The Five Acts of Diego Leon

The Five Acts of Diego Leon
Author: Alex Espinoza
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2013-03-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0812984633

Acclaimed author Alex Espinoza, whose writing Lisa See has called “fresh, magical, beautiful, and evocative,” returns with a captivating, unforgettable novel set in Hollywood’s Golden Age, as a gifted and determined young man leaves Mexico—and everything he’s ever known—to follow his dreams. Growing up in a rural village at the height of the Mexican Revolution, Diego León has many first loves: singing, dancing, and hearing the stories of his ancestors, the P’urhépecha. But when tragedy strikes, young Diego is sent to the city to live with his aristocratic grandparents, who insist he forget his roots and groom him to take over the family business. Under pressure to enter a profession—and a life—he cares nothing for, and haunted by the violence once again erupting all around him, Diego flees his war-torn country to forge his own destiny. Diego arrives in Hollywood in 1927, when silent films are giving way to talkies, Prohibition is in full swing, and “Latin lover” types are sought out even as they are looked down upon. Working his way up in the movie business with talent and ingenuity, Diego soon figures out that getting one’s face on the silver screen has as much to do with what goes on behind the camera as what goes on in front of it. But the closer Diego comes to stardom, the more he finds that the past is not so easily escaped, as he is drawn again and again to the painful legacy of history and the wounds of his homeland. A sweeping, sensual novel of love, ambition, and identity, The Five Acts of Diego León bears all the marks of a classic Hollywood story: romance, betrayal, glamour, and an underdog hero to root for till the end. “An elegant, startling vision of a Mexican in America, The Five Acts of Diego León proclaims the ascendance of a unique new talent, Alex Espinoza—a Chicano in America certain to surpass the fame of his novel’s silent Hollywood hero. Espinoza takes our literature from a mute, black-and-white era to a national stage with full-spectrum color, in high-tech surround sound.”—Dagoberto Gilb, author of Before the End, After the Beginning

The Five Acts of Diego León

The Five Acts of Diego León
Author: Alex Espinoza
Publisher: Random House Incorporated
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2013
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1400065402

Having grown up in a rural village in revolutionary Mexico, gifted Diego Leâon arrives in Hollywood in 1927 determined to succeed in the movie industry, only to find that stardom cannot erase the painful legacy of his homeland.

Cruising

Cruising
Author: Alex Espinoza
Publisher:
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2019-06-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781944700829

Acclaimed author Alex Espinoza takes readers on an uncensored journey through the underground, to reveal the timeless art of cruising. Combining historical research and oral history with his own personal experience, Espinoza examines the political and cultural forces behind this radical pastime. From Greek antiquity to the notorious Molly houses of 18th century England, the raucous 1970s to the algorithms of Grindr, Oscar Wilde to George Michael, cruising remains at once a reclamation of public space and the creation of its own unique locale―one in which men of all races and classes interact, even in the shadow of repressive governments

Arcade

Arcade
Author: Drew Nellins Smith
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781939419729

A new world opens up to Sam when, fresh from a breakup, he discovers a XXX peepshow on the outskirts of town. More than a mere venue for closeted men to meet for anonymous sex, it's an underground subculture populated by regular players, and marked by innumerable coded rules and customs. A welcome diversion from his dead-end job and the compulsive cyberstalking of the cop who broke his heart, Sam returns to the arcade again and again. When the bizarre setting triggers reflections on his own history and theories, he contemplates his anxious, religious upbringing in small-town Texas, the frightening overlap between horror movies and his love life, and the false expectations created by multiple childhood viewings of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Then, of course, there isthe subject of sex. As his connection to the place strengthens, and his actions both outside and within the peepshow escalate, Sam wavers between dismissing the arcade as a frivolous pastime and accepting it as the most meaningful place in his life.Arcade is a relentlessly candid and graphic account of one man's attempt to square immutable desire with a carefully constructed self-image on the brink.

The Modernist Art of Queer Survival

The Modernist Art of Queer Survival
Author: Benjamin Bateman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2018
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 0190676531

Drawing on a critical framework informed by queer theory and psychoanalysis, The Modernist Art of Queer Survival offers a new definition of survival, one that means more than merely the continuation of life. This book creates a literary archive of counterarguments to the conventional Darwinian evolutionary protocols of survival in early 20th century thought.

The Girls in My Town

The Girls in My Town
Author: Angela Morales
Publisher: UNM Press
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2016-04-01
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 082635663X

The autobiographical essays in The Girls in My Town create an unforgettable portrait of a family in Los Angeles. Reaching back to her grandmother’s childhood and navigating through her own girlhood and on to the present, Angela Morales contemplates moments of loss and longing, truth and beauty, motherhood and daughterhood. She writes about her parents’ appliance store and how she escaped from it, the bowling alley that provided refuge, and the strange and beautiful things she sees while riding her bike in the early mornings. She remembers fighting for equal rights for girls as a sixth grader, calling the cops when her parents fought, and listening with her mother to Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman,” the soundtrack of her parents’ divorce. Poignant, serious, and funny, Morales’s book is both a coming-of-age story and an exploration of how a writer discovers her voice.

Against the Gods

Against the Gods
Author: Peter L. Bernstein
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2012-09-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0470534532

A Business Week, New York Times Business, and USA Today Bestseller "Ambitious and readable . . . an engaging introduction to the oddsmakers, whom Bernstein regards as true humanists helping to release mankind from the choke holds of superstition and fatalism." —The New York Times "An extraordinarily entertaining and informative book." —The Wall Street Journal "A lively panoramic book . . . Against the Gods sets up an ambitious premise and then delivers on it." —Business Week "Deserves to be, and surely will be, widely read." —The Economist "[A] challenging book, one that may change forever the way people think about the world." —Worth "No one else could have written a book of such central importance with so much charm and excitement." —Robert Heilbroner author, The Worldly Philosophers "With his wonderful knowledge of the history and current manifestations of risk, Peter Bernstein brings us Against the Gods. Nothing like it will come out of the financial world this year or ever. I speak carefully: no one should miss it." —John Kenneth Galbraith Professor of Economics Emeritus, Harvard University In this unique exploration of the role of risk in our society, Peter Bernstein argues that the notion of bringing risk under control is one of the central ideas that distinguishes modern times from the distant past. Against the Gods chronicles the remarkable intellectual adventure that liberated humanity from oracles and soothsayers by means of the powerful tools of risk management that are available to us today. "An extremely readable history of risk." —Barron's "Fascinating . . . this challenging volume will help you understand the uncertainties that every investor must face." —Money "A singular achievement." —Times Literary Supplement "There's a growing market for savants who can render the recondite intelligibly-witness Stephen Jay Gould (natural history), Oliver Sacks (disease), Richard Dawkins (heredity), James Gleick (physics), Paul Krugman (economics)-and Bernstein would mingle well in their company." —The Australian

Go Be Kind

Go Be Kind
Author: Leon Logothetis
Publisher: BenBella Books
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2019-03-26
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 194883622X

You only have to change one life in order to change the world. The question is: Are you ready? Go Be Kind isn't just a journal or another how-to guide to creating the life you want. It's a series of daily adventures that will help you rediscover the greatest human gift—kindness, which inspires interpersonal connection and is the most rewarding way to lead a more magnificent life. Created by Leon Logothetis, host of The Kindness Diaries on Netflix, this life-changing book is filled with highly classified missions, treasure hunts, dream dates, awkward moments, and daily adventures that are guaranteed to change your life. You will step outside of your comfort zone. You will become best friends with total strangers. Some of the adventures can be done while you're falling asleep at night. Some of them will open your eyes to things you've never seen before. And all of them are really easy. It might take 28 ½ days. It might take 11. Or you can take all the time you need (the adventure is up to you). This adventure is about to change your life. And someone else's, too . . . Because once we start being kind, we realize that there is no faster way to happiness. It will change how you see the world, how you connect with other people, and how you connect with yourself. And it starts with you. Let's do it. #gobekind

Whiteness on the Border

Whiteness on the Border
Author: Lee Bebout
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2016-12-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1479858536

The many lenses of racism through which the white imagination sees Mexicans and Chicanos Historically, ideas of whiteness and Americanness have been built on the backs of racialized communities. The legacy of anti-Mexican stereotypes stretches back to the early nineteenth century when Anglo-American settlers first came into regular contact with Mexico and Mexicans. The images of the Mexican Other as lawless, exotic, or non-industrious continue to circulate today within US popular and political culture. Through keen analysis of music, film, literature, and US politics, Whiteness on the Border demonstrates how contemporary representations of Mexicans and Chicano/as are pushed further to foster the idea of whiteness as Americanness. Illustrating how the ideologies, stories, and images of racial hierarchy align with and support those of fervent US nationalism, Lee Bebout maps the relationship between whiteness and American exceptionalism. He examines how renderings of the Mexican Other have expressed white fear, and formed a besieged solidarity in anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. Moreover, Whiteness on the Border elucidates how seemingly positive representations of Mexico and Chicano/as are actually used to reinforce investments in white American goodness and obscure systems of racial inequality. Whiteness on the Border pushes readers to consider how the racial logic of the past continues to thrive in the present.