Citadel Press Inc.,U.S.

Vladka Meed, born Feigele Peltel, was just a teenager when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939. Increasingly devastated by the deportation and murder of 300,000 Jews-including her mother, brother, and sister-from Warsaw to the death camp of Treblinka, she heeded the call for armed resistance, joining the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB), established in Warsaw in July 1942. With her typically Aryan looks and fluency in Polish, she could pose as a Gentile, so the ZOB asked her to live on the Aryan side of the wall and serve as a courier. In this role, she smuggled weapons across the wall, helped Jewish children escape from the Ghetto, assisted Jews hiding in the city, and established contact with both Jews in the labor camps and with the partisans in the forest. First published in Yiddish by the Educational Committee of the Workmen''s Circle in New York in 1948, On Both Sides of the Wall was based on a series of twenty-seven articles Vladka wrote in the Yiddish-language Jewish Daily Forward (Forverts) in 1946-47. In this revised translation, which includes exclusive, new materials and photographs, Vladka''s son, Dr. Steven D. Meed, captures the vibrancy and passion of his mother''s original Yiddish text, preserving the testimony and memory of this valiant woman for a new generation of readers.

Of the hundreds of murder cases that noted South Carolina attorney Dick Harpootlian has prosecuted, one in particular haunts him. Donald ''Pee Wee'' Gaskins was a serial killer and rapist, a master manipulator who claimed to have killed over 100 people and is known to have murdered over a dozen, including a toddler, and his own teenage niece. Yet it was on Death Row that he pulled off his most audacious murder - killing another inmate with a military grade explosive. As personable as he was ruthless, Pee Wee defied easy categories. He killed to avenge minor slights as well as for pleasure, using any convenient method - including stabbing, shooting, poison, suffocation, and drowning. Evidence suggested he forced at least one victim to dig his own grave, stand in it, and be shot. With escalating callousness, Pee Wee murdered acquaintances, friends, family members, and strangers. Yet within his North Charleston community he was well-liked - a family man who took neighbourhood kids to the beach and hosted cookouts. Ice-cold within but outwardly charming, he joked with judges, reporters, and Harpootlian himself, but didn''t hesitate to hatch a plot to kidnap the prosecutor''s daughter in order to extort an escape. Dig Me a Grave is a haunting look at a prolific, remorseless killer, as well as a provocative exploration of justice and the death penalty.

The Kennedys, Marilyn, the Vatican, Vegas, The Godfather, the Mob, and more... During a cursed childhood in a Manhattan neighborhood teeming with Italian immigrants, Gianni Russo fended for himself at an early age. It was a quality that didn''t go unnoticed by Frank Costello-father figure, mentor, and legendary crime boss. Thanks to Costello, Gianni was only twelve when his luck would change for a lifetime. All of it charmed-and thrilling. With it came Hollywood glamor, Vegas risk-takers, political conspiracies, sex, murder, shadow governments, and secrets. The stories Gianni Russo could tell... Now he does in this bombshell confessional. This is the inside account of the Sicilian Mafia, Cosa Nostra, what really transpired in those Mulberry Street clubs, and who whacked whom-including how mobster Tony Spilotro and his brother really died, finally revealed for the first time. This is Gianni, buddy of Frank Sinatra, and intimately more with Marilyn Monroe. What''s the cover-up behind her death, JFK''s, and Jimmy Hoffa''s? It''s all here. So is the clandestine role of the pope as the sacred boss of bosses, the glory days and downfall of Las Vegas, and the colorful behind-the-scenes tales of Gianni''s role in the greatest movie ever made, The Godfather. The go-getter Frank Costello once called the ''Kid'' shares his shocking, exhilarating, sometimes violent, and always riveting life with the dealmakers of Hollywood and the Mob. Gianni Russo lives to tell, and spills it all.

''Believe me baby, this is not just a book, sugar, it''s a marvelous dance with words, enchanting, heady and daring!'' - Liza Minelli. A figure as fascinating as any of his celebrated subjects, Don Bachardy has lived an extraordinary life at the heart of Hollywood, literary, and artistic circles. His drawings and paintings reside in museums throughout Europe and the United States, and include portraits of movie stars, writers, artists, and public and private figures of every background-from Bette Davis and Joan Crawford to Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote-all rendered in a candid, expressive style unmistakably the artist''s own. In this unique oral biography, Bachardy recounts his astonishing story, providing illuminating recollections of celebrity portrait sittings and revelations about his 30-year relationship with Christopher Isherwood. From their meeting in the 1950s until Isherwood''s death in 1986, theirs was a legendary love story, courageous and uncompromising for its time, and remarkable in any era for the creative collaborations and art it continues to inspire. Drawn from one-on-one interviews and conversations conducted at the Santa Monica home Bachardy shared with Isherwood, Michael Schreiber has crafted a biography unlike any other, filled with tantalising celebrity tales set against the backdrop of Bachardy''s artistic and personal journey. Wise, warm, and thoroughly unflinching, this is a fresh and revealing portrait of a life lived with boundless bravery, curiosity, and love.

Harry Lenga was born to a family of Chassidic Jews in Kozhnitz, Poland. The proud sons of a watchmaker, Harry and his two brothers, Mailekh and Moishe, studied their father''s trade at a young age. Upon the German invasion of Poland, when the Lenga family was upended, Harry and his brothers never anticipated that the tools acquired from their father would be the key to their survival. Under the most devastating conditions imaginable - with death always imminent - fixing watches for the Germans in the ghettos and brutal slave labor camps of occupied Poland and Austria bought their lives over and over again. From Wolanow and Starachowice to Auschwitz and Ebensee, Harry, Mailekh, and Moishe endured, bartered, worked, prayed, and lived to see liberation. Derived from more than a decade of interviews with Harry Lenga, conducted by his own son Scott and others, The Watchmakers is Harry''s heartening and unflinchingly honest first-person account of his childhood, the lessons learned from his own father, his harrowing tribulations, and his inspiring life before, during, and after the war. It is a singular and vital story, told from one generation to the next - and a profoundly moving tribute to brotherhood, fatherhood, family, and faith.

Before the internet and social media offered voyeuristic glimpses into the lives of others, the acclaimed Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, exposed the dangers and delights of looking - and knowing - too much in his 1954 masterpiece Rear Window. Widely hailed as one of the greatest films ever made, it stars James Stewart and Grace Kelly at the top of their game but, in an unusual gamble, is shot entirely from within a Greenwich Village apartment... Using this limited point of view, Hitchcock forces his audience to participate in his protagonist''s voyeuristic impulses and darkest obsessions - a bold move in the era of the Hollywood Blacklist and restrictive Hays Code. But the gamble paid off, and Rear Window became a timeless classic. This eye-opening book goes straight to the source of Rear Window''s genius by mining the original papers of Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart, and Thelma Ritter, revealing little-known facts behind the scenes: Why taking the role of Lisa Fremont was one of the toughest decisions Grace Kelly ever made; How Hitchcock intertwined suspense and romance with inspiration from Ingrid Bergman; How he used a topless scene to distract the censors from other scenes to which they may have objected; and how Hitchcock crafted the film''s unforgettable villain, Lars Thorwald, by modeling him on a producer he loathed - the infamous David O. Selznick. Filled with eye-catching photographs, outrageous anecdotes, and delicious details, this exciting book pulls back the curtain on a classic thriller that''s as relevant today as ever - and every bit as thrilling.

In 1940, with the Nazis sweeping through France, Henri Matisse found himself at a personal and artistic crossroads. His 42-year marriage had ended, he was gravely ill, and after decades at the forefront of modern art, he was beset by doubt. As scores of famous figures escaped the country, Matisse took refuge in Nice, with his companion, Lydia Delectorskaya. By defiantly remaining, Matisse was a source of inspiration for his nation. While enemy agents and Resistance fighters played cat-and-mouse in the alleyways of Nice, Matisse''s son, Jean, engaged in sabotage efforts with the Allies. In Paris, under the swastika, Matisse''s estranged wife, Amelie, worked for the Communist underground. His beloved daughter, Marguerite, active in the French Resistance, was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo, sentenced to Ravensbruck concentration camp - and miraculously escaped when her train was halted by Allied bombs. His younger, son, Pierre helped Jewish artists escape to New York; even his teenaged grandson risked his life by defying the Germans and their Vichy collaborators. Amidst this chaos, Matisse responded to the dark days of war by inventing a dazzling new paper technique that led to some of his most iconic pieces, including The Fall of Icarus, his profile of Charles De Gaulle, Monsieur Loyal, and his groundbreaking cut-out book, Jazz. His wartime works were acts of resistance, subtly patriotic and daringly new. Drawing on intimate letters and a multitude of other sources, Christopher C. Gorham illuminates this momentous stage of Matisse''s life as never before, revealing an artist on a journey of reinvention, wrenching meaning from the suffering of war, and holding up the light of human imagination against the torch of fascism to create some of the most exciting work of his career, of the 20th century, and in the history of art.

''Whether you''re a brother or whether you''re a mother,'' it''s impossible to resist the throbbing disco beats - and lasting cultural impact - of Saturday Night Fever. Released in December 1977, the low-budget ''disco movie'' was the surprise gift that kept on giving. It made millions at the box office, earned an Oscar nomination for TV-actor-turned-movie-star John Travolta, catapulted The Bee Gees'' music career into the stratosphere with a record-breaking, Grammy-winning soundtrack album, and ignited a ''disco inferno'' that burns to this day. From Travolta''s iconic white polyster suit and legendary dance moves, to the flashing lights and illuminated floor of the Odyssey disco in Brooklyn, Saturday Night Fever captured the era like no other film - and launched a phenomenon that changed the world forever. Here, for the first time, is the complete history of Saturday Night Fever. From the New York Magazine article that inspired the film - ''Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night'' by Nik Cohn-to the on-and-off-set dramas of Travolta, director John Badham, and producer Robert Stigwood, this deep dive into the making of a movie classic also includes special interviews with actors Donna Pescow and Joseph Cali, among others. It explores the huge impact of the film on the industry - including a ''Death to Disco'' backlash - as well as on American culture itself. With modern-day insights into its 1970s-era portrayals of gender, sex, and race, this is a richly detailed, delightfully entertaining celebration as glittering and multi-faceted as a mirrored disco ball. It''s a must-have for every movie and music lover who''s ever caught the Fever...

The figures are shocking - 40% of American women and nearly a quarter of American men have been sexually assaulted. While #MeToo stories have helped combat sexual harassment in the workplace, improved police interventions, and resulted in high-profile convictions, the public has only just begun to reckon with the impact sexual assault has on survivors. The ongoing silence points to the still-taboo intersection of two subjects: sexual assault and sexuality. Sex After Sexual Assault explores this crossroads through the lens of survivors'' own stories. Tens of millions of people across the United States experience sexual assault, and 94% of survivors experience symptoms of traumatic stress. These symptoms, such as decreased trust, anxiety, powerlessness, and depression, may affect our sex lives. This crucial book tackles the obstacles a survivor frequently faces while rebuilding a sex life after sexual trauma: dissociation, panic attacks, physical pain, flashbacks, and more. Each chapter includes a varied selection of survivors'' stories in order to normalize and uplift a diversity of healing experiences. For survivors it is a guidebook, a road map, true stories to lean on in a lonely void. Consider it a companion survivors can turn to for support, knowledge, encouragement, resources, and fellow survivors'' expert insight while also providing clarity for current partners of sexual assault survivors, giving them the tools to help us through whatever obstacles our trauma histories present.

On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was released. Within days it had become legend. Moviegoers braved hours-long lines in winter weather to see it. Some audience members famously fainted or vomited. Half a century later, the movie that both inspired and transcends the modern horror genre has lost none of its power to terrify and unsettle. The Exorcist Legacy reveals the complete story of this cultural phenomenon, from the real-life exorcism in 1949 Maryland that inspired William Peter Blatty''s bestselling novel on which the movie is based, to its many sequels, prequels, TV series, and homages. Nat Segaloff, biographer of the film''s director, William Friedkin, draws on original interviews with cast, crew, and participants as well as revelations from personal papers to present an intriguing and surprising new view of the making of movie, and its aftermath. Segaloff also examines as never before the keys to the movie''s enduring appeal. Friedkin and Blatty''s goal was far more ambitious than making a scary movie; they aimed to make people ''think about the concept of good and evil.'' The Exorcist succeeds, and then some, not just by creating on-screen scares, but by challenging viewers'' deepest personal belief - and fears.

Years after her successful and impactful career at the CIA, Christina Hillsberg became enthralled with the stories of the trailblazing women who forged new paths within the Agency long before she began her career there in the aughts. These were women who sacrificed their personal lives, risked their safety, defied expectations, and boldly navigated the male-dominated spy organization. Through exclusive interviews with current and former female CIA officers, many of whom have never spoken publicly, Agents of Change tells an enthralling and, at times, disturbing story set against the backdrop of the evolving women''s movement. It was the 1960s, a ''secretarial'' era, when women first gained a foothold and pushed against the one-dimensional, pop-culture trope of the sexy Cold War Bond Girl. Underestimated but undaunted, they fought their way, decade-by-decade, through adversity to the top of the spy game. Seamlessly weaving together the individual stories of these exceptional women, Hillsberg deftly tackles not just the fight for gender equality at the CIA, but the current dilemma the Agency faces when dealing with the culmination of a decades-long culture of sexual harassment and assault. Each chapter sheds a light on women''s issues during that decade before bringing to life the stories of female CIA operations officers whose experiences were emblematic of that given era. In this fascinating and empowering chronicle, Hillsberg takes readers inside the Agency in a way that''s never been done before, paying long overdue tribute to the survivors and thrivers, the indispensable groundbreakers, and defiant rabble-rousers who made the choice to change their lives and in turn, changed history.

On February 15, 2010, Joseph McStay, his wife Summer, and their two young sons were reported missing from their new home in San Diego County. They left eggs and fruit rotting on the counter. Their Dodge truck sat in the driveway. Their dogs were abandoned outside without food. But investigators found no blood, signs of a struggle, or clues to their whereabouts. Did the family take an unannounced vacation? Were they running away from personal problems? Or were they victims of foul play? Nearly four years later, a motorcyclist found the McStays'' remains in and around two shallow graves, one hundred miles away in the Mojave Desert. Their skulls showed signs of blunt-force trauma, likely due to the sledgehammer buried with them. Authorities focused on Charles ''Chase'' Merritt, a close friend and subcontractor for Joseph''s company. Despite a lack of physical evidence, scenarios that defied logic, and numerous unanswered questions, prosecutors convinced a jury of Merritt''s guilt. After an emotional sentencing hearing, the judge imposed the death penalty. But did another possible suspect, who was ignored by investigators and ducked a subpoena to testify, get away with murder? In this twisting, deeply researched true-crime mystery, New York Times bestselling investigative journalist Caitlin Rother hunts for answers to reveal the truth behind a heinous crime that became a nation''s obsession, with a controversial trial in its wake, and lingering questions of justice.

How did a small-time, hip-pocket bootlegger become one of the most notorious gangsters in the country? For George ''Machine Gun'' Kelly, the answer was simple: a woman. Her name was Kathryn Thorne, a charming, strong-minded beauty who, had family connections in the crime world-and big ambitions for the tall, handsome bootlegger. By the time she met Kelly, she was already an experienced criminal herself, divorced twice and ready to marry a man who could give her the posh life she always dreamed of. With that in mind, she bought Kelly his first machine gun. And the rest is history George Kelly wasn''t a natural-born gangster and never carried a weapon bigger than a revolver. But Kathryn changed all that. Like a mobbed-up Lady Macbeth, she pushed her husband to commit greater crimes, introducing him to her friends in the underworld and convincing him to join in a series of bank robberies. Soon, the Kellys were living large, with a house in Texas, expensive jewellery, the works. But it wasn''t enough, and eventually the couple hatched a daring plot to kidnap oil tycoon Charles Urschel. Their plan worked. They collected the ransom-and captured the attention of the nation, the world and the FBI. A shocking story of ambition and greed, crime and punishment, Meet the Kellys offers a fascinating portrait of a reluctant gangster named after a machine gun and a scheming moll as driven as Bonnie Parker and Ma Barker. A must-read for true crime fans.

Robert Shaw unforgettably commanded attention as the weathered seaman Captain Quint in the blockbuster sensation, Jaws. But what came before and after that landmark film is as dramatic as the hunt for the great white shark itself. Capturing the many facets of the vibrant, generous, and sometimes polarizing man is his nephew, Christopher, who explores the forces that shaped a dynamic personality-including Robert''s indomitable mother, his deeply troubled father, and his activist sister, Joanna, with whom Robert shared an unbreakable bond. Out of the traumatic events of their childhood in the Orkney Islands and Cornwall, Mrs. Shaw pushed her children to pursue their dreams. For Robert, that dream was acting and writing. Despite a storied career on the British and American stage-as both performer and playwright-and a string of hit films including From Russia with Love, A Man for All Seasons, The Sting, and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, international celebrity eluded Robert... until he was summoned to star in ''a little horror film'' called Jaws. What happened on-screen was unforgettable. What happened off-screen was chaos. Now Christopher Shaw Myers reveals the true story of the making of the classic. Jaws would become both an artistic success and a worldwide triumph for Robert Shaw. Tragically, for a man shadowed by his father''s demons, it would also signal the beginning of the end. Drawing on family recollections, personal letters, scrapbooks, recordings, extensive interviews, and a lifetime of his own memories, Christopher paints a unique, intimate, and honest portrait of a man he was proud to call his uncle.

From the beginning, Rambo was more than a character in a 1972 novel by David Morrell. He was the culmination of the author''s personal encounters with veterans returning from the Vietnam War. The 1982 movie adaptation of First Blood reflected the novel''s powerful insights into a troubled veteran''s post-war experience. Then in 1985, the film''s explosive sequel Rambo: First Blood Part II transformed the character into something shockingly different. With a focus on blood-and-guts action and the beefed-up muscles of Sylvester Stallone - Rambo became an invincible one-man army. A new kind of hero for a new day in America. A full-blown pop-culture icon as controversial as he was crowd-pleasing - blasting his way through the most influential action film franchise in Hollywood history... The Rambo legend was born. Five feature films. Three novels. Seven video games. Countless comic books, action figures, and even an animated TV show for kids. The Rambo machine has been as unstoppable as Rambo himself. Now for the first time, Hollywood insider Nat Segaloff digs deep into the man, the myth, and the massive impact of the phenomenon known as ''The Rambo Effect.'' Packed with behind-the-scenes anecdotes, sharp cultural insights, and ongoing debates about violence in the media, this is an explosive no-holds-barred report from the front lines of Hollywood myth-making.

Rodney Dangerfield''s fidgety delivery, self-deprecating humour, and catchphrase, ''I don''t get no respect,'' made him a comedy icon in nightclubs, on television, and in movies. But Rodney''s long road to stardom was as rocky as his real life. Born Jacob Cohen in 1921 to a coldhearted mother and absentee father, anxiety-prone Jacob found escape from reality by writing and performing jokes. It led to ten years going nowhere on the ''toilets'' of the club circuit. What followed was marriage, fatherhood, selling aluminum siding, and depression, self-doubt, and debt. That''s when he decided to give comedy one last shot... Back in the clubs and thanks to a fortuitous prime time set on The Ed Sullivan Show, at the age of 45, the newly christened Rodney Dangerfield was an ''overnight'' success. It was the greatest second act in the history of show business. Rodney mined his insecurities, personal and professional setbacks, and dismal childhood into comedy gold on the The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Dean Martin Show, The Joey Bishop Show, Merv Griffin, and Mike Douglas. A generation of new fans discovered him in a string of hit comedies, including Caddyshack, Easy Money, Back to School - even popping up in Oliver Stone''s Natural Born Killers. And behind that iconic comedy persona was a caring, compassionate man who took in a hard-luck friend for the rest of his life; a dedicated father who almost singlehandedly raised two children; and a selfless and supportive mentor to such up-and-comers as Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, and George Carlin. Nobody didn''t love him. NOTHING COMES EASY gives the legend, the man, the father, and friend all the respect he deserves.