2010 National Book Award Finalist for NonfictionDrawn from the secret, never-before-seen diaries, journals, and sexual records of the novelist, poet, and university professor Samuel M. Steward, Secret Historian is a sensational reconstruction of one of the more extraordinary hidden lives of the twentieth century.An intimate friend of Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and Thornton Wilder, Steward maintained a secret sex life from child...

Samuel Steward (1909–93) was an English professor, a tattoo artist for the Hells Angels, a sexual adventurer who shared the considerable scope of his experiences with Alfred Kinsey, and a prolific writer whose publications ranged from scholarly articles to gay erotica (the latter appearing under the pen name Phil Andros). Perhaps his oddest authorial role was as a monthly contributor between 1944 and 1949 to the Illinois Dental Journal, an obscure trade publication for dentists, w...

A riveting memoir of escape from communist authoritarianism to a life in the arts in America.“There was no freedom here, no security, very little opportunity, and altogether too much corruption…”Marica Vilcek was just twelve years old when the Communists took over her country. Her prospects were curtailed, as a result, and when her brother vanished, apparently escaping to Western Europe, her family became blacklisted, reducing her hope for a future career i...

Witness the hard-core determination of North America’s most successful do-it-yourself hunters...Thirty hunters. Thirty record-book trophy game animals—most of them taken on public lands. Thirty epic tales to share back at hunting camp. These are the real-world stories behind some of the top-scoring trophies recognized by the Boone and Crockett Club, North America’s premier wildlife conservation organization. Traverse the deep backcountry in pursuit of North America’s wildest, wilie...

The French effect on six food and wine writers, including Julia Child, M. F. K. Fisher, Alexis Lichine, A. J. Liebling, Richard Olney, and Alice B. Toklas.During les trente glorieuses—a thirty-year boom period in France between the end of World War II and the 1974 oil crisis—Paris was not only the world's most delicious, stylish, and exciting tourist destination; it was also the world capital of gastronomic genius and innovation. The Gourmands' Way...

Watching the last trickles of daylight slink away over a distant ridge, hoping a mature animal presents itself in time for an ethical shot. Stalking open grassland into a stiff north wind, every sense on high alert, as the cold air stings the cheeks and nose. The heart beating wildly at the sound of a pre-dawn tromp through fallen leaves, foretelling the possibility of approaching game. For those who count the days until their next trip afield, the true measure of a successful hunt will al...

A riveting memoir of escape from communist authoritarianism to a life in the arts in America. "There was no freedom here, no security, very little opportunity, and altogether too much corruption…" Marica Vilcek was just twelve years old when the Communists took over her country. Her prospects were curtailed, as a result, and when her brother vanished, apparently escaping to Western Europe, her family became blacklisted, reducing her hope for a future career in the sciences and arts. But in...

A biography of six writers on food and wine whose lives and careers intersected in mid-twentieth-century FranceDuring les trente glorieuses―a thirty-year boom period in France between the end of World War II and the 1974 oil crisis―Paris was not only the world’s most delicious, stylish, and exciting tourist destination; it was also the world capital of gastronomic genius and innovation. The Gourmands’ Way explores the lives and writings of six Americans who chroni...

Drawn from the secret, never-before-seen diaries, journals, and sexual records of the novelist, poet, and university professor Samuel M. Steward, Secret Historian is a sensational reconstruction of one of the more extraordinary hidden lives of the twentieth century. An intimate friend of Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and Thornton Wilder, Steward maintained a secret sex life from childhood on and documented these experiences in brilliantly vivid and often very funny detail....

Desperate to escape the pain of his brother’s death, Jesse Melnik ran—but he couldn’t outrun the grief, no matter how much distance he put between himself and his past. Now, after fifteen years of trying, he’s finally ready to face his hometown of Charlottetown again.He expects the memories of his brother to hover in every corner of his family’s sailboat and whisper in every sea-tinged breeze.What he doesn’t expect is Parker Willis, the best friend he left behind without a ...

The eighth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga.Inspiration for the Netflix Limited Series, Tales of the CityFollowing the success of his New York Times bestseller Michael Tolliver Lives, Armistead Maupin’s Mary Ann in Autumn is a touching portrait of friendship, family, and fresh starts, as the City by the Bay welcomes back Mary Ann Si...

Gore Vidal claimed there was no such thing as “gay,” only gay sexual acts. But what was the truth about his sex life and sexuality—and how did it affect and influence his writing and public life? With In Bed with Gore Vidal: Hustlers, Hollywood, and the Private World of an American Master, Tim Teeman interviews many of Vidal’s closest family and friends, including Claire Bloom and Susan Sarandon, as well as surveying Vidal’s own rich personal archive, to build a rounded portrait of who thi...