Scandalous Times

A magical coming-of-age tale in rural Zimbabwe Ah, you’ve arrived. Sit down, please, and make yourself comfortable. There may not be much dinner tonight – Father is still out of work; Mother can’t do anything with those stunted maize plants in the stony ground – but at least you are here, in Gushure Village, home to unsurpassed raconteurs and the Guramatunhu family, who know that telling stories staves off hunger. Surprise awaits at every turn: thoughts and conversations bloom into poems, political speeches and songs. You will find instructions for cooking a hare, for how to defend yourself when a dead snake is your enemy’s chosen weapon, how to speak in war tongues, how to compose a fist and aim it at a tree trunk, how to eliminate animal terrorism in a time of rabies, how to rehearse the body-viewing of a good-looking corpse, how to rock under flying okapis with The Double Shuffle, and how to practise your lovemaking technique on a woman drawn in the sand. At a time when cooked ants constitute a feast, the future nevertheless holds abundant prospects for the boy who devours words. But there is an unexpected fork in the road for this book louse, and plenty of wondrous twists and shocking turns. Hilarious, poetic and poignant, Robert Muponde’s vibrant coming-of-age story of Ronald Guramatunhu brings to life rural Zimbabwe from the Second Chimurenga to independence. There are malevolent mermaids, eccentric shamans, outrageous relatives, fearsome teachers, and men who transform into hippos in a tale that captures all the magic of childhood.

An Alexander Hamilton heir, a beautiful female con artist, an abandoned baby, and the shocking courtroom drama that was splashed across front pages from coast to coast—this is the fascinating true story behind one of the greatest scandals of the Gilded Age, and the story that gave rise to the sensational tabloid journalism still driving so much of the news cycle in the 21st century. “Fans of Erik Larson–style histories and anyone who just loves a fun, gossipy read will love The Scandalous Hamiltons.”—Apple Books, Best of the Month Selection "Adultery? Check. Attempted murder? Check. Baby-trafficking? Check. These are just a few of the missteps of the woman who rained humiliation onto the House of Hamilton." —Marlene Wagman-Geller, author of Women of Means: Fascinating Biographies of Royals, Heiresses, Eccentrics and Other Poor Little Rich Girls It’s a story almost too tawdry to be true—a con woman prostitute who met the descendant of a Founding Father in a brothel, duped him into marriage using an infant purchased from a baby farm, then went to prison for stabbing the couple’s baby nurse—all while in a common-law marriage with another man. The scandal surrounding Evangeline and Robert Ray Hamilton, though little known today, was one of the sensations of the Gilded Age, a sordid, gripping tale involving bigamy, bribery, sex, and violence. When the salacious Hamilton story emerged in during Eva’s trial for the August 1889 stabbing, it commanded unprecedented national and international newspaper coverage thanks to the telegraph and the recently founded Associated Press. For the New York dailies, eager to capture readers through provocative headlines, Ray and Eva were a godsend. As lurid details emerged, the public’s fascination grew—how did a man of Hamilton’s stature become entangled with such an adventuress? Nellie Bly, the world-famous investigative reporter, finagled an exclusive interview with Eva after her conviction. Hamilton’s death under mysterious circumstances, a year after the stabbing, added to the intrigue. Through personal correspondence, court records, and sensational newspaper accounts, The Scandalous Hamiltons explores not only the full, riveting saga of ill-fated Ray and Eva, but the rise of tabloid journalism and celebrity in a story that is both a fascinating slice of pop culture history and a timeless tale of ambition, greed, and obsession. “Historical true crime buffs will be engrossed.” – Publishers Weekly “Shaffer has an appealing writing style and a talent for sneaking up on the reader with each big reveal…Rich period detail.” – Booklist

A captivating look at the origins of our own tabloid culture in the salacious and titillating media of the Victorian era.

“I’m proud of the fact that [...] we’re probably the first administration in modern history that hasn’t had a major scandal in the White House.” So President Barack Obama boldly declared before leaving office, and numerous times since. But is it true? Not according to Matt Margolis, bestselling co-author of The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. Margolis lays out the details of literally dozens of Obama administration scandals that have been ignored, downplayed, or covered-up by the mainstream media. From “Fast and Furious,” to the illegal IRS targeting of conservative groups, to the recent NSA spying outrage, Margolis makes a powerful case that the Obama years represented nearly a decade of lawless and abusive governance. While Obama and his allies attempt to spin the narrative that his presidency represented a time of pristine politics, it’s critically important that Americans understand the truth—Barack Obama brought to Washington corrupt Chicago-machine politics of cronyism and corporate payoffs, combined with audacious Alinskyite tactics aimed at dividing Americans and destroying his opponents. Obama’s legacy will be discussed and debated for decades. But in the early months after he left office, more scandals have been uncovered—most notably an illegal scheme of using the NSA to spy on his political opponents and the frightening decision to block the prosecution of Iranian-backed terrorists. Far from being a virtuous New Camelot, the Obama administration abused its power like few others.

Richard Marson's book, JN-T: The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner tells the story of the most controversial figure in the history of Doctor Who. For more than a decade, John Nathan-Turner, or JN-T as he was often known, was in charge of every major artistic and practical decision affecting the world's longest-running science fiction programme. Richard Marson brings his dramatic, farcical, sometimes scandalous, often moving story to life with the benefit of his own inside knowledge and the fruits of over 100 revealing interviews with key friends and colleagues, those John loved to those from whom he became estranged. The author has also had access to all of Nathan-Turner's surviving archive of paperwork and photos, many of which appear here for the very first time.

In 1963 Marvin Kalb observed the Secret Service escorting an attractive woman into a hotel for what was most likely a rendezvous with President Kennedy. Kalb, then a news correspondent for CBS, didn't consider the incident newsworthy. Thirty-five years later, Kalb watched in dismay as the press dove headfirst into the scandal of President Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, disclosing every prurient detail. How and why had the journalistic landscape shifted so dramatically? One Scandalous Story seeks to answer this critical question through the inside story of thirteen days -- January 13-25, 1998 -- that make up a vital chapter in the history of American journalism. In riveting detail, Kalb examines just how the media covered the Lewinsky scandal, offering what he calls an "X-ray of the Washington press corps." Drawing on hundreds of original interviews, Kalb allows us to eavesdrop on the incestuous deals between reporters and sources, the bitter disagreements among editors, the machination of moguls for whom news is Big Business, and above all, the frantic maneuvering to break the story. With fresh insight, he retraces decisions made by Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, Internet renegade Matt Drudge, Jackie Judd of ABC, Clinton-basher Lucianne Goldberg, Susan Schmidt of The Washington Post, Jackie Bennett of the Office of the Independent Counsel, and other key players in this scandal that veered from low comedy to high drama. Through the lens of those thirteen turbulent days, Kalb offers us a portrait of the "new news" in all its contradictions. He reveals how intense economic pressures in the news business, the ascendancy of the Internet, the blurring of roles between reporters and commentators, and a surge of dubious sourcing and "copy-cat journalism" have combined to make tabloid-style journalism increasingly mainstream. But are we condemned to a resurgence of "yellow journalism"? Painstakingly documented and sobering in its conclusions, One Scandalous Story issues a clarion call to newsmakers and the American public alike: "Journalism can change for the better -- and must."

While feminist economists and movements such as Occupy Wall Street have pointed to the distributional inequalities that are an effect of financial deregulation, scholars haven't really grappled with the representational inequalities inherent in the way we view the politics of the market. Scandalous Economics breaks new ground by doing precisely this.