Daniel O'Brien

Based on in-depth research and accompanied by informative illustrations, this hilarious history book collects the most wildest, manliest, interesting and badass facts about every U.S. president. Original. 25,000 first printing.

Defending Yourself Against the Badasses Who Ran This Country

How to Fight Presidents

Few careers in Hollywood can match the highs and lows of Robert Altman's. In the past several years, The Player, and Short Cuts especially have seen the director - who has been written off time and again - emerge as a major creative force. (Critical reception of Ready to Wear, his latest film, also fits the pattern of Altman's career.). O'Brien explores the causes for Altman's rise and fall from critical acclaim, as well as the director's unconventional attitudes to the film-making process, which may have left him better equipped than many to adjust to the bitter realities of the Hollywood film industry. He is a true Hollywood survivor. Altman's comeback in the 1990s, and the accompanying reappraisal of his earlier work, is fully discussed and documented, right up to the present. By exploring a rich and varied career, this book reveals Robert Altman's unique position in American culture and world cinema.

Hollywood Survivor

Robert Altman

Humorously Invites readers to evaluate thirty-nine presidents, from George Washington to Ronald Reagan, and then draft their own presidential fantasy team.

Your Presidential Fantasy Dream Team

For readers & cinema buffs, an essential guide to the novels & films of Thomas Harris & to the greatest screen villain of our time.

The Unauthorised Guide to the Hannibal Lecter Trilogy

The Hannibal Files

Evolution and Hybridisation in the Peplum Genre

Heroic Masculinities

An in-depth study of one of Hollywood's great leading men: philanthropist, model husband, world-class racing driver, and authentic silver-screen icon, one of the last and greatest living links between Hollywood's golden age and its post-studio-system era. Newman's best known films, including The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, are cherished the world over. Daniel O'Brien explores the lineage of Newman's life, including his studies at New York's fabled Actors Studio, his stunningly successful marriage to Joanne Woodward, the tragedy of his lost son, and his commitment to political activism and good causes.

Paul Newman

If films drawing on Middle East tropes often highlight white Westerners, figures such as Sinbad and the Thief of Bagdad embody a counter-tradition of protagonists, derived from Islamic folklore and history, who are portrayed as ‘Other’ to Western audiences. In Muslim Heroes on Screen, Daniel O’Brien explores the depiction of these characters in Euro-American cinema from the silent era to the present day. Far from being mere racial masquerade, these screen portrayals are more complex and nuanced than is generally allowed, not least in terms of the shifting concepts and assumptions that inform their Muslim identity. Using films ranging from Douglas Fairbanks’ The Thief of Bagdad, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, El Cid, Kingdom of Heaven and The Message to The Wind and the Lion, O’Brien considers how the representational strategies of Western filmmakers may transcend such Muslim stereotypes as fanatic antagonists or passive victims. These figures possess a cultural significance which cannot be fully appreciated by Euro-American audiences without reference to their distinction as Muslim heroes and the implications and resonances of an Islamicized protagonist.

Muslim Heroes on Screen

Draft your own presidential fantasy team, based on these hilarious-but-true profiles of our past leaders, in this fun and funny illustrated book perfect for fans of How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous and Kid Presidents! What if a zombie apocalypse or a robot uprising threatened the nation and you had the power to recruit some of the nation’s finest presidents to help save the day? By studying the most successful squads in history, Daniel O’Brien has identified the perfect ingredients for a victorious team. Which president would you choose for: the Brain, the Brawn, the Moral Compass, the Loose Cannon, and the Roosevelt? Choose wisely—the fate of the world is in your hands! "Aiming squarely at a sports-obsessed, statistics-mad and gross-out friendly audience, the madcap, utterly irreverent Your Presidential Fantasy Dream Team may be on to something." —New York Times "O'Brien takes a non-holds-barred approach to describing each man's strengths, weaknesses, and reputation . . . Rowntree's over-the-top illustrations picture ratchet up the humor even more." —PW "A warts-and-all look at two centuries of presidential leadership and politics." —Kirkus Reviews

On The Town... High Society... From Here To Eternity... The Man With The Golden Arm... Guys and Dolls... The Manchurian Candidate... Van Ryan's Express... The films of Frank Sinatra are startling in their diversity and sheer range. Musicals, comedies, thrillers, war films, intense dramas, sagas of small town America. In The Frank Sinatra Film Guide, Daniel O'Brien provides detailed information on all of Sinatra's movies, co-stars, collaborators and directors - and naturally, full details on all the musical numbers from the films. As well as reassessing Sinatra's contribution to a wide variety of screen genres, O'Brien restates the case for Sinatra as a major and innovative film actor. A true film star, even if he had never sung a note

The Frank Sinatra Film Guide

How British Science Fiction Changed the World

SF/UK

This book provides wide-ranging commentary on depictions of the black male in mainstream cinema. O’Brien explores the extent to which counter-representations of black masculinity have been achieved within a predominately white industry, with an emphasis on agency, the negotiation and malleability of racial status, and the inherent instability of imposed racial categories. Focusing on American and European cinema, the chapters highlight actors (Woody Strode, Noble Johnson, Eddie Anderson, Will Smith), genres (jungle pictures, westerns, science fiction) and franchises (Tarzan, James Bond) underrepresented in previous critical and scholarly commentary in the field. The author argues that although the characters and performances generated in these areas invoke popular genre types, they display complexity, diversity and ambiguity, exhibiting aspects that are positive, progressive and subversive. This book will appeal to both the academic and the general reader interested in film, race, gender and colonial issues.

Native Sons and White Lies

Black Masculinity on Film

Come join the boy with the stubby antlers, as he explores and frolics through Trinidad and Tobago. He will befriend animals and ancient mythical creatures alike. Such friendships will be called to task as they try to save the Carnival season for everyone. Perhaps the clever, yet anxious boy will find his way in the modern world in the process.

When the Robber Calls!

The Carnival Prince

Flying ghosts, hopping vampires, seductive spirits, tree demons, evil sorcerers, living skeletons, possessed limbs and giant predatory tongues!

Daniel O'Brien

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