The Magic Kingdom sheds new light on the cultural icon of "Uncle Walt." Watts digs deeply into Disney's private life, investigating his roles as husband, father, and brother and providing fresh insight into his peculiar psyche-his genuine folksiness and warmth, his domineering treatment of colleagues and friends, his deepest prejudices and passions. Full of colorful sketches of daily life at the Disney Studio and tales about the creation of...

Endorsement From Emmanuel K. Akyeampong Department of History Harvard University: This book is a vivid portrayal of Ghanaian culture and customs. It is a masterful synthesis of massive information into a very accessible and highly readable text that will appeal to both academic and non-academic audiences. The accurate and highly pertinent review of history, religion, literaure and media, art and architecture, cuisine and dress, music and dance, marriage...

John Anthony West's revolutionary reinterpretation of the civilization of Egypt challenges all that has been accepted as dogma concerning Ancient Egypt. In this pioneering study West documents that: Hieroglyphs carry hermetic messages that convey the subtler realities of the Sacred Science of the Pharaohs. Egyptian science, medicine, mathematics, and astronomy were more sophisticated than most modern Egyptologists acknowledge. Egyptian knowledge of...

"The American decorator Elsie de Wolfe (1858-1950) was the international set's preeminent hostess in Paris during the interwar years. She had a legendary villa in Versailles, where in the late 1930s she held two fabulous parties--her Circus Balls--that marked the end of the social scene that her friend Cole Porter perfectly captured in his songs, as the clouds of war swept through Europe. Charlie Scheips tells the story of these glamorous parties...

"In this major collection of his essays, Alberto Manguel, whom George Steiner has called 'the Casanova of reading, ' argues that the activity of reading, in its broadest sense, defines our species. 'We come into the world intent on finding narrative in everything, ' writes Manguel, 'landscape, the skies, the faces of others, the images and words that our species create.' Reading our own lives and those of others, reading the societies we live in and...

"Tracing what the library has meant since its beginning, examining how its significance has shifted, and pondering its importance in the twenty-first century, significant contributors--including the librarian of the Congress and the former executive director of the HathiTrust--present a cultural history of the library"--Dust jacket flap.

"What every American needs to know"--Jacket subtitle.

Covers over thirty of Africa's most populous and well-known ethnic groups.

Describes many things that originally came from Switzerland, including inventions, food, animals, sports, transportation, and medicine.