Live Fast Die Young

When it was released in 1955, the film Rebel Without a Cause had a revolutionary impact on moviemaking and youth culture, virtually giving birth to our concept of the American teenager. For the first time, Live Fast, Die Young tells the complete story of the explosive making of Rebel, a film that has rocked every generation since its release. Set against a backdrop of the Atomic Age and an old Hollywood studio system on the verge of collapse, it vividly evokes the cataclysmic, immensely influential meeting of four of Hollywood's most passionate artists. When James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and director Nicholas Ray converged, each was at a crucial point in his or her career. The young actors were grappling with fame, their burgeoning sexuality, and increasingly reckless behavior. As Ray engaged his cast in physical melees and psychosexual seductions of startling intensity, the on- and off-set relationships between his ambitious young actors ignited, sending a shock wave through the film. Through interviews with the surviving members of the cast and crew and firsthand access to both personal and studio archives, Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel reveal Rebel's true drama -- the director's affair with sixteen-year-old Wood, his tempestuous "spiritual marriage" with Dean, and his role in awakening the latent homosexuality of Mineo, who would become the first gay teenager to appear on film. Complete with thirty photographs, including ten never-before-seen photos by famed Dean photographer Dennis Stock, Live Fast, Die Young tells the absorbing inside story of an unforgettable and absolutely essential American film -- a story that is, in many ways, as provocative as the film itself.

Molly Corbett can't stand seeing her childhood pal Alex Gibson destroy himself. He's gone from straight-A student to rebel without a cause. With so much at stake, some serious interference is called for-or at least Micromanaging Molly thinks so. Alex needs to get back on the path to the Ivy League. But the harder Molly pushes Alex, the harder he pushes back. Alex has a secret. Well, two secrets. Number one: He has terminal melanoma. With six months to live, Alex hasn't got a second to waste. And hanging around hospitals when his friends think he's cutting school definitely counts as wasted time. Instead, he's going to drop out, surf, drive fast cars...and finally put secret number two out there. He's in love with Molly and he's going to tell her before it's too late.

Disappointed to learn that Hotel California isn’t actually in the phone book, radio producers Chris and Joe resolve to seek out the true spirit of rock and roll America. Roof down and stereo up, they drive coast to coast on a mission to ‘live the music’. It’s a tale of friendship tested to the limit, great melodies, and noble myths.

Drawing on letters, diaries, and tape-recorded conversations, the author recounts his friendship with Dean, including their sexual relationship, and reveals Dean's feelings about his success, his parents, and death

Live Fast, Die Young tells the story of Harry Greb, the Pittsburgh Windmill, one of the most feared boxers in history. Greb terrified champions and contenders across three weight divisions for nearly a decade. Greb would become famous for fighting anyone regardless of size or race. Prior to his untimely death he harbored a long standing ambition to challenge for legendary heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey's title despite rarely weighing over 165 pounds. Along the way he won the world middleweight championship, American light heavyweight championship, and became the only man to defeat Dempsey's eventual conqueror Gene Tunney. Greb would become one of those outrageous characters that made the Roaring Twenties roar. It is a story that could only be found in the history pages of early 20th century America. He was born the son of an immigrant father who fled Germany one step ahead of the law and a first generation mother in Pittsburgh at a time when the city was helping to usher in the Second Industrial Revolution. The rugged, hard-working men who surrounded Greb during his formative years influenced a toughness and work ethic that carried him to the highest levels of one of the most unforgiving sports. As Harry gained fame and fortune he witnessed the world devolved into chaos as World War I broke out, the passing of Prohibition, the birth of the Jazz Age, and the Golden Age of Sports. Throughout these historic events Harry often found himself right in the middle of things and happy to be there. The author tells the story of one of the most colorful periods in history and one that period's most colorful and unforgettable characters in Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb.

When Kim, a certified ghetto dime piece moved her son Santana from the gritty streets of Northwest, B.C. to Prince Georges County Maryland, she hoped that the change of environment would deter Santana from the allurements of the fast life she tried so desperately to leave behind. Kim soon came to realize that the Kentland neighborhood they moved into was just as dangerous, and crime infested, as B.C. Santana, AKA Lil Suavey, along with his best friend Lil Chills, decided to step their game up from being petty car thieves, to entering the more lucrative drug trade. Under the tutelage of the big homie K.B., the two youngins jumped into the game head first, and began stacking paper faster than they knew what to do with it. The only problem was, the block they set up shop on was already being run by notorious brothers Bice and Wayne Wayne, who didn't take kindly to any form of competition. Then there's Krud Nasty, a neighborhood tyrant who believed Suavey was nothing more than a pretty boy chump, who didn't deserve his street success and planned to take Suavey out at all cost. Before Suave and Chills knew it, along with their success, came beef raging on all fronts. With every enemy they annihilate, another seems to take its place. What these two youngin's were never told in the beginning, was that sometimes the consequences for "Living Fast..".is "Dying Young."

One of the best-known honky-tonkers since Hank Williams, Faron Young was a popular presence on Nashville's music scene for more than four decades. The Singing Sheriff produced a string of Top Ten hits, placed more than eighty songs on the country music charts, founded the long-running country music periodical Music City News in 1963, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. Flamboyant, impulsive, and generous, he helped and encouraged a new generation of talented songwriter-performers that included Willie Nelson and Bill Anderson. Presenting the first detailed portrayal of this mercurial country music star, Diane Diekman masterfully draws on extensive interviews with Young's family, band members, and colleagues. Echoing Young's characteristic ability to entertain and surprise fans, Diekman combines an account of his public career with a revealing, intimate portrait of his personal life.