The Bagels and
Biographies Book Club will be showcasing the best in biography, memoir,
true crime, and non-fiction every month. Each last Monday morning of the
month, we'll get together for a rollicking good time, discussing books
and eating bagels for brunch. Contact the Adult Services Department for
more information. Pick up your copy of the book at the main desk on the
first floor.
August's book is
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, by Sean Howe. In the early 1960s, a struggling company called Marvel Comics
presented a cast of brightly costumed characters distinguished by smart
banter and compellingly human flaws: Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the
Avengers, the X-Men. Over the course of half a century, Marvel's epic
universe would become the most elaborate fictional narrative in history
and serve as a modern American mythology for millions of readers.
For the first time, Marvel Comics
reveals the outsized personalities behind the scenes, including Martin
Goodman, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and generations of editors, artists, and
writers who struggled with commercial mandates, a fickle audience,
and—over matters of credit and control—one another. Marvel Comics
is a story of fertile imaginations, lifelong friendships, action-packed
fistfights, and third-act betrayals—a narrative of one of the most
extraordinary, beloved, and beleaguered pop-cultural entities in
America's history.