Books about Excesses from Amazon.com

With her passion for fine food and, above all, her appetite for love and life, Gael Greene traces her rise from a Velveeta cocoon in the Midwest to powerful critic of New York magazine Love and food, foreplay and fork play, haute cuisine and social history--all become inextricably linked as the author lifts the lid on her most provocative subject yet--herself. Along the way there are tales of her saucy erotic adventures and intimate portraits of the culinary icons of our time--Julia Child, André Soltner, James Beard, among others--and revealing dissections of New York's legendary "in" spots, including Elaine's, Le Bernardin, Le Cirque, Odeon, and Balthazar..
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"Deliciously dramatic .. The Beautiful Fall crackles with excitement "-New York Times Book Review

In the 1970s, Paris fashion exploded like a champagne bottle left out in the sun. Amid sequins and longing, celebrities and aspirants flocked to the heart of chic, and Paris became a hothouse of revelry, intrigue, and searing ambition. At the center of it all were fashion's most beloved luminaries - Yves Saint Laurent, the reclusive enfant terrible, and Karl Lagerfeld, the flamboyant freelancer with a talent for reinvention - and they divided Paris into two fabulous halves. Their enduring rivalry is chronicled in this dazzling exposé of an era: of social ambitions, shared obsessions, and the mesmerizing quest for beauty.


"Fascinating." -New York Times


"Addictive." -Philadelphia Inquirer


"It's like US Weekly, 1970s style." -Gotham


"A story constructed as exquisitely as a couture dress. . . . It moves stylishly forward, with frequent over-the-shoulder glances at some very dishy background." -BostonGlobe.
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Savor the inside scoop on over-the-top superstars

"I'm not a paranoid, deranged millionaire. . . . I'm a billionaire!"

"Acting is an empty and useless profession."

"Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere else."

"I'm interested in being provocative and pushing people's buttons."

Which screen icons gave us the quotes above? How do stars get away with self-indulgent, unrestrained behaviors-or do they? In The Hollywood Book of Extravagance, longtime industry insider and Hollywood historian James Robert Parish gives you a provocative look behind the scenes at the lavish indulgences and larger-than-life egos of Tinseltown's rich and famous. The featured celebrities range from heartthrobs to industry tycoons, and from yesterday's matinee idols to today's hottest celebs. The stars are grouped according to their excesses: ego, neurosis, partying, power, rich living, and romancing. You'll devour little-known details on the excesses and exploits of notables ranging from Mae West to Madonna, Greta Garbo to Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando, Bela Lugosi to John Belushi, Zsa Zsa Gabor to Paris Hilton, Errol Flynn to Jude Law, and many more..
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A sublime and dramatic narrative about the high-chic fashion wars of 1970s Paris, in the tradition of Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.

Paris in the '70s was running at full tilt--a new order was coming into view amid hedonism, ambition, and outrageous decadence. This was a fashion revolution, the beginning of fashion as rock-star spectacle, and the world went wild for it. Alicia Drake writes about the dramatic collision and rivalry between two titanic geniuses, Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld, whose clashes sparked that tumultuous decade. Americans came to Paris in droves--from Andy Warhol and Jerry Hall to Bianca Jagger and Jessica Lange--to be part of this irresistible moment. Others came just to catch sight of Karl Lagerfeld strutting around the cafés in his high heels and furs. Drake vividly captures the stunning highs and heartbreaking lows, the glorious achievements and dramas of an era when style reigned in the most glamorous of cities..
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In March 2008, Bear Stearns, a swashbuckling eighty-four-year-old financial institution, was forced to sell itself to JPMorgan Chase for an outrageously low price in a deal brokered by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who was desperately trying to prevent the impending catastrophic market crash. But mere months before, an industry-wide boom had "the Bear" clocking a record high stock price. How did a giant investment bank with $18 billion in cash on-hand disappear in a mere ten days? In this unputdownable narrative tour de force, Cohan provides a minute-by-minute account of the events that brought America’s second Gilded Age to an end.
Filled with intimate portraits of the major players, high-end gossip and smart financial analysis, House of Cards recounts, in delicious narrative form, the dramatic events behind the fall of Bear Stearns, and what it revealed about the financial world’s progression from irrational boom to cataclysmic bust. House of Cards is the Rosetta Stone for understanding the dramatic and the unprecedented events that have reshaped Wall Street and global finance in the past two years.

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The author of How to Stop Looking for Someone Perfect and Find Someone to Love helps readers discover what about themselves keeps them from getting what they want. Reprint. 150,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour..
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