In his highly anticipated follow up to Final Exits and The Portable Obituary, Michael Largo tackles the art of the famous demise from another archly inventive angle.  Genius and Heroin archives the self-destructive lives and deaths of the extremely gifted from all arenas, including actors, politicians, athletes, scientists, musicians and military leaders.  Genius and Heroin is a reference guide that explores the paradox of an artist’s angst, that which prompts both inspiration and torment.  Largo’s work is a profound new addition to the public debate on whether personal agony is a necessary component to being publicly immortalized.

Look for Michael Largo’s new book Blinded by the Light coming June 2010 from HarperCollins.

Buy It Now

The Portable Obituary: How the Famous, Rich and Powerful Really Died
by Michael Largo

In The Portable Obituary, the second in a series examining death, author Michael Largo reveals the true last days of public figures and reviews their lives from the vantage point of their demise. He examines how a famous and celebrated person's deeds, intimate habits and lifestyles ultimately influence their mode of death, and in due course, determine their role in history and culture.

Buy It Now

Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of How We Die
by Michael Largo

We’re all going to die - it’s in the contract - but how will it happen? Today, although we live longer, people are killed by everything, including some outrageous causes as bad words, bingo, bloodletting, flying cows, frozen toilets, eating hair, hiccups, laughing, spontaneous combustion, and toupees! According to death certificates, there are more than 3, 000 ways to die. In the eye-opening and addictive Final Exits, the ways we die - bizarre and common - are alphabetically arranged and include actual accounts of people both famous and ordinary.

Thoroughly researched, with uncanny historical detail covering burial customs, famous last words, and more than 400 medical and historical illustrations from throughout the ages, Final Exits is more than just a trivia book. It is a portrait in words and numbers of human fate.

Buy It Now

Britney Spears' Heart To Heart
by Britney Spears

New York Times Bestseller

American singing sensation Britney Spears and her mom talk about life, love, fame and following your dreams.

Britney Spears makes success look simple. As Brit will tell you, though, success is hard work - you need talent, belief in yourself and someone else who believes in you. For Britney, that person has always been her mother, Lynne Spears, who is not just Britney's mama but also her best friend.

Featuring never-before-seen photos and dozens of behind-the-scenes stories about life at home, in the studio, and on the road, Britney Spears' Heart to Heart is not only a must-have for Britney fans, it's also an honest look at what it's like for girls to grow up in today's world. Here's straight talk from the heart, from a mother and daughter who know that love, faith and family always come first.

Buy It Now

Jug Fishing for Greazy and other Brad Paisley Fishing Stories
by Brad Paisley and M.B. Roberts

Jug Fishing for Greazy and Other Brad Paisley Fishing Stories is a collection of some of Brad's favorite fishing memories including: Fishing with important men in his life such as his grandfather, Little Jimmy Dickens, World champion Bass angler Hank Parker, and his best friend and co-writer, Kelley Lovelace; and the time when members of Lonestar filled Brad's onstage water bottle with minnows and sat in the front row of the concert hall throwing minnows at his forehead as he tried to sing "I'm Gonna Miss Her."

The book includes an enhanced CD single of the song and the popular video for "I'm Gonna Miss Her".

Buy It Now

Oval Office Occult: True Stories of White House Weirdness
by Brian M. Thomsen

Brian M. Thomsen offers an array chilling and enticing accounts of spirits, specters, and supernatural beliefs from and about those who have inhabited the White House. It is time to discover which U.S. presidents have encountered UFOs, and which believe that they have associated with ghosts, as well as which of our nation's leaders have delved into fortune telling or consulted with factions of the occult.

These strange but true accounts also include George Washington's visions, Ronald and Nancy Reagan's reliance on psychics, the haunted homes of Dolly Madison and Rosalyn Carter, Jimmy Carter's UFO sighting, Hillary Clinton's experience with channeling, the mysterious curse of Tecumseh, the secret societies of presidents, and much more.

Buy It Now

Haunting Museums
by John Schuster

The spectacularly successful movie A Night at the Museum was a fantastic look at the off-hours wonders of the American Museum of Natural History. However, some of the real behind-the-scenes stories are more fantastic than anything a screenwriter could dream up. Haunting Museums covers these overlooked bits of history including curses, mistaken dinosaurs, conspiracy plots of the founding fathers, spectral evidence of the afterlife, and other unsettling matters on full display.

In addition to many other intriguing stories of the fantastical, Haunting Museums details:

• The Carnegie Sauropods, Or Bring Me the Head of Apatosaurus Louisae – the story of a dinosaur on display for close to a half a century with the wrong head.
• What’s on that Broad Stripe with Those Bright Stars? – the quizzical mark on the flag that is known as the Star Spangled banner.
• The 1897 Living Eskimo Exhibit – where living people were put on display and turned over to the taxidermist for “preservation" after they died.
• Man-eaters at the Museum: The Lions That Stopped a Railroad – the story of the Maneless lions made legendary by the movie the Ghost in the Darkness.
• So Where is Amelia Earhart? – the exhibit at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum of the most famous missing aviatrix of all time.

Buy It Now

The First Hollywood
by Shawn Bean

In May of 1901, a devastating fire razed the town of Jacksonville, destroying 2,368 buildings and killing seven. This disaster was quickly met by a rebuilding effort that inadvertently created the ideal location for film production companies. Before long, 15 major studios, including Fox and Metro Pictures, had studios in Jacksonville, and the local government began offering tax incentives to Hollywood studios willing to move their companies east. Jacksonville flourished in its new role as film hub, catering to both sides of the film industry's racial issues. While Hollywood remained virtually untouched by the effects of the war, however, Jacksonville suffered greatly. Between the near monopoly the military held on railroad use and the flu epidemic's toll on theater attendance in the Northeast and South, Jacksonville was unable to survive the crippling effects of the war.

In The First Hollywood, Shawn Bean traces the rise and fall of the silent film industry in Jacksonville, Florida.

Buy It Now

Hollywood's Most Wanted
by Floyd Conner

Warren Beatty's first job was as a rat catcher in a Washington, D.C. theater. When Jack Nicholson first arrived in Hollywood, he sorted fan mail for the cartoon characters Tom and Jerry. Alan Ladd was discovered operating a hotdog stand outside a studio. George Hamilton used to throw away his socks after wearing them only once. Tough guy Charles Bronson was so poor as a kid that he wore his sister's hand-me-down dresses. Judy Garland was turned down for a role in the "Our Gang" comedies. Ronald Reagan rejected the role of Rick in Casablanca, later made famous by Humphrey Bogart.

The history of Hollywood is filled with the strange, the bizarre and the unbelievable. The 70 lists in Hollywood's Most Wanted describe in amusing detail Hollywood's top 10 worst movies, most dreadful performances, biggest bombs, funniest real names, sexiest blonde bombshells, most intriguing mysteries, most audacious publicity stunts, oddest couples, most inauspicious debuts, weirdest pre-acting jobs, most scandalous behavior, strangest deaths and more.

Buy It Now

Bridesmaids
by M.B. Roberts

Few brides would dare to walk down the aisle without their bridesmaids close at hand. Almost every American woman has been a bridesmaid and experienced the dress (which, despite the bride's promise, will never be worn again), the dyed-to-match shoes, and the task of calming and comforting a nervous bride. For doing all that they do with a smile, bridesmaids deserve this lovely tribute. The intimate duotone photographs celebrate the friendship between a bride and her bridesmaids with beauty and poignancy. Captions such as "She's someone I can count on," "She keeps me grounded," and "She remembers things that I forget" let bridesmaids know just why they are so special. Bridesmaids will treasure this special keepsake long after they have sent the dress to Goodwill.

Buy It Now