Greg Villepique

"Castration: An Abbreviated History of Western Manhood" by Gary Taylor
A look at eunuchs through the ages offers a provocative take on what it means to be a man.
"Upside Down" by Eduardo Galeano "Upside Down" by Eduardo Galeano
The author of "Memory of Fire" delivers a scathing, mischievous indictment of North America's hypocrisy and consumer culture.
"Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley" "Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley"
A biography of the spooky, sex- and drug-addled egomaniac who became an icon to generations of wannabe occultists.
"The Dragon Syndicates" by Martin Booth "The Dragon Syndicates" by Martin Booth
The blood-soaked history of the Chinese secret societies that started the heroin trade and invented the "death by myriad swords."
"Collapse: When Buildings Fall Down" by Phillip Wearne
Read the hair-raising details of how and why man-made structures come tumbling to earth!
"Emotionally Weird" by Kate Atkinson
Stories proliferate in a giddy, madcap novel crammed with stoner students, crazy professors and long-kept family secrets.
Roger Corman Roger Corman
The King of B movies became an industry giant by keeping budgets lean, and his films rich with breasts, bikers and blood.
"Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
In another sidesplitting collection, the author writes about his foulmouthed brother, his hopeless French and his brief career as a speed-freak performance artist.
"Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic: The Aesthetics of Consumerism" by Daniel Harris
With the malice of a gifted comic, an angry author argues that our "personal" tastes are something we were sold by advertising.
"Circumcision" by David L. Gollaher
A physician argues the case against lopping it off.
David Bowie
As the master of self-reinvention -- from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke to Normal David -- he became the most influential rock star of the post-Beatles era.
"Nat King Cole" by Daniel Mark Epstein
A top-notch biography celebrates the jazz piano genius who gained his greatest fame as a pop singer.
Patti Smith
A punk icon in jeans and leather jacket, she added ecstasy and spiritual exaltation to the poet-songwriter equation.
"Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story"
An account of one of rock 'n' roll's legendary drummers doesn't go deep enough.
"A Short History of Rudeness"
How can a writer investigate manners when his definition of manners includes everything we do?
"Killer in Drag" and "Death of a Transvestite"
The hopelessly inept transvestite filmmaker was also, it turns out, a hopelessly inept transvestite novelist.

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