Synopses & Reviews
This fascinating examination of American celebrity asks, "What happens when your fifteen minutes are over?"
In the decades since Andy Warhol made his infamous prognosis that, in the future, everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes, celebrity has indeed become one of America's greatest growth industries. In The Sixteenth Minute, Jeff Guinn and Douglas Perry explore the treacherous aftermath of fame, bringing depth and insight to a subject that is often treated as superficially as the people who temporarily achieve it.
In a world where, as social historian Leo Braudy put it, "The world of images is so much better than real life," what happens when the spotlight clicks off? For their book, Guinn and Perry interviewed an array of individuals who experienced Warhol's "fifteen minutes" and survived, some more happily (and successfully) than others. The book's subjects span the celebrity spectrum from politics (former Speaker of the House Jim Wright) to professional sports (onetime Great White Hope Gerry Cooney) to entertainment (Fame diva Irene Cara), and, of course, reality TV (a rare glimpse of American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson as she frets about how to remain in the spotlight she craved from childhood).
No one who experiences fame walks away the same. All the men and women profiled in The Sixteenth Minute have had to move on with their lives. Often, they found ways to reclaim their self-respect, if not always their reputations. In a few in-stances, the desire to recapture former glory eclipsed common sense with predictably painful results. In every case, their experiences reflect our culture, where fame is often considered the ultimate life achievement.
Review
Fantastic advance praise for GLORIOUS by Jeff Guinn
“Delightful...Wonderfully appealing. Glorious is an oldfashioned western with likable characters who, because Gunn projects a trilogy, will return shortly.”
—Booklist
“This first installment in a trilogy will delight historical fiction fans longing for the return of classic Westerns. This entertaining outing is sure to keep the saloon doors swinging for more entries in the genre.”
—Library Journal
“The Wild West comes alive in this novel of prospectors, desolate cavalry posts, rotgut saloons and Apache raiders.... The plot is classic...Good fun.” —Kirkus
“A trip to Glorious, Arizona, in Jeff Guinns new western novel is like a cool draft beer after a long, hot day on a dusty trail. Glorious is old-fashioned in the very best way: Its good-hearted, optimistic, compelling, comfortable, and extremely well-told. Its wonderful when an author clearly has affection for his characters, and readers will feel the same way.”
— C. J. Box, New York Times-bestselling author of The Highway and Stone Cold
“If, like me, youve been waiting for the next Louis LAmour or Zane Grey, the good news is his name is Jeff Guinn. His newest novel, Glorious, has all the elements of a fabulous western: compelling characters, breath-taking scenery, and something more—an unblinking take on the western frontier.”
—Craig Johnson, New York Times-bestselling author of the Walt Longmire mysteries, the basis of A&Es hit series Longmire
Praise for Jeff Guinn
“A gripping revisionist account of the famed 1881 showdown. . . . Exhaustively researched, stylishly written. . . . As grimly compelling as a Greek tragedy.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on The Last Gunfight “Jeff Guinn took readers down the back roads of Louisiana in his book Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde. Hes back in The Last Gunfight, displaying the impeccable research that is his trademark. . . . Guinns story is what really happened. . . . A terrific read.”—USA TODAY on The Last Gunfight
“Jeff Guinn has come up with a new angle and approach to the events of that bloody day in Tombstone. Without that gunfight, Wyatt Earp would have never become a household name a hundred years later. Guinn delves into the myth and separates it from the facts. A terrific read about the Wests most famous lawman.”—Clive Cussler on The Last Gunfight
“Manson is not simply a biography of a killer and a cultist. It's a history of American culture from the Great Depression to the close of the 20th century. It's the dirty boogie in four-four time, a fascinating study of greed, mind control, celebriphilia, sex, narcotics, racism, and the misuse of power. I lived in South Los Angeles when many of the events in this book took place. No one has told the story as accurately as Jeff Guinn. It's the story of Nixon and Johnson, Martin Luther King, Vietnam, the SDS, the Black Panthers, the acid culture, and a nation coming apart at the seams. From the first page to the last, I could hardly put it down. Hang on, reader. This is a rip-roaring ride you won't forget.”—James Lee Burke on Manson "A striking, full-length portrait of one of American historys most notorious sociopaths. . . . Guinn takes readers on a head-spinning ride through Mansons deeply disturbed childhood, his criminal career and his brief tenure as satanic guru to the damaged disciples, mostly women, he held in thrall. . . . A compulsively readable account of a murderer who continues to fascinate."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Manson
Synopsis
This fascinating examination of American celebrity asks, "What happens when your 15 minutes of fame are over?"
Synopsis
New York Times-bestselling author of The Last Gunfight, Jeff Guinn turns his eye for evocative detail and history to a sweeping novel of the Old West, weaving a compelling tale of life in the Arizona Territory in 1872. Weve all got mistakes in our past wed rather forget.
Cash McLendon has always had an instinct for self-preservation, one that was honed by an impoverished childhood and life with an alcoholic father barely scraping by on the streets of Saint Louis in 1872. Hes always had a knack for finding and capitalizing on the slightest opportunities, choosing the path of financial security over happiness or real friends. He eventually builds himself up from a Saint Louis street urchin to the son-in-law and heir apparent to industrial mogul Rupert Douglass. Though it lacks passion, his life seems securely set: a wife, a career, property, standing.
But when tragedy strikes, all of his plans and his entire future dissolve in an instant. McLendons instinct for survival kicks in; he flees Saint Louis, and Douglas assigns his enforcer, an ominous skull-cracker with steel-toed boots, to track him down.
With nothing to lose, McLendon attempts to reconcile with an old flamea woman he was nearly engaged to but put aside in exchange for the life now in shambles. He heard through the grapevine that she and her father moved their dry-goods store out west, to a speck-on-the-map mining town named Glorious, in the Arizona Territory. There, McLendon tries to win her back, and in the process discovers a new way of life at the edge of the final American frontier. But he cant outrun his past forever. . . .
About the Author
Jeff Guinn is books editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He is the author of eight books, including The Sixteenth Minute: Life in the Aftermath of Fame and Our Land Before We Die: The Proud Story of the Seminole Negro, which received the Texas Book Award.
Jeff Guinn is also the author of the bestselling Christmas Chronicles series, which includes The Autobiography of Santa Claus, How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas, and The Great Santa Search. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
DOUGLAS PERRY is an award-winning writer and editor whose work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The San Jose Mercury News, Details, and The Oregonian. He is the online features editor at The Oregonian and the co-author of The Sixteenth Minute: Life in the Aftermath of Fame. He lives in Portland, Oregon.