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A fascinating look at the other side of the Opium Wars In this tragic and powerful story, the two Opium Wars of 1839–1842 and 1856–1860 between Britain and China are recounted for the first time through the eyes of the Chinese as well as the Imperial West. Opium entered China during the Middle Ages when Arab traders brought it into China for medicinal purposes. As it took hold as a recreational drug, opium wrought havoc on Chinese society. By the early nineteenth century, 90 percent of the Emperor's court and the majority of the army were opium addicts. Britain was also a nation addicted—to tea, grown in China, and paid for with profits made from the opium trade. When China tried to ba...
With his sculpted physique and brooding good looks, Sylvester Stallone remains the quintessential movie star. In this biography--based on exclusive interviews with Stallone, his outspoken mother, his second wife, and a host of fellow celebrities and friends--this most private of public figures is revealed. Frank Sanello looks not only at Stallone's personal life, which fans will find as compelling as any of his action pictures, but also at his film career, from cartoon icon to failed comic actor to re-energized action hero. Frank Sanello has written biographies of Sharon Stone, Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, and Steven Spielberg. A former film critic for the Los Angeles Daily News, his work has also appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and People.
All too often, highly fictionalized cinematic depictions of the past are accepted as the unassailable truth by those unfamiliar with the "real" account. This book profiles sixty movies that portray actual moments in history, and compares the mythologized account of each event to what really happened. Movies chronicled include The Ten Commandments, Spartacus, A Man for All Seasons, Gladiator, Gandhi, Apollo 13, The Thin Red Line, Dances with Wolves, Braveheart, The Last Emperor, All the Presidents Men, Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone with the Wind, Bonnie & Clyde, Patton, and Elizabeth. Sanello also contrasts several historical figures with their filmed treatments, including Julius Caesar, Henry V, Christopher Columbus, Joan of Arc, Sir Thomas More, Jesus Christ, Catherine the Great, Sigmund Freud, and Harry Houdini. Lavishly illustrated with sixty film stills, Reel v. Real shows how a happening's genuine details are frequently reshaped and distorted by Hollywood's bottomless appetite for over-the-top flamboyance and melodrama.
Through exclusive interviews with her family members, friends, and colleagues, this unauthorized, often incendiary, biography reveals a Sharon Stone little known to the public. "Naked Instinct" explores the actress's colorful love life and exposes the foibles, excesses, ambitions and fears of this driven and remarkable woman. photos, many in color.
Gives a vivid description about how the Templars were formed as a strict religious-military order, how they got the political and financial power beyond the military power, and their passed down legends.
This fascinating profile of Eddie Murphy details the complicated life of the comic actor, revealing the private demons and public outbursts that have created one of the most complex--and successful--figures in the entertainment industry today. of photos, many in color.
This unauthorized biography recounts Speilberg's childhood, education, career, philanthropic endeavors and his latest filmmaking efforts.
Some acting careers are made by one great role and some fall into obscurity when one is declined. Would Al Pacino be the star he is today if Robert Redford had accepted the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather? Imagine Tom Hanks rejecting Uma Thurman, saying that she acted like someone in a high school play when she auditioned to play opposite him in The Bonfire of the Vanities. Picture Danny Thomas as The Godfather, or Marilyn Monroe as Cleopatra. This reference work lists hundreds of such stories: actors who didn't get cast or who turned down certain parts. Each entry, organized alphabetically by film title, gives the character and actor cast, a list of other actors considered for that role, and the details of the casting decision. Information is drawn from extensive research and interviews. From About Last Night (which John Belushi turned down at his brother's urging) to Zulu (in which Michael Caine was not cast because he didn't look "Cockney" enough), this book lets you imagine how different your favorite films could have been.
Three-dimensional stereoviews were wildly popular in the mid-19th century. Yet public infatuation fueled highbrow scorn, and even when they fell from favor, critics retained their disdain. Thus a dazzling body of photographic work has unjustly been buried. This book explores how compelling images were made by carefully combining subject matter, composition, lighting, tonality, blocking and depth. It draws upon the fine arts, the mass media, humanities, history, and even geology. Throughout, overlooked photographers are celebrated, such as the one who found extraordinary visual parallels within nature, anticipating Cezanne and Seurat--or the one who refused to play favorites during a bitter war and found humanity on both sides--or the one who took a favorite American glen and found menace all about. Stereographers were actually more like film directors or television producers than large format photographers: the best ones fused artistry with commercial appeal.