Great Art

Broadway’s most esteemed visionaries tell all - how they got started in the business, how they chose projects, how they raise money, why some of their shows were huge hits and others flopped, and much more. From Flo Ziegfeld and David Merrick, from Joseph Papp, from Cameron Mackintosh, from today’s up-and-coming new generation of producers - here are priceless words of wisdom.

Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., won the world heavyweight championship at the age of 22, the same year he joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He would go on to become the first and only three-time (in succession) world heavyweight champion. Nicknamed "The Greatest", Ali was as well known for his unique boxing style, consisting of the Ali Shuffle and the rope-a-dope, as he was for the catchphrase "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee".

Largely self-taught, with little formal education, Dickens was catapulted to fame at the age of 24 with the publication of The Pickwick Papers in 1836. While some authors have depicted Dickens as a tormented soul or cruel misogynist who compromised his work by pandering to a wide audience, Simply Dickens convincingly shows him as a purposeful, supremely talented, and versatile personality whose popular appeal was central to his achievement.

Does speaking in public scare you? Or, do your presentations fail to get the compelling response you want? If so, this book is for you. Discover the secrets great lawyers use to succeed in the most intimidating arena of persuasion, the courtroom. Through interviews, analysis, and easy-to-follow steps, you’ll see how to use these secrets yourself to dramatically improve your speech or presentation. Studies have shown that people who speak well are considered more trustworthy and knowledgeable. As a result, they persuade with ease. That advantage can be yours, and it’s all here in this ...

The everyday lives of the Polish-Jewish community depicted in Moshe Rynecki's paintings simply blended into the background of Elizabeth Rynecki's life when she was growing up. But the art transformed from familiar to extraordinary in her eyes after her grandfather - Moshe's son, George - left behind journals detailing the loss her ancestors had endured during World War II, including Moshe's art. Knowing that her family had found only a small portion of Moshe's art, Elizabeth set out to find them.

In this engaging and deeply informed audiobook, Stephen Knight looks at the different manifestations of Robin Hood at different times and places in a mythic biography with a thematic structure. The best way to get at the essence of the Robin Hood myth, Knight believes, is in terms not of chronological and generic progression but of the purposes served by heroes.

As much about the life of the city as it is about a life lived, sometimes, in the city, John Banville's "quasi-memoir" is as layered, emotionally rich, witty, and unexpected as any of his novels. Born and bred in a small town a train ride away from Dublin, Banville saw the city as a place of enchantment when he was a child, a birthday treat, the place where his beloved, eccentric aunt lived.

In the public imagination, Ernest Hemingway looms larger than life. But the actual person behind the legend has long remained elusive. Now, his son Patrick shares the letters they exchanged over two decades, offering a glimpse into how one of America’s most iconic writers interacted with his children. These letters reveal a father who wished for his children to share his interests—hunting, fishing, travel—and a son who was receptive to the experiences his father offered.

Have you ever wanted to pick up a musical instrument and just play? Maybe it seems too late in life and, without formal education, just a hopeless dream. Maybe you already have musical ability but don’t know how to take it to the next level. The great news is that there is a powerful way to learn and develop real music-making skills without countless hours of traditional education. Both beginners and highly skilled musicians can reap the benefits.

This imagined retelling of Jho Low’s story, based on real events, gives listeners an insider’s view of the glitzy, glamorous world of wealth and privilege, as well as a close-up look at this enigmatic protagonist’s high-stakes fall from grace. The narrator is quirky yet eloquent, at times thoughtful and other times brash, as he leads readers through the corridors of power, where the line between friend and foe blurs. As secrets unravel and fortunes teeter on the edge, readers get a front-row seat to the dark underbelly of high finance and the price of unchecked ambition and greed.

In 2021, when the gavel fell at Christie’s on the sale of Mike Winkelmann’s Everydays series—a compilation of 5,000 digital artworks—it made a thunderous announcement: Non-fungible tokens had arrived. The ludicrous world of CryptoKitties and Bored Apes had just produced a piece of art worth $69.3 million (at least according to the highest bidder). On that day, the traditional art market—the largest unregulated market in the world—put its stamp of approval on a very new and carnivalesque digital reality. But what did it mean for these two worlds to collide?

During the upheavals of 2007-9, the chairman of the Federal Reserve had the name of a Victorian icon on the tip of his tongue: Walter Bagehot. Banker, man of letters, inventor of the Treasury bill, and author of Lombard Street, the still-canonical guide to stopping a run on the banks, Bagehot prescribed the doctrines that - decades later - inspired the radical responses to the world's worst financial crises.

Kendall Taylor examines the dalliance between the southern belle and the French pilot from a fresh perspective. Drawing on conversations and correspondence with Jozan's daughter, as well as materials from the Jozan family archives, Taylor sheds new light on this romantic triangle. More than just a casual fling, Zelda's tryst with Edouard affected Scott as much as it did his wife - and ultimately influenced the author's most famous creation, Jay Gatsby. Were it not for Zelda's affair with the pilot, Scott's novel might be less about betrayal and more about lost illusions.

One of the most beloved novelists of all time, Jane Austen (1775 - 1817) is also one of the most scrutinized. Since the early 20th century, she has been a favorite topic of academic researchers and scholars; at the same time, the popularity of her books has continued to grow. Why are Austen's novels the subject of scholarly tomes and doctoral dissertations, and also the inspiration for a virtual cottage industry of popular adaptations?

In 2003, Robert Morgan released what would become a future classic for more than a million people, a unique book entitled Then Sings My Soul. This collection of the world’s greatest hymns and the stories behind them stirred an entire generation to better understand the heritage of our faith through song. Now, in the long-awaited third volume of this series, Morgan expands his material to include the great history of worship, the first biblical hymns, biographical sketches of the most interesting composers, and almost 60 generations of hymn singing.

Millions of words of scholarship have been expended on the world's most famous author and his work. And yet a critical part of the puzzle, Shakespeare's library, is a mystery. For four centuries people have searched for it: in mansions, palaces, and libraries; in riverbeds, sheep pens, and partridge coops; and in the corridors of the mind. Yet no trace of the Bard's manuscripts, books, or letters has ever been found.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Face of Britain by Simon Schama, read by Simon Schama and Roy McMillian. Churchill and his painter locked in a struggle of stares and glares; Gainsborough watching his daughters run after a butterfly; a naked John Lennon five hours before his death. Simon Schama has written a tour de force about British portraits over the centuries.

This book is written to and for women as an homage to all women of all races, religions, and cultures who desire a better life, believe greatness is possible, but struggle with the process of accomplishment. As you journey through the pages of this book, you will find the strength, empowerment, and encouragement to become the creation you were initially born to be. Living your best life does not require you to change everything about you that makes you unique: it is simply improving upon the areas of your life that have limited your ability to become the best version of yourself. It does ...

The first principle is life; the second, maintenance of life. The thing of greatest human interest and importance, therefore, is the production and distribution of food, the manufacture of necessities; Or what we call Business. Religion, education, art, politics, are all secondary to it, since we live because of our work; and without life we should need neither salvation, learning, homes, literature, nor any-thing else. Business is nothing more than food-getting; incidentally, it means founding a home, a family, assisting in building a school, a road, a street, and finally, appreciation of ...

Mixed martial arts competitors wrestle, jab, and kick their ways to the top. The best fighters never pull any punches. Listen here for the biggest names in MMA.