Skylight Books Podcast Series

The Pink Hotel (Picador USA)

We are very excited to have Anna Stothard and Davy Rothbart together in conversation at Skylight!  You know Rothbart as the founder of the book/magazine series FOUND.  Stothard's debut novel, THE PINK HOTEL, is generating a dizzying amount of buzz.  Catch them in conversation here at Skylight Books. "Startling....The Pink Hotel is a spellbinding story about identity and inheritance, and how we know who we are."--The Daily Beast "Astonishingly good...Stothard's writing is accomplished and very engaging."--The Times (London) "Matters of personal identity underlie an exhilarating ride through L.A.'s seamier side in the company of a hard-bitten yet highly engaging protagonist."--Daily Mail (London) A seventeen-year-old girl pieces together the mystery of her mother's life and death among the bars and bedrooms of Los Angeles in this dazzling debut novel. A raucous, drug-fueled party has taken over a boutique hotel on Venice Beach--it's a memorial for Lily, the now-deceased, free-spirited proprietress of the place. Little do the attendees know that Lily's estranged daughter--and the nameless narrator of this striking novel--is among them, and she has just walked off with a suitcase of Lily's belongings. Abandoned by Lily many years ago, she has come a long way to learn about her mother, and the stolen suitcase--stuffed with clothes, letters, and photographs--contains not only a history of her mother's love life, but perhaps also the key to her own identity. As the tough, resourceful narrator tracks down her mother's former husbands, boyfriends, and acquaintances, a risky reenactment of her life begins to unfold. Lily had a knack for falling in love with the wrong people, and one man, a fashion photographer turned paparazzo, has begun to work his sinuous charms on the young woman. Told with high style and noirish flare, Anna Stothard's The Pink Hotel is a powerfully evocative debut novel about wish fulfillment, reckless impulse, and how we discover ourselves. ANNA STOTHARD studied English at Oxford and then moved to Los Angeles, where she was awarded a screenwriting scholarship with the masters program at the American Film Institute. She is currently living in Chalk Farm, London, and writing her next novel. DAVY ROTHBART is a frequent contributor to This American Life and a variety of magazines, the founder of Found Magazine and the editor of its various bestselling anthologies, and the author of The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas. He splits his time between Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Los Angeles, California.  His fourth book, My Heart Is an Idiot, will be available in paperback this September. Anna Sthothard photo by Charlie Hopkinson Davy Rothbart photo by Dan Busta

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOK MAY 1, 2013.

COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781250026804 AND HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780374280840

Follow Her Home (Minotaur Books)

A stunning, edgy debut introducing Juniper Song, an amateur sleuth taking on the darkness in the veins of L.A. with razor-sharp wit and a breaking heart. Juniper Song knows secrets-how to keep them and how to search them out. As a girl, noir fiction was her favorite escape, and Philip Marlowe has always been her literary idol. So when her friend Luke asks her to investigate a possible affair between his father and a young employee, Juniper (or "Song" as her friends call her) finds an opportunity to play detective. Driving through L.A.'s side streets, following leads, tailing suspects-it all appeals to Song's romantic ideal of the noir hero. But when she's knocked out while investigating a mysterious car and finds a body in her own trunk, Song lurches back to the real L.A., becoming embroiled in a crime that goes far beyond role play. What's more, this isn't the first time Song has stuck her nose in other people's business. As she fights to discover the truth about her friend's family, Song reveals one of her own deeply hidden secrets, something dark and damaging, urging her to see the current mystery through, to rectify the mistakes of her past life. A dazzling debut from fresh new talent Steph Cha, featuring a strong, modern, sharply observant heroine with an unforgettable voice, Follow Her Home takes readers through dangerous twists and turns, beyond the glittering high-rises and freeways of L.A. on a case that will stay with them long after the final page. Praise for Follow Her Home: "Cha's debut updates Marlowe's dark and dangerous LA to modern times while keeping the quirky characters and a twisty mystery that will hold readers to the bitter end." -Kirkus "For fans of urban noir and of mysteries that address contemporary social issues. Cha is a promising mystery author to watch." -Library Journal "Stephanie Cha's brilliant debut is as Noir as Old Nick's sense of humour. Compelling from first to last page, she takes on contemporary L.A., sweeping the reader through Chandler's twilight, heartbroken city from mansions to faux K-town hostess bars. L.A. Noir at its finest." -- Denise Mina, author of The Dead Hour ""Follow Her Home" takes a fresh trip down the sunny, dark streets of Los Angeles, and Juniper Song is a great guide - young, sharp, and worldly-wise. Keenly observed and deeply felt, the story slowly got under my skin. I couldn't put it down." - Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award-winng author of Ransom River "In a glittery L.A. of pretty, privileged twentysomethings, Stephanie Cha's "Follow Her Home" opens like a playful homage to Raymond Chandler but deepens into something darker: an utterly 21st-century ode to sisterhood in the face of crime. A fast-paced thriller told in smart, sparkling prose, "Follow Her Home" is a moving exploration of mothers and daughters, men and women, immigrant history, loss, and hope." -Joy Castro, author of Hell or High Water Steph Cha is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School. She lives in her native city of Los Angeles, California. This is her first novel. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS, APRIL 30, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781250009623

FREE READING FOR NATIONAL POETRY MONTH Poetry is meant to be heard as well as read.  Join us on Sunday, April 14 at 5 p.m. as we hear the delightful and provocative poems of Poets At Work members Kim Dower, Yvonne M. Estrada, Steven Fleet, Dylan Cameron Gailey, Brett Guitar Hofer, Eric Howard, Sharon Venezio, Terry Wolverton and Helen Yeoman.  They will be joined by a dynamic group of next generation poets—Ashley Blakeney, Rachelle Cruz, Ashaki M. Jackson, Eden Jeffries, Menhaz Sahibzada and Andrew Wessels. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 14, 2013.

Partially Kept (Nightboat Books)

Skylight welcomes back Martha Ronk, an acclaimed poet and short story writer, to read and sign her latest book of poetry, Partially Kept. Martha Ronk is the author of 9 books of poetry, a collection of short fiction, and a fictional memoir; her most recent poetic work includes Partially Kept from Nightboat Books, Vertigo, a National Poetry Series selection, from Coffee House Books, and Glass Grapes, fiction. She received an NEA award for her work, had residencies at Djerassi and MacDowell, and last year was a visiting poet at the University of Montana. Ronk is Professor of creative writing and Renaissance literature at Occidental College. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 13, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781937658014

Miss Maple's Seeds (Nancy Paulsen Books)

Fans of Miss Rumphius will adore this gorgeous picture book which introduces the kind, nature-loving Miss Maple, who celebrates the miracle in each seed. Miss Maple gathers lost seeds that haven't yet found a place to sprout. She takes them on field trips to explore places to grow. In her cozy maple tree house, she nurtures them; keeping them safe and warm until it's time for them to find roots of their own, and grow into the magnificent plants they're destined to become. Eliza Wheeler's luminous paintings feature gorgeous landscapes, lush foliage and charming details. Her tender story celebrates the potential found in each seed--since even the grandest tree and most brilliant flower had to grow from the smallest of seeds. Celebrate every season with Miss Maple, from Earth Day to graduations to harvest festivals.

"Confident artistry and an intuitive knowledge of what the world looks like to a very small person make a winning combination in Wheeler's debut. . . . Careful observation of seeds (including a labeled seed chart), leaves, and plants gives the artwork substance, and Japanese woodblock-style skies that fade to sunset hues provide a wistful emotional overlay. Wheeler has clearly had a good time inventing fairy-house fixtures for Miss Maple: flower lantern boats and hollow-log houses make one yearn to escape our big, unwieldy world and inhabit hers."--Publishers Weekly

Eliza Wheeler grew up in Wisconsin and got a degree in art and design from the University of Wisconsin. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California. Visit her at WheelerStudio.com.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 7, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780399257926

MARY COIN (Blue Rider Press)

In her first novel since "The God of War, " critically acclaimed author Marisa Silver takes Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" photograph as inspiration for a breathtaking reinvention--a story of two women, one famous and one forgotten, and of the remarkable legacy of their singular encounter. In 1936, a young mother resting by the side of a road in Central California is spontaneously photographed by a woman documenting the migrant laborers who have taken to America's farms in search of work--little personal information is exchanged and neither has any way of knowing that their chance encounter has produced the most iconic image of the Great Depression. Three vibrant characters anchor the narrative of "Mary Coin" Mary, the migrant mother herself, who emerges as a woman with deep reserves of courage and nerve, with private passions and carefully-guarded secrets. Vera Dare, the photographer wrestling with creative ambition who makes the choice to leave her children in order to pursue her work. And Walker Dodge, a present-day professor of cultural history, who discovers a family mystery embedded in the picture. In luminous, exquisitely observed prose, Silver creates an extraordinary tale from a brief moment in history, and reminds us that though a great photograph can capture the essence of a moment, it only scratches the surface of a life. Mary Coin is quite simply one of the best novels I have read in years . . . In her portrayal of a time in American history when survival was often a day-to-day thing, Silver drills down to the absolute essentials: family, love, loss, the perpetual uncertainty of life. Again and again I found myself wondering: How does she know that? Silver's wisdom is rare, and her novel is the work of a master.--Ben Fountain, author of the 2012 National Book Award finalist "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Marisa Silver is the author of two novels, The God of War (a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist) and No Direction Home, and two story collections, Alone With You and Babe in Paradise (a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year). Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Best American Short Stories, and the O. Henry Prize Stories. Silver lives in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times book critic David L. Ulin authored The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction, and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith and The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Are So Important in a Distracted Time. Photo by Bader Howar THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS ON APRIL 6, 2013 COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780399160707

BY THE BALLS: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION (Akashic Books)

The LA-Based crime fiction outfit UGLYTOWN is back.

It's been 15 years since BY THE BALLS introduced hard-boiled detective Ben Drake to the world and Akashic books is celebrating by releasing BY THE BALLS: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION.   Join Skylight Books for the exciting reintroduction of UGYLYTOWN.

Jim Pascoe is a writer, designer, and an Emmy Award–winning creative director. He is responsible for the packaging design of over 100 DVDs, including Mad Men, the 2010 Kubrick Collection, and Coraline, which won Best in Show at the Hollywood Reporter's Key Art Awards. He has written comics and books featuring Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kim Possible, and Hellboy. His graphic novel series Undertown was serialized in over fifty newspapers worldwide, and his recent crime fiction has appeared in Los Angeles Noir and Florida Heat Wave.

Tom Fassbender is a writer, editor, and content strategist who has written, edited, and published both novels and comics. By day he manages the creative team at a Southern California financial institution. He fills the rest of his time by being a father, tending beehives, running long distances (preferably in the Angeles National Forest), and seeking new adventures in and around Los Angeles.

Together, they cofounded UglyTown, the acclaimed independent crime fiction publishing company. They gave voice to then-newcomers Sean Doolittle, Victor Gischler, Curt Colbert, and Rodney Johnson as well as veterans Eddie Muller, Gary Phillips, and Nathan Walpow.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS ON APRIL 5, 2013.

COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781617751592

Skylight Staff Showcase

A visual, aural, literary, and olfactory treat guaranteed to make your mind, heart, and groin explode with joy or melt with empathy! The hard working and talented staff of Skylight Books will provide readings, music, artwork, and other performances for an experience of a lifetime. Zines, cds, and other objects of art will be available. Come down and soak in our pool of intelligent magic!

THE FLAMETHROWERS (Scribner Book Company)

Skylight Books is thrilled to be hosting the book launch for National Book Award Finalists Rachel Kushner's hot new novel THE FLAMETHROWERS. The year is 1977 and Reno--so-called because of the place of her birth--has come to New York intent on turning her fascination with motorcycles and speed into art. Her arrival coincides with an explosion of activity in the art world--artists have colonized a deserted and industrial Soho, are squatting in the East Village, and blurring the line between life and art. Reno falls in with group of dreamers and raconteurs who submit her to a sentimental education of sorts. She begins an affair with an artist named Sandro Valera, the semi-estranged scion of an Italian tire and motorcycle empire. When they visit Sandro's family home in Italy, Reno falls in with members of the radical movement that overtook Italy in 1977. Betrayal sends her reeling into a clandestine undertow. “Kushner is rapidly emerging as a thrilling and prodigious novelist.”—Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom "Rachel Kushner writes dazzling, sexy, glorious prose. She is as brilliant on men and motorcycles as she is on art and film. The Flamethrowers is an ambitious and powerful novel." —Dana Spiotta, author of Eat the Document and Stone Arabia “The Flamethrowers lives up to its incendiary title—it is a brilliant, startling truly revolutionary book about the New York art world of the seventies, Italian class warfare, and youth’s blind acceleration into the unknown. Kushner is a genius prose stylist, and her Reno is one of the most fully realized protagonists I've ever encountered, moving fluidly from the fringe of the fringe movement to the center of the action. I want to recommend this stunning book to everyone I know.” —Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia! Rachel Kushner debut novel, "Telex from Cuba", was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the California Book Award, and a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The""New York Times, The Believer, Artforum, Bookforum, Fence", "Bomb", Cabinet", and Grand Street". She lives in Los Angeles. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS ON APRIL 2, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781439142004

I DREAMED I WAS A VERY CLEAN TRAMP (Ecco)

How this legendary downtown artist went from an ordinary childhood in the idyllic Kentucky foothills to igniting the “punk” movement that would take over New York and London’s restless youth culture—and spawn the careers of not only Hell himself, but a cohort of friends such as Tom Verlaine, Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, and the Ramones—is just part of the fascinating story Hell tells. With Joycean powers of observation, he delves deeply into the details of both the world that shaped him and the world he helped to shape. From an early age, Hell dreamed of running away. His father died when he was seven, and at seventeen he left behind his mother and sister and headed to New York City, a place of limitless possibilities. He arrived penniless; ten years later he was a pivotal voice of the age of punk, starting or co-founding such seminal bands as Television, The Heartbreakers, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids—whose song “Blank Generation” remains the defining anthem of the era. As much as any one person, Hell established CBGBs as the ground zero of punk. He and the Voidoids would tour with the Clash, and Malcolm McLaren would credit him as an inspiration for the Sex Pistols. There was the kinetic excitement of nights at Max’s Kansas City, the descent into drug addiction, and the ever-present yearning for redemption through poetry, music, and art. Richard Hell is the author of the novels Go Now and Godlike, and the collection of essays, diaries, and lyrics, Hot and Cold. Hell has published essays, reportage and fiction in such publications as Spin, GQ, Esquire, The Village Voice, Vice, Bookforum, Art in America, The New York Times and The New York Times Book Review. From 2004-2006 he was the film critic for Black Book magazine. Hell lives in New York City. Photo by Iniz & Vinoodh THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 27, 2013. COPIES OF BOOKS FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780062190833

Young adult author extraordinaire Cecil Castellucci presents a panel on dystopian young adult novels, featuring authors Jennifer Bosworth, Chris Howard, and Sherri L. Smith. Cecil Castellucci is the author of books and graphic novels for young adults including Boy Proof, The Plain Janes, First Day on Earth, The Year of the Beasts and Odd Duck. Her picture book, Grandma’s Gloves, won the California Book Award Gold Medal. Her short stories have been published in Strange Horizons, YARN, Tor.com, and various anthologies including, Teeth, After and Interfictions 2. She is the YA editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, Children’s Correspondence Coordinator for The Rumpus and a two time Macdowell Fellow. She lives in Los Angeles. Jennifer Bosworth lives in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of the young adult novel Struck and is the writer half of a writer/director team with her husband, Ryan Bosworth. Chris Howard was born not far from London but currently lives in Denver, CO. Before he wrote stories, he wrote songs, studied natural resources management, worked for the National Park Service, and spent eight years leading wilderness adventure trips for teenagers. He was awarded a Publishers Weekly “Flying Start” in Fall 2012, following the release of his debut novel, Rootless (Scholastic Press), and Chris is currently working on the next book in this gritty sci-fi series that's recommended for both teens and adults. Sherri L. Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois and spent most of her childhood reading books. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she has worked in movies, animation, comic books and construction. Sherri’s first book, Lucy the Giant, was an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults in 2003. The Dutch translation, Lucy XXL (Gottmer, 2005), was awarded an Honorable Mention at the 2005 De Gouden Zoen, or Golden Kiss, Awards for Children’s Literature in the Netherlands. Sherri’s novel, Sparrow, was chosen as a National Council for the Social Studies/Children’s Book Council Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People and is also a 2009 Louisiana Young Readers Choice Award Nominee. Upon the release of Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet in February 2008, Sherri was featured as a spotlight author for The Brown Bookshelf's Black History Month celebration, 28 Days Later. Flygirl, an historical YA novel set during World War II, is her fourth novel. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 25, 2013.

Reclamation

Artist Kristin Posehn will discuss her new book Reclamation, about her public artwork of the same name, with Frieze contributing editor and art critic Jonathan Griffin. Reclamation is both a novella and an exhibition catalogue. The book tells the story of an ephemeral public artwork through the experiences of a fictional narrator. The artwork Reclamation was an elaborate reproduction of a ruin: a one-to-one scale replica of the last remaining facade from the ghost town of Metropolis, USA. The installation took place in the newly constructed city of Almere, the Netherlands. At this event, Kristin Posehn and Jonathan Griffin will be in conversation about the book and artwork, architecture, photography, public vs private space, and the peculiar story of the ghost town of Metropolis. Kristin Posehn is an artist based in Los Angeles. She has produced numerous commissioned works, including installations for Museum De Paviljoens, Netherlands, the Bonnefanten Museum, NL, Aspex, UK, and Netwerk Center for Contemporary Art, Belgium. She received a Ph.D. in Fine Art from the Winchester School of Art, Winchester, UK, and did a two year research and production residency at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NL. In 2010, she was a Visiting Tutor at Oxford University, UK. Reclamation is her first book. Jonathan Griffin is a writer, art critic and editor. Born and raised in London, he now lives in Los Angeles. He is a Contributing Editor of Frieze magazine, and has also written for publications including Art Review, Texte Zur Kunst, Flash Art and The Art Newspaper. He has contributed essays for a number of books, including a monograph on British painter Ross Chisholm, published by JRP Ringier, and Vitamin P2, published by Phaidon. Forthcoming books include a monograph on Hernan Bas, published by Rizzoli, and Vitamin D2, published by Phaidon. Photo of Posehn by Aaron Farley. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 22, 2013.

The Carriage House (Scribner Book Company)

A gorgeous debut novel from an award-winning poet and world ranked squash player about an old moneyed family, facing the loss of the youthful talent and storied history that defined them. After suffering a stroke, patriarch William Adair wakes up in his hospital bed and realizes that his family has changed: they are less extraordinary than he had remembered. For more than thirty years, his faith in life was grounded on two indisputable principles: his three daughters' exceptional beauty and talents and the historical resonance of a carriage house built by his grandfather. Now, both have begun to collapse. The carriage house, held captive by a neighbor since a zoning error classified it as her property, has decayed beyond recognition and risks being condemned. William's daughters--all tennis champions in their youth--are in decline. Having lost their father's pride, the three sisters struggle to define themselves. William's ailing wife is suffering from dementia. As she forgets her daughters, they forget themselves. To help him recover, William's daughters take on the battle for the carriage house that once stood as a symbol of their place in the world. Overcoming misunderstandings, betrayals, and wrong turns deep in the past, each of the Adairs ultimately finds a new place of forgiveness and love. "The Carriage House" is a moving, beautifully wrought novel about the complex bonds of siblings and about rebuilding lost lives. Every sentence in The Carriage House is full of clarity, attention, and grace. Louisa Hall is a writer to be admired.—Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds Louisa Hall grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Haverford. After graduating from Harvard she played squash professionally, and was ranked no. 2 in the country. She is completing her Ph.D. in literature at the University of Texas at Austin. Her poems have been published in journals such as The New Republic, The Southwest Review, and Ellipsis. The Carriage House is her first novel. She lives in Los Angeles. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 12, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781451688634

Author (and frequent Skylight Books event host!) Noel Alumit presents a panel on getting published, featuring author Dana Johnson, book critic and author David L. Ulin, editor Daniel Smetanka, and agent B.J. Robbins. Dana Johnson is the author of Elsewhere, California and Break Any Woman Down. She is an associate professor of English at the University of Southern California where she teaches literature and creative writing. BJ Robbins opened her Los Angeles-based literary agency in 1992 after a multifaceted career in book publishing that took her from publicity at Simon & Schuster to Marketing Director and later Senior Editor at Harcourt. Her agency represents non-genre fiction, both literary and commercial and a wide range of nonfiction, from narrative to history and biography, pop culture, travel-adventure, sports and health. Daniel Smetanka has worked in various aspects of the publishing industry for close to twenty years. As an Executive Editor at Ballantine/Random House, Inc., he acquired and published award-winning debut books including The Ice Harvest by Scott Philips, The Speed of Light by Elizabeth Rosner, Down to a Soundless Sea by Thomas Steinbeck, and Among the Missing by Dan Chaon, a 2001 finalist for the National Book Award. He currently serves as Editor-at-Large for Counterpoint/Soft Skull Press. Los Angeles Times book critic David L. Ulin authored The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction, and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith and The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Are So Important in a Distracted Time.

Exploding the Phone (Grove Press)

In EXPLODING THE PHONE, Phil Lapsley illuminates the forgotten history of the proto-hackers, tinkerers, and pranksters who turned AT&T’s telephone system into their electronic playground.

Before smartphones and iPads, before the Internet or the personal computer, a misfit group of technophiles, blind teenagers, hippies, and outlaws figured out how to hack the world’s largest machine: the telephone system. By the middle of the twentieth century the telephone system had grown into something extraordinary, a web of cutting-edge switching machines and human operators that linked together millions of people like never before. But the network had a billion-dollar flaw, and once people discovered it, things would never be the same. Phil Lapsley’s EXPLODING THE PHONE traces the birth of long-distance communication and the telephone, the rise of AT&T’s monopoly, the creation of the sophisticated machines that made it all work, and the discovery of Ma Bell’s Achilles’ heel. Lapsley expertly weaves together the clandestine network of “phone phreaks” who broke into the system to satisfy their curiosity, the mobsters who exploited its flaws to avoid the feds, and the counterculture movement that argued you should rip off the phone company to fight against the war in Vietnam. AT&T responded with “Greenstar,” an unprecedented project that would ultimately tap some thirty-three million telephone calls and record 1.5 million of them. The FBI fought back, too, especially when a phone phreak showed a confidential informant how he could remotely eavesdrop on FBI calls. Phone phreaking exploded into the popular culture, with famous actors, musicians, and investors caught with “blue boxes,” many of them built by two young phone phreaks named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Soon, the phone phreaks, the feds, and the phone company were at war. Based on original interviews and declassified documents, and featuring a forward by phone phreak turned Apple Computers co-founder Steve Wozniak, EXPLODING THE PHONE is a captivating, ground-breaking work about an important part of our cultural and technological history. "The definitive account of the first generation of network hackers – the scruffy rebels who first plumbed the secrets of the global telephone network, and accidentally earned the wrath of everyone from AT&T to the FBI. At turns a technological love story, a counter cultural history and a generation-spanning epic, Exploding the Phone is obsessively researched and told with wit and clarity. It captures a moment in time that might otherwise have been lost forever." —Kevin Poulsen, news editor of Wired.com and author of Kingpin Phil Lapsley is a cofounder of two high-tech companies, and a former consultant at McKinsey & Company. He holds a masters degree in electrical engineering from U. C. Berkeley and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS FEBRUARY 11, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780802120618