Bill Geist

Before there was "tourism" or "leisure time;" before souvenir ashtrays became "camp" and "kitsch;" before Goofy Golf became an "attraction" and today's colossal theme parks could even be imagined, there was "Beautiful Lake of the Ozarks -- Family Vacationland," where to this day the ashtrays remain devoid of irony. It was here, at Arrowhead Lodge at Lake of the Ozarks, where Bill Geist spent his summers between high school and college working at this tacky resort. What may have seemed "just a summer job" became, upon reflection, a transformative era where a cast of eccentric, small-town characters and experiences would make Bill the man he is today. Bill realized it was this time in his life that would shape his sensibilities, his humor, his writing, and ultimately a career searching the world for other such untamed characters for The Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. In LAKE OF THE OZARKS, two-time Emmy Award-winning CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Bill Geist reflects on his coming of age in the American heartland of the Midwest and traces his evolution as a man and a writer, in the summers between high school and college, before he went off to Vietnam and the country went to Hell. Written with Geistian warmth and quirky humor, LAKE OF THE OZARKS takes readers back to a bygone era, and shows how you can find inspiration in the most unexpected places.

My Surreal Summers in a Vanishing America

Lake of the Ozarks

William Geist

One Coach's Completely Unauthorized Tale of Survival

Little League Confidential

A journalist dad tells of his exhilarating experiences coaching his son’s Little League team with anecdotes about a ballerina batter, an unfair umpire uncle, and other stories that provide a fresh perspective on an American institution.

Willie Geist

Bill Geist--the beloved, award-winning, long-time special correspondent for "CBS: Sunday Morning," whose debut Little League Confidential was a New York Times bestseller in hardcover and paper--and Willie Geist, the Today Show host, popular member of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," and author of the best-selling American Freak Show--have begun an extended conversation between father and son on areas of mutual interest, agreement, and disagreement. Told in a unique back-and-forth banter style, the hilarious father-son team will laugh together at the shared journey of their relationship. They'll riff on fatherhood, religion, music, sports, summer camp disasters, driving lessons gone horribly wrong, being on TV, and their wonderfully odd family life. Think Big Russ and Me meets S*** My Dad Says, with humorous observations about professional wrestling as a worldview, raising a kid with television cameras in the kitchen, and anything and everything else that comes to their witty minds. The Geists decided to write this book so their children and grandchildren would have a record of their unusual father-son relationship. The book is remarkably funny, as well as poignant and sincere, especially in light of Bill's announcement that he's been diagnosed with Parkinson's. With its lighthearted look at the crazy things fathers and sons go through and the unique bond those experiences forge, the book is sure to be a must-have gift for Father's Day.

Bill Geist

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