and honed his craft, is moving and revelatory. The dedication to excellence and innovation is formed at an astonishingly early age and never wavers or wanes. Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and originality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. Martin also paints a portrait of his times -- the era of free love and protests against the war in Vietnam, the heady irreverence of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late sixties, and the transformative new voice of Saturday Night Live in the seventies. Throughout the text, Martin has placed photographs, many never seen before. Born Standing Up is a superb testament to the sheer tenacity, focus, and daring of one of the greatest and most iconoclastic comedians of all time..
Price: $7.90
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Make It Plain: Standing Up and Speaking Out
Black Americans have always relied on the oral tradition—storytelling, preaching, and speechmaking—to assert their rights and preserve and pass on their history and culture In the pulpit, courtroom, or cotton field, they have understood the power of words, distinctively delivered, to educate and inspire. Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., one of the nation’s finest speakers, imbibed this tradition as a young man and has given it his own unique inflection from his work on the civil rights front lines, to the National Urban League, to positions of influence at the highest level of business and politics. A friend and confidant to presidents, Jordan has never forgotten the men and women—from Ruby Hurley to Wiley Branton to Gardner C. Taylor to Martin Luther King, Jr.—whose oratorical skill in service to social justice deeply influenced him. Their examples and voices, reflected in Vernon’s own, make this book both a history and an embodiment of black speech at its finest: Full of emotion, controlled force, righteous indignation, love of country, and awe in front of the God-given challenges ahead. .
Price: $14.88
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Greenpeace: Standing up for the Earth Calendar 2009 (Wall Calendars)
Dazzling in its imagery and powerful in its message of conservation, Greenpeace features a dozen full-color portraits by the world's top nature photographers, including Art Wolfe and Frans Lanting: emperor penguins waddling across an ice floe. A manatee and her baby gliding through glassy Florida waters. Alaska's tundra turned into a tapestry of red, yellow, and orange fall foliage. From the expressive face of a Japanese macaque to a Scottish woodland abloom with bluebells, each picture is a poignant reminder of just what is at stake. As always, all royalties from the sale of this calendar go to support the work of Greenpeace..
Price: $4.79
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Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service
Joseph Petro served for 23 years as a special agent in the United States Secret Service; eleven of them with presidents and vice presidents For four of those years he stood by the side of Ronald Reagan. Following his career as a Navy Lieutenant, during which he patrolled the rivers and canals along the Vietnamese-Cambodian border, he worked his way up through the Secret Service to become one of the key men in charge of protecting the President. That journey through the Secret Service provides an individual look inside the most discreet law enforcement agency in the world, and a uniquely intimate account of the Reagan presidency. Engagingly, Joseph Petro tells "first hand" stories of: riding horses with the Reagans; eluding the press and sneaking the President and Mrs. Reagan out of the White House; rehearsing assassination attempts and working, then re-working every detail of the president's trips around the world; negotiating the president's protection with the KGB; diverting a 26 car presidential motorcade in downtown Tokyo; protecting Vice-President Dan Quayle at Rajiv Gandhi's funeral where he was surrounded by Yassir Arafat's heavily armed bodyguards; taking charge of the single largest protective effort in the history of the Secret Service-Pope John Paul II's 1987 visit to the United States; and being only one of three witnesses at the private meeting between President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev that ushered in the end of the Cold War. Joseph Petro provides an original and fascinating perspective of the Secret Service, the inner workings of the White House and a little seen view of world leaders, as a man who stood next to history. .
Price: $3.83
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Standing In The Shadows (The McCloud Brothers, Book 2)
Ex-FBI agent Connor McCloud can never forget the day he was set up to die at the hands of trusted friend and fellow agent Ed Riggs. Hard justice and loyalty to his badge have cost Connor what he wants most - Ed's shy, studious daughter Erin. He can never have her now, but her beauty still haunts and torments his every waking hour and his most fevered erotic dreams. But now that his old enemy Kurt Novak has returned, Connor is prepared to do anything to protect the vulnerable young woman from a killer who has vowed a brutal payback...a killer with a predator's lethal patience. Erin has been harbouring secret fantasies about Connor McCloud since she first laid eyes on him - but that was before his testimony sent her father to jail. Her world is falling apart and it's all she can do to hold her family together. But now Connor is knocking on her door, telling her she needs his protection, whether she wants it or not. He won't give up and he won't stay away. He's sworn to guard her life with his own and his fierce protectiveness awakens long-buried feelings - and a fiery sexuality deep within her soul..
Price: $3.94
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Why Do Horses Sleep Standing Up?: 101 of the Most Perplexing Questions Answered About Equine Enigmas, Medical Mysteries, and Befuddling Behaviors (Why Do Series)
So you think you know horses?
Do you love horses? Whether you live to ride, love to pet, or like to cheer on your favorite at the races, you'll get the inside track on all things equine in this must-read compendium. From breeding and behavior to medical tips and trivia, plus historical and contemporary facts, it's all here to give you more horse sense. 'America's Favorite Vet' Dr.Marty Becker and his wife, Teresa, team up with award-winning writer and horsewoman Audrey Pavia and syndicated columnist Gina Spadafori to answer everything you'd ever want to know about horses--and more!
How long does it take for a baby horse to learn how to stand? What's the difference between a pony and a horse? Why can't a horse just wear a cast on a broken leg? How much horsepower does a horse really have? How do directors get horses to fall down in movies? Do horseshoes really bring good luck? Why do horses walk and poop at the same time? Does a horse know if he has won a race? Is it true horses can't throw up? Are horses good swimmers? Do horses have good memories? While no one will ever be able to fully explain the mutual love, trust, and devotion between humans and horses, this book will bring you one step closer. Giddy up! .
Price: $7.47
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Seduction of a Proper Gentleman (Last Man Standing)
To break a centuries-old curse, beautiful, headstrong Lady Kathleen MacDavid knows she must ignore every rule of propriety by seducing—and marrying—the Earl of Norcroft So she sets off for London, braving scandal and ruin to achieve her goal . . . until a crazy bump on the head makes her forget nearly everything. The thrill of winning a bet—that he'd be the last of his set to wed—hasn't eased the earl's pain of losing his friends to marriage. Still, he'd be willing to settle down if he could meet someone worthy of his love—and desire. But he has met no such woman, until Kathleen is brought to him. Suspicious of her motives, he's determined to resist her seductive ways. But sometimes even the most proper gentleman finds it expedient to act improperly . . . .
Price: $1.50
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Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph
“Lots of people have dreams, but C. Vivian Stringer is the dream—a coalminer’s daughter who believed when her Poppa told her there was no obstacle she could not surmount And she lives that dream, teaching others to rise up to meet challenges, turning underdogs into champions again and again—on and off the court. This is the quintessential American story, of a woman and of a family pulling together against the odds. Standing Tall offers an important message of hope to so many.” —John Chaney, Hall of Fame college basketball coach At a time when heroes are too rare, C. Vivian Stringer sets a shining example. She has time and again shown character, fortitude, and heart, both on and off the hardwood, and in the face of unbearable loss. In Standing Tall, she shares her remarkable life story, inspiring us to find this fortitude within ourselves. “Work hard, and don’t look for excuses,” Stringer’s parents told her, “and you can achieve anything.” But her faith and perseverance would be tested many times. A gifted athlete, she had to fight for a place on an all-white cheerleading squad in the sixties. In 1981, just as her coaching career was taking off, her fourteen-month-old daughter, Nina, was stricken with spinal meningitis. Nina would never walk or talk again. Still grieving, Stringer brought a small, poor, historically black college to the national championships—a triumph hailed as “Hoosiers with an all-female cast.” In 1991, her husband, Bill—her staunchest supporter, the father of her children, and the love of her life—fell dead of a sudden heart attack, but that same year, she led yet another young team to the Final Four. Through these dark times and others—including her bout with cancer, shared here for the first time—Stringer has carried her burdens with grace. Given her history, it was no surprise that she led her team to respond to Don Imus’s slurs with dignity and courage. Standing Tall is a story of quiet strength in the face of punishing odds. Above all, it is an extraordinary love story—love for the game, for the players she has coached, for her close-knit family, and for the husband she lost far too soon. It will resonate long after the last page..
Price: $11.88
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Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing has the essential elements of a terrific DavidBaldacci novel: a tough but tender-hearted hero, dirty dealings in the nation'sbureaucracy, and a roller-coaster plot. Web London, a member of the FBI'sHostage Rescue Team, froze up on a drug raid and thus became the sole survivorof a remote-controlled ambush that killed six of his compatriots Now the onlywitness has disappeared and the inside man on the botched raid has goneunderground. As a pretty psychiatrist puzzles over the corners of Web's brain that kept himalive, Web himself stays on the move. He's certain that the ambush is connectedto the prison escape of a neofascist leader, Ernest B. Free, whom he helpedarrest five years earlier, and a series of new murders leads him to a Virginiahorse farm and the driving force behind all the carnage. It may seem as thoughBaldacci gives away the mastermind too soon, but both the bad guys and the goodguys are complex enough that there's plenty of punch all the way to the lastpage. --Barrie Trinkle.
Price: $1.55
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Standing in the Rainbow (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Good news! Fannie’s back in town--and the town is among the leading characters in her new novel. Along with Neighbor Dorothy, the lady with the smile in her voice, whose daily radio broadcasts keep us delightfully informed on all the local news, we also meet Bobby, her ten-year-old son, destined to live a thousand lives, most of them in his imagination; Norma and Macky Warren and their ninety-eight-year-old Aunt Elner; the oddly sexy and charismatic Hamm Sparks, who starts off in life as a tractor salesman and ends up selling himself to the whole state and almost the entire country; and the two women who love him as differently as night and day. Then there is Tot Whooten, the beautician whose luck is as bad as her hairdressing skills; Beatrice Woods, the Little Blind Songbird; Cecil Figgs, the Funeral King; and the fabulous Minnie Oatman, lead vocalist of the Oatman Family Gospel Singers. The time is 1946 until the present. The town is Elmwood Springs, Missouri, right in the middle of the country, in the midst of the mostly joyous transition from war to peace, aiming toward a dizzyingly bright future. Once again, Fannie Flagg gives us a story of richly human characters, the saving graces of the once-maligned middle classes and small-town life, and the daily contest between laughter and tears. Fannie truly writes from the heartland, and her storytelling is, to quote Time, "utterly irresistible." From the Hardcover edition..
Price: $5.89
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