For silent film pioneers like Buster Keaton, everything that appeared on the screen in the film actually had to happen. The Directors and stunt co-ordinators who followed had to think out of the box to surpass the previous thrills. It was not until the 1970s that computers stepped in to fill in the blanks. The risks were real, the skills required in surviving such feats were breath-taking and the impact of this on the quality of the films was reflected in the audiences which loved them. We are still talking about these pioneering action sequences many years after they were made. These performers were the pioneers, the original daredevils who set the bar so high and those who follow in their footsteps must at least equal or surpass these moments in film. Hollywood's Pioneering Daredevils highlights the best, most ground-breaking and most memorable cinematic action of the golden age of Hollywood and how it has changed, from the birth of cinema to the very latest blockbusters. It introduces the innovators of these action sequences and their directors. These were the experts who mastered the art, sometimes paying the ultimate price to thrill us, and the stars who made daring-do their trademark signature in their films. What would a swashbuckler film be without Errol Flynn, a car or motorbike chase without Steve McQueen or a western without John Wayne? Written by someone who recognises and appreciates the skills involved, having done some of it himself, Hollywood's Pioneering Daredevils will enable readers to appreciate the creativity, innovation and the skills of the film daredevils of all ages, before computer generated imagery took over.

Ever watched a war film made in the 1940’s or 50’s and asked, did this really happen or is it a fictional action story made to entertain? Every one of these classic British war films had a vital purpose in telling the narrative of the conflict; providing honesty, advice and consolation, these films helped a nation through the uncertain years before the outbreak of the war; supporting them in the darkest days of the blitz when invasion and defeat by Nazi Germany was a real possibility; celebrating their victories and consoling them through the trauma of surviving an unwanted war, leaving their once prosperous country bankrupt and in ruins. British war films are the unsung heroes of the world conflict. How many people know of the British Army Film and Photographic Unit? Who acknowledges the unit that captured live footage of the war for the world, with the highest casualty rates of any regiment at the time? Your Sunday afternoon war film has much more to it than you may have thought. Bovril & Sherry: The Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat of British War Films highlights the deep feelings and purpose held by the film makers who made them and the bold, insightful thinking of the Ministry of Information who green lit these productions.

Texas shows its best moves in dance halls that dot its landscape. Wherever they've found fiddlers and dance floors, Texans have been tickled into motion. And for a century and a half, they've been kicking up dust in dance halls across the state. Writing about the eighteen she knows best, Gail Folkins celebrates how these halls still bring people together and foster joy. Folkins etches portraits of proprietors who give space for music and dancing, of musicians who furnish the soundtrack for dramas and comedies that play out across hardwood or concrete floors, and of people who come to dance, listen, or simply share the experience with friends and neighbors. Paired with Marcus Weekley's photographs, some whirling and some dreamy, they capture beat and motion, even the scent of sawdust on the floor. Drawn in, we witness daytime preparations for evenings to come, and the quiet that returns after the dancers go home and the musicians have packed up for the night. Moving from Twin Sisters near New Braunfels to legendary Luckenbach, we meet the third generation in a family of makers of music and keepers of dance halls. And then there are the descendants of Czech Catholic settlers coming to dance under the giant letters KJT (Katolika Jednota Texaska). At Coupland Dance Hall, we sense ghostly apparitions of pioneer women in long skirts. Very much in the twenty-first century, we share a dance floor with tourists and university types among the kitschy accoutrements at Austins Broken Spoke.

Take One, Action! takes you behind the scenes of swordplay in film - written by professional swordsman and film director Andy Wilkinson who has appeared in over seventy-three films, including many Hollywood blockbusters. Part memoir, part film and swordplay manual, this is a must read for all aspiring actors, swordsmen, fight choreographers and film directors. It will also appeal to theatre, film and fencing students, entertainment historians and those who thirst for an insight into the world of swordsmen and the art of making movies. It also incorporates intriguing nuggets of information from both swordplay and film worlds, such as: Why do spiral staircases rise clockwise? Which Hollywood star was a British Army fencing champion? Where did the term slapstick originate? With advice, anecdotes, a valuable guide to fencing terminology and illustrated with photos, this is an unusual guide to a greatly misunderstood art.

Before Big Love, before Eldorado, a groundbreaking memoir explored polygamy, not with outrage but with honesty and grace. In 1984, when polygamous groups knew little but the fear and pain of secrecy and hiding, Dorothy Allred Solomon, the twenty-eighth of forty-eight children, went public with her family's story. Descended from five generations of Mormon polygamy, Solomon evokes the fervor and dedication that bound the Allreds to living the Principle. She vividly renders the persecution and poverty she knew as a child, the joyous awe of a fathers too-rare presence, and an abiding hunger for autonomy. Confronting the paradox of a faith that seals loved ones as families for eternity but casts them as outlaws in the here and now, she traces the events that culminated in her father's 1977 assassination, a tragedy that rocked all Utah. Now, more than a quarter century later, Solomon revisits her story in a new preface and epilogue and in light of recent events that continue to rivet attention and spotlight our national struggle for understanding and fairness.