Best Selling Books by David Kamp

One of the “Best Books” of the year from The Smithsonian, The Washington Independent Review, and more! From bestselling writer David Kamp, the “fun, fascinating, and surprisingly touching,” (People) behind-the-scenes story of the cultural heroes who created the beloved children’s TV programs Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Free to Be…You and Me, and Schoolhouse Rock!—which transformed American childhood for the better, teaching kids about diversity, the ABCs, and feminism through a fun, funky 1970s lens. With a foreword by Questlove. In 1970, on a soundstage on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a group of men, women, and Muppets of various ages and colors worked doggedly to finish the first season of a children’s TV program that was not yet assured a second season: Sesame Street. They were conducting an experiment to see if television could be used to better prepare disadvantaged preschoolers for kindergarten. What they didn’t know then was that they were starting a cultural revolution that would affect all American kids. In Sunny Days, bestselling author David Kamp captures the unique political and social moment that gave us not only Sesame Street, but also Fred Rogers’s gentle yet brave Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood; Marlo Thomas’s unabashed gender politics primer Free to Be…You and Me; Schoolhouse Rock!, an infectious series of educational shorts dreamed up by Madison Ave admen; and more, including The Electric Company and ZOOM. It was a unique time when an uncommon number of media professionals and thought leaders leveraged their influence to help children learn—and, just as notably, a time of unprecedented buy-in from American parents. “Sunny Days is full of such nostalgic jolts…it makes the era a pleasure to revisit” (The Wall Street Journal) and captures a wondrous period in the US when a determined few proved that, with persistence and effort, they could change the lives of millions. It is “a lively and bewitching recounting of a particularly ripe period in television and cultural history” (The New York Times Book Review) and, as the Los Angeles Times notes, “a sublime book about a variety of creative people coming together not in the pursuit of fame or money, but to enrich the lives of children.”

The wickedly entertaining, hunger-inducing, behind-the-scenes story of the revolution in American food that has made exotic ingredients, celebrity chefs, rarefied cooking tools, and destination restaurants familiar aspects of our everyday lives. Amazingly enough, just twenty years ago eating sushi was a daring novelty and many Americans had never even heard of salsa. Today, we don''t bat an eye at a construction worker dipping a croissant into robust specialty coffee, city dwellers buying just-picked farmstand produce, or suburbanites stocking up on artisanal cheeses and extra virgin oils at supermarkets. The United States of Arugula is a rollicking, revealing stew of culinary innovation, food politics, and kitchen confidences chronicling how gourmet eating in America went from obscure to pervasive—and became the cultural success story of our era.

From the same brain trust that brought you The Rock Snob*s Dictionary, the hilarious, bestselling guide to insiderist rock arcana, comes The Film Snob*s Dictionary, an informative and subversively funny A-to-Z reference guide to all that is held sacred by Film Snobs, those perverse creatures of the repertory cinema. No longer must you suffer silently as some clerk in a “Tod Browning’s Freaks” T-shirt bombards you with baffling allusions to “wire-fu” pictures, “Todd-AO process,” and “Sam Raimi.” By helping to close the knowledge gap between average moviegoers and incorrigible Snobs, the dictionary lets you in on hidden gems that film geeks have been hoarding (such as Douglas Sirk and Guy Maddin movies) while exposing the trash that Snobs inexplicably laud (e.g., most chop-socky films and Mexican wrestling pictures). Delightfully illustrated and handily organized in alphabetical order for quick reference, The Film Snob*s Dictionary is your fail-safe companion in the video store, the cineplex, or wherever insufferable Film Snobs congregate.

At last! An A-to-Z reference guide for readers who want to learn the cryptic language of Rock Snobs, those arcana-obsessed people who speak of "Rickenbacker guitars" and "Gram Parsons." We''ve all been there--trapped in a conversation with smarty-pants music fiends who natter on about "the MC5" or "Eno" or "the Hammond B3," not wanting to let on that we haven''t the slightest idea what they''re talking about. Well, fret no more! The Rock Snob''s Dictionary is here to define every single sacred totem of rock fandom''s know-it-all fraternity, from Alt.country to Zimmy. (That''s what Rock Snobs call Bob Dylan, by the way.)

A nicely structured, lightly acidic addition to the handy Snob’s Dictionary series, decoding the baffling world of winespeak from A to Z. Wine Snob. The very phrase seems redundant, doesn''t it? When faced with this snobbiest of snobberies, the civilian wine enthusiast needs the help of savvy translators like David Kamp and David Lynch. Their Wine Snob’s Dictionary delivers witty explication of both old-school oeno-obsessions (What''s claret? Who''s Michael Broadbent?) and such new-wave terms as "malolactic fermentation" and "fruit bomb." Among the other things Kamp and Lynch demystify: Finish: the Snob code-term for "aftertaste." (Robert Parker includes the stopwatch-measured length of a wine''s finish in his ratings.) Meritage: an American wine classification that rhymes with "heritage," and should NEVER be pronounced "meri-TAHJ." Terroir: that elusive quality of vineyard soil that has sommeliers talking of "gunflint," "leather," and "candied fruits" Featuring ripe, luscious, full-bodied illustrations by Snob''s Dictionary stalwart Ross MacDonald, The Wine Snob’s Dictionary is as heady and sparkling as a vintage Taittinger, only much less expensive... and much more giggle-inducing. Cheers!

Food Snob n: reference term for the sort of food obsessive for whom the actual joy of eating and cooking is but a side dish to the accumulation of arcane knowledge about these subjects From the author of The United States of Arugula--and coauthor of The Film Snob’s Dictionary and The Rock Snob’s Dictionary--a delectable compendium of food facts, terminology, and famous names that gives ordinary folk the wherewithal to take down the Food Snobs--or join their zealous ranks. Open a menu and there they are, those confusing references to “grass-fed” beef, “farmstead” blue cheese, and “dry-farmed” fruits. It doesn’t help that your dinner companions have moved on to such heady topics as the future of the organic movement, or the seminal culinary contributions of Elizabeth Drew and Fernand Point. David Kamp, who demystified the worlds of rock and film for grateful readers, explains it all and more, in The Food Snobs Dictionary. Both entertaining and authentically informative, The Food Snob’ s Dictionary travels through the alphabet explaining the buzz-terms that fuel the food-obsessed, from “Affinage” to “Zest,” with stops along the way for “Cardoons,” “Fennel Pollen,” and “Sous-Vide,” all served up with a huge and welcome dollop of wit.

The concept of the healing garden has evolved into the well-developed notion that this is a significant form of landscape design. The subjects of health and well being have always been indicators for quality of life, while quality of life could be perceived as a method of measuring the degree of community sustainability. Investigating and proving the connection between nature, healing, and health, a number of studies have been conducted to show how a healing garden design can meet the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs of the people using the garden, as well as caregivers, family members, and friends. This unique compilation will become a useful reference for all landscape architects and designers, and healthcare professionals

The renowned landscape architect David Kamp, FASLA, traces the first stirrings of his interest in landscape to his childhood in rural North Carolina. Kamp maintained his passion for nature through his architectural studies at the University of Virginia, and these in turn helped prepare him for his first design project, a landscape for Australia''s new Parliament House in Canberra. In the mid-1990s, Kamp volunteered to design one of the first gardens created specifically for individuals with HIV/AIDS, the Joel Schnaper Memorial Garden at the Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center in East Harlem. The experience proved life-altering, and Kamp resolved to dedicate his practice to exploring the web of relationships connecting design, nature, and health.In this work, Kamp has sought to put people in touch with nature, regardless of their capabilities-from children with autism spectrum disorder to elders with cognitive and physical challenges. He has also explored these ideas in the larger realm, where his plans have revitalized schools, brownfields, parks, and urban waterfronts. By putting personal health on a continuum with environmental health, Kamp has demonstrated that design can help make communities more vibrant, resilient, and equitable. In Nature, Design, and Health, Kamp chronicles his remarkable artistic journey through the stories of his projects for private residences, campuses, elder communities, hospitals, cancer centers, and other landscapes dedicated to health and well-being. Kamp''s belief in the power of nature to sustain and connect is summed up in his firm''s name-Dirtworks.

In this engagingly witty, wise, and heartfelt memoir, Martin Short tells the tale of how a showbiz-obsessed kid from Canada transformed himself into one of Hollywood''s favorite funnymen, known to his famous peers as the "comedian''s comedian." Martin Short takes you on a rich, hilarious, and occasionally heartbreaking ride through his life and times, from his early years in Toronto as a member of the fabled improvisational troupe Second City to the all-American comic big time of Saturday Night Live and memorable roles in movies such as ¡Three Amigos! and Father of the Bride. He reveals how he created his most indelible comedic characters, among them the manic man-child Ed Grimley, the slimy corporate lawyer Nathan Thurm, and the bizarrely insensitive interviewer Jiminy Glick. Throughout, Short freely shares the spotlight with friends, colleagues, and collaborators, including Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Gilda Radner, Mel Brooks, Nora Ephron, Eugene Levy, Catherine O''Hara, Paul Shaffer, and David Letterman. But there is another side to Short''s life that he has long kept private. He lost his eldest brother and both of his parents by the time he turned twenty, and, more recently, he lost his wife of thirty years to cancer. In I Must Say, Short talks for the first time about the pain that these losses inflicted and the upbeat life philosophy that has kept him resilient and carried him through. In the grand tradition of comedy legends, Martin Short offers a show business memoir densely populated with boldface names and rife with retellable tales: a hugely entertaining yet surprisingly moving self-portrait that will keep you laughing--and crying--from the first page to the last.

Parce qu''ils souhaitaient faire partager leurs savoirs et rompre ainsi la malédiction d''un obscurantisme sectaire, deux journalistes de Vanity Fair (dont l''un, Steven Daly fut, dans sa jeunesse, à la charnière des années 1970 et 1980, le premier batteur d''Orange Juice, le groupe très honorable d''Edwyn Collins), ont rédigé un lexique très pointu à l''usage des aspirants diplômés en rockologie. Car pas davantage qu''aimer le jokari ne vous transformera nécessairement en champion de jokari, apprécier le rock ne sera une condition suffisante pour être admis à l''agrégation de rockologie. Le rockologue est une sorte de snob érudit cultivant avec une délectation contagieuse, un élitisme des plus restreints, une partialité saugrenue et une certaine mauvaise foi lorsque son crédit est en jeu. Il préférera consacrer un paragraphe à Andrew Loog Oldham, le manager légendaire des Stones, que trois lignes au groupe lui-même. Tomber en syncope à l''évocation du nom de Syd Barrett, et faire preuve d''une totale indifférence au sujet de Pink Floyd, le groupe dont Barrett fit partie à l''origine. Encenser le très allumé Skip Spence et ignorer le merveilleux Moby Grape. Fabrice Gaignault

David Kamp, qui s''est déjà brillamment illustré avec Le Dictionnaire snob du Rock, récidive, cette fois-ci avec Lawrence Levi, pour nous offrir un Dictionnaire snob du Cinéma. On y trouvera avec plaisir et agacement, - cela va de soi - un abécédaire bourré d''humour et de parti pris sur ce que tout " filmologue " se doit de savoir sur le septième art, cette huitième merveille du monde aux yeux de la tribu assermentée des nyctalopes des salles obscures. Ces Américains considèrent que le snobisme cinéphilique doit être révélé au quidam, comme la grâce divine est révélée à quelques initiés. Cet ouvrage est un aussi judicieux qu''indispensable panorama d''un art qu''on dit " à bout de souffle " et qui, pourtant, continue de nous émerveiller, la plupart du temps la où ne l''attend plus.Le Dictionnaire snob du Cinéma entend combler le manque de connaissances qui sépare les non-filmologues des filmologues. Les auteurs de ce livre ont cherché a atteindre l''équilibre parfait entre curiosité intellectuelle et délire snob.