This is the first comprehensive history of films made in or about Iowa. It reflects some twenty years of collecting, lecturing, and talking with some of Iowa's current generation of independent filmmakers. It covers the span from 1918 to 2013 and gives important background information on dozens of high profile films such as the STATE FAIR films of 1933 and 1945, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, FIELD OF DREAMS, and many others. It is designed as a companion for the State Historical Society's blockbuster "Hollywood in the Heartland" exhibition in Des Moines that is scheduled to run at least...

International journalist John Lawrence takes the reader at kaleidoscopic speed through high drama and rib-tickling humour as he relives nearly twelve years of adventures in sub-Saharan Africa. His racy memoir swings from west coast to east coast, with a detour to Mauritius, as he vividly describes the everyday lives of both humble and famous Africans and the amazing array of animals that share this vast continent. Lawrence pays homage to the literary genius of Nigerian authors and is spellbound by the Kenyan landscape, described by the popular novelist Wilbur Smith as a microcosm of Africa....