UNITED KINGDOM AUTHOR · FICTION · BIOGRAPHY
Ralph Steadman
Also known as: Ralph Steadman, RALPH STEADMAN (ILLUSTRATOR)
"DOWN!” yelled Bilal, spotting the gun as a minivan skidded around the corner, its ass-end clipping a bag-lady's cart, scattering cans and junk everywhere.
— from The Bridge
Most acclaimed
Sigmund Freud
Bursting defiantly and gleefully beyond the bounds of orthodox biography, Sigmund Freud is a wildly humorous exercise in bending, stretching and speculating on the activities of the so-called Father of Psychoanalysis. Ralph Steadman wields his shrewd wit and fierce pen to highlight the movements of Freud's life and career, from early childhood to the moment of death. But there's a twist. Through a masterful interplay of text and illustration, each scene is transformed into a "joking situation," which the artist hilariously examines according to the techniques discussed by Freud himself in his 1905 book, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. The result is a fantastic Freudian festival of visual and verbal puns, unexpected insights, and sheer intellectual enjoyment.
America
1974
Winning is great, but being accepted is greater. ‘America: No Purchase Necessary’ is a feel-good story about acceptance. One of the many perks of winning the national ‘America’s Family’ Sweepstakes is the chance to meet and to make appearances with the President on his reelection campaign. Unbeknownst to the public, the President and his shady campaign manager are profiting off of these appearances, which are beginning to make the headlines as campaign contribution corruption. When an eclectic African-American family becomes the unexpected winner of the prestigious ‘America’s Family’ contest, the President and his shiesty reelection campaign manager tries to get the family disqualified, thinking that this particular family isn’t ‘American-looking’ enough, and to appear with them on the campaign trail will hurt the President’s chance of getting reelected. Oblivious to a shrewd reporter being on their tail, the President and his cocky campaign manager tries to spin their dirty politics through their unsuspecting press secretary. Without being preachy, ‘America: No Purchase Necessary’ gives a lighthearted glimpse into American politics while simultaneously showing a realistic snapshot of life in contemporary America today. Unable to get the Lantern family disqualified as ‘America’s Family’, reluctantly the President meets the family on his reelection campaign trail and, ironically, America begins to fall in love with young Ronnie, who narrates and provides us with his unique autistic insights of his colorful family, while the President’s approval rating dwindles as America begins to see his true colors. Just like any other family in America, the Lanterns have autism, transgender issues, and even a grandmother who’ve come up with her own interesting alternative to plant-base burgers. Ultimately, the Lanterns become more popular than the President, creating a huge problem and causes a gigantic PR headache for his reelection staff. ‘America: No Purchase Necessary’ is an entertaining political satire that looks at race relations in America, and it shows the sometimes-ugly side of America while, at the same time, reflect the goodness in certain people that highlights America’s beauty as well. The Lantern family won the national sweepstakes fair and square, and they only want to be treated as such. If you or your family ever felt left out, pushed out or shut out then Randolph Randy Camp’s ‘America: No Purchase Necessary’ is a story for you.
The Bridge
The Bridge is a charming, learned and unique gem of a book by the author of the international bestseller In Europe...Istanbul's Galata Bridge has spanned the Golden Horn since the sixth century AD, connecting the old city with the more Western districts to the north. But the bridge is a city in itself, peopled by merchants and petty thieves, tourists and fishermen, and at the same time a microcosmic reflection of Turkey as the link between Asia and Europe. Geert Mak introduces us to the woman who sells lottery tickets, the cigarette vendors and the best pickpockets in Europe. He tells us about the pride of the cobbler and the tea-seller's homesickness. And he describes the role of honour in Turkish culture, the temptations of fundamentalism and violence, and the urge to survive, even in the face of despair. These stories of the bridge's denizens are interwoven with vignettes illuminating moments in the history of Istanbul and Turkey and shedding light on Turkey's relationship with Europe and the West, the Armenian question, the migration from the Turkish countryside to the city and the demise of the Ottoman Empire. The Bridge is a charming, learned and unique gem of a book by the author of the international bestseller In Europe.