True Celebrity Biography

On June 29, 1978, Bob Crane, known to Hogan's Heroes fans as Colonel Hogan, was discovered brutally murdered in his Scottsdale, Arizona, apartment. His eldest son, Robert Crane, was called to the crime scene. In this poignant memoir, Robert Crane discusses that terrible day and how he has lived with the unsolved murder of his father.

Raised in Manhattan by her overly protective sex-therapist mother who wore "seven layers of shoulder pads" and her two doting grandparents, life in Wendy Spero's world has never been dull. As a child, she passed the time organizing impromptu "garage sales" on city sidewalks, sniffing fruit-scented magic markers to intoxication, parenting dozens of high-maintenance stuffed animals, and seeking out other "microthrills", which she writes about in this hilarious audiobook of odd but true stories.

John Bindon was a modern legend. A powerful figure in London's underworld, his film-star looks, charm and talent brought him worldwide exposure. His story unfolds like the plot of a movie in which Big John himself might have landed a part. Usually typecast in tough-guy roles, his on-screen persona was chillingly close to the real-life one. Big John's good looks and charisma led to encounters with stunning women, most famously Princess Margaret, and numerous high profile relationships. But most of all, Big John was a warm-hearted, complex man, utterly devoted to those who gave him respect.

Whether it's family history, religion, aging, or his parents, Michael Ian Black always has something to say in the dry, irreverent voice that has captured a fan base of millions. When a medical diagnosis forces him to realize he's not getting any younger, he reexamines his life as a middle-aged guy - of course, in the deadpan wit and self-deprecating vignettes that have become trademarks of his humor.

This is the incredible story of the man who wrote the song “Unchain My Heart,” Bobby Sharp. This book will take you through a time period that was paramount to the history of American music, and through locales like Tin Pan Alley, Destiny Recording Studios, and Harlem. You’ll hear names like Joe Cocker, Dick Clark, Sarah Vaughan, Ruth Brown, and Mr. Sammy Davis, Jr. You will read about the music industry putting out some of its finest records at a time when its business practices were at their worst.

Lover Come Back is a true - but often unbelievable - tale of loss, sacrifice, second chances, and ultimately, love. It takes the listener from the courtroom to the lush beaches of Naples, Florida, where Scott and his family currently reside. The journey is gut-wrenching, comedic, hard to believe, and heartwarming. In the end, it is a love story that will leave you believing in second chances and first loves.

Love for Rent is a story of an exotic dancer and an Ivy League professor. He was her customer. He left his family for her. Or was he merely a sex addict? The romance spans over a decade. Neither can let go, though, the relationship is quite brutal at times. She is learned in Vedic astrology and the stars are not on their side. From the hallowed halls of academia to the darkest corners of strip clubs, Love for Rent takes you on a journey.

A musician, documentarian, scholar, and one of the founding members of the influential folk revival group New Lost City Ramblers, Mike Seeger (1933-2009) spent more than fifty years collecting, performing, and commemorating the culture and folk music of white and black southerners, which he called "music from the true vine." In this fascinating biography, Bill Malone explores the life and musical contributions of folk artist Seeger, son of musicologists Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger and brother of folksingers Pete and Peggy Seeger.

If David Sedaris, Chelsea Handler, Larry David, and Caitlin Moran had the unlikeliest orgy in history, the resulting love child might one day write a book like this rollicking collection of true tales from Roy Sekoff, the founding editor of The Huffington Post. Whether he's describing a teenage pilgrimage to a Times Square porn superstore, life-changing experiences with high colonics and psychic readings, or that time Chevy Chase grabbed his balls at a funeral, Sekoff is a lively raconteur whose sharp observations wring laughs out of a ludicrous-yet-relatable life.

For more than 40 years Mac Hudson and Irv Harrigan launched the workday for millions of Houstonians as the hosts of one of America's longest-running, most successful comedy morning shows at the legendary and award-winning KILT Radio. The Hudson & Harrigan Show aired continuously from 1967 until 2010, in which time it became a bona fide Houston institution.

From the start, it sounds ridiculous: "Go to Tahiti, and find Marlon Brando." But, the worldwide search for the legendary method actor, the star of such classic movies as The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, On the Waterfront, and Mutiny on the Bounty, soon becomes an obsession. The story of one man’s coming of age. When we first meet him, Sager is 30 years old, divorce pending, no longer the youngest in the room. Winter is coming. His prospects are dim.

Despite lacking pitch, rhythm, or tone, Florence Foster Jenkins became one of America's best-known sopranos, celebrated for her unique recordings and her sell-out concert at Carnegie Hall. Born in 1868 to wealthy Pennsylvanian parents, Florence was a talented young pianist, but her life was thrown into turmoil when she eloped with Frank Jenkins, a man twice her age. The marriage proved a disaster, and, in order to survive, Florence was forced to abandon her dreams of a musical career and teach the piano.

Shehnaz was a beautiful, erudite woman from the royal family of Bhopal who was almost cast to play Anarkali in K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam. Her daughter Sophia Naz tells her story as she heard it from her.

The author of Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and That's Mr. Faggot to You returns with more skewed observations on the strange state of the queer union. As fans of his previous collections have happily discovered, little escapes his attention, and no topic is too controversial or sacred to be tackled.

This hilarious, whip-smart collection of essays from a top writer and producer of Six Feet Under crisscrosses from the highly personal (conflating her own loss of virginity and the Kobe Bryant accusations), to the political (what she has in common with Monica and Chandra), to the outrageously Los Angelean (why women wear huge diamonds and what they must do to get them). Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants is a genre-defying combination of personal essay and memoir, or a hilarious, unruly and unapologetic evaluation of society, religion, sex, love, and - best of all - Jill Soloway.

When he turned 13 in 1980, Rob Sheffield had a lot to learn about women, love, music and himself, and in Talking to Girls About Duran Duran we get a glimpse into his transformation from pasty, geeky "hermit boy" into a young man with his first girlfriend, his first apartment, and a sense of the world.

He was a 1930s golf legend and Hollywood trickster who adamantly refused to be photographed. He never played professionally, yet sports-writing legend Grantland Rice still heralded him as "the greatest golfer in the world". Then, in 1937, the secrets of John Montague's past were exposed - leading to a sensational trial that captivated the nation.

For decades, actress and director Christine Lahti has captivated the hearts and minds of her audience through iconic roles in Chicago Hope, Running on Empty, Housekeeping, And Justice for All, Swing Shift, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, God of Carnage, and The Blacklist. Now, in True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness, this acclaimed performer channels her creativity inward to share her own story for the first time.

Beth Lisick started out as a homecoming princess with a Crisco-aided tan and a bad perm. And then everything changed. Plunging headlong into America's deepest subcultures, while keeping both feet firmly planted in her parents' Leave It to Beaver values, Lisick makes her adult home on the fringe of mainstream culture and finds it rich with paradox and humor. Fans of David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell will relish Lisick's scathingly funny, smart, very real take on the effluvia of daily living.

Guys & Dolls...The Boyfriend...How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying...Can-Can... These are just a few of the many Broadway shows produced by the legendary Cy Feuer, who, in partnership with the late Ernest H. Martin, brought to life many of America's most enduring musicals. Cy Feuer was at the center of these creations, as well as the films based on two of Broadway's most exceptional musicals, Cabaret and A Chorus Line. He was the man in charge, the one responsible for putting everything together, and - almost more important - for holding it together.