Nice women never wore makeup. Even the word was taboo in polite society—until Max Factor entered the scene. Born in Poland in 1877, Factor worked as a beautician for the Russian royal family, the Romanovs. In 1904, he fled to America, where he opened a cosmetics store in Los Angeles. Creating makeup originally for silent films, then the talkies, and, ultimately, color motion pictures, Factor designed looks for Katharine Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Bette Davis, and countless other beauties of t...

Raymond Sarlot bought the Chateau Marmont in 1975, but what was originally a business purchase became a love affair as he delved into the hotel's incredible history. From its perch overlooking the Sunset Strip, the glamorous Marmont reigned for decades as the spot for artists, writers, musicians, and actors of every stripe and remains a home-away-from-home for A-listers like Scarlett Johansson and Johnny Depp. Here, Sarlot and co-author Fred E. Basten share a wealth of scandalous and intri...

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It’s the summer of 2017 in Wellington Beach, California, a suburban coastal town increasingly divided by politics, protests, and escalating housing prices—divisions that change the lives of five neighbors.Each character confronts death, betrayal, financial decline, and loneliness as they search for home and community in a neighborhood where no one can agree who belongs.Real estate agent Lisa Kensington juggles her job, her shopaholic husband, a mother who k...

A survivor’s true account of death, despair, and heroism in Death Valley in the heat of the California Gold Rush.At the height of the California gold rush in 1849, a wagon train of men, women, children, and their animals stumbled into a 130-mile-long valley in the Mojave Desert while they were looking for a shortcut to the California coast. What ensued was an ordeal that divided the camp into remnants and struck them with hunger, thirst, and a terrible sense of bei...

“You'll get lost in the pages of this lush, entertaining story.” —Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of WillowbrookPerfect for readers of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Kate Morton, this sophisticated, atmospheric debut spins a bewitching web of ruthless ambition, family secrets, and the consequences of forbidden love, as an ambitious American actress snags the starring role in a mysterious horror movie shoo...

**THE CAN'T MISS READ-ALONG FOR FEUD: CAPOTE VS. THE SWANS!“Fans of Capote and the era of Camelot should be delighted.” —Shana Abé, New York Times bestselling author of The Second Mrs. Astor“A rollicking ride that’s equal parts gossip, tenderness and emotional truth.” - Janet Somerville, The Toronto StarA must-read for fans of Truman Capote and Jackie Kennedy, this star-studded, evocative novel revels in the glamor, gossip, and ca...

A social history that pulls back the covers on the most intimate piece of furniture in our lives: "Entertaining . . . will keep you awake long into the night." —Paul Chrystal, author of The History of SweetsLouis XIV ruled France from his bedchamber. Winston Churchill governed Britain from his during World War II. Travelers routinely used to bed down with complete strangers, and whole families shared beds in many preindustrial households. Beds were expensi...

A groundbreaking work of investigative journalism revealing the complicity of the Vatican and the Swiss government in aiding Nazi war criminals' escape from Europe to Argentina - reissued with a new preface by Philippe Sands and additional materialAs Russian forces closed in on Berlin, and Hitler's premiership drew to a close, many Nazi officials fled Germany. In this startling, meticulously researched account, acclaimed journalist Uki Goni unravels the complex net...

Nina, a new graduate from fashion design in college, gladly accepts the offer to have her palm read as a graduation gift. Smiling, the palm reader tells Nina that she has a long lifeline, as she traces it on her hand. As soon as the words are uttered, the palm reader's facial expression turns to one of fear. In broken English, she whispers, "Break – very bad break in middle of life. Maybe you die."Nina does come close to death at age thirty-four when she and her family are involved...

"Engrossing . . . Leave[s] us with a richer picture of physics as a lived activity." — Los Angeles Review of BooksIn Quantum Legacies, David Kaiser introduces readers to iconic episodes in physicists' still-unfolding quest to understand space, time, and matter at their most fundamental. In a series of vibrant essays, Kaiser takes us inside moments of discovery and debate among the great minds of the era—Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Stephen H...

"In his lively, vivid history of pirates, Lehr finds some striking continuities from ancient to modern times." — Foreign AffairsA Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the YearIn the twenty-first century, pirates have regained a central place in Western culture, thanks to an odd combination of a blockbuster film franchise and a dramatic rise in piracy around the Horn of Africa. In this global history of the phenomenon, maritime te...