American Movie

Born into the steam and starch of a Chinese laundry, Anna May Wong (1905-1961) emerged from turn-of-the-century Los Angeles to become Old Hollywood's most famous Chinese American actress, a screen siren who captivated global audiences and signed her publicity photos—with a touch of defiance—"Orientally yours." Now, more than a century after her birth, Yunte Huang narrates Wong's tragic life story, retracing her journey from Chinatown to silent-era Hollywood, and from Weimar Berlin to decadent, prewar Shanghai, and capturing American television in its infancy.

John Ford and John Wayne, two titans of classic film, made some of the most enduring movies of all time. The genre they defined—the Western—and the heroic archetype they built still matter today. For more than twenty years John Ford and John Wayne were a blockbuster Hollywood team...

An ISIS terrorist planned to kill more than 500 people. He would have succeeded except for three American friends who refused to give in to fear. On August 21, 2015, Ayoub El-Khazzani boarded train #9364 in Brussels, bound for Paris. There could be no doubt about his mission: he had an AK-47, a...

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Winner of the 2022 Colorado Book Award for General Nonfiction Winner of the 2022 High Plains Book Award for Creative Nonfiction Now the basis for an investigative documentary of the same name, award-winning journalist Julian Rubinstein's The Holly...

The true story behind the film starring Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker and Garrett Hedlund; written and directed by Andrew Heckler; produced by Academy Award nominee Robbie Brenner (Dallas Buyers Club) A powerful, timely story about an African American reverend whose faith compelled him...

Day Dreams and Movie Screens is book two in the Faithgirlz series Lena in the Spotlight, written by Alena Pitts, star of The War Room and tween blogger of For Girls Like You, and cowritten with her mother, editor and author Wynter Pitts. In this fiction story that will appeal to young girls who...

I’ll Be Home for Christmas is a moving story that reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas. Noelle Mitchell never explained why she abruptly ran away from home at the age of fifteen. All anyone knew was that her boyfriend, Reno, convinced her to abandon her family. But when she shows up at...

Michael Jackson's journey to fame began in 1966 at age eight, when he started singing with his brothers in the Jackson 5. In the early 1970s, he launched a solo career, accumulating a dozen number-one singles. His record-breaking album, Thriller, has sold an estimated 110 million copies worldwide. He won 17 Grammy awards and was introduced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. In 2009, people of all ages mourned Michael's sudden death.