Books published by publisher powerHouse Books

Daniel Paterna's Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn-Italian's Recipes Celebrating Food and Family is a timely reminder that a shared memory of food draws upon and enriches our souls.In Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn Italian's Recipes Celebrating Food and Family, Daniel Paterna takes you on magical journey into a hidden world. Through recipes handed down in his family, stunning photos taken by the author himself, and three-generations of memories, Paterna reveals the soulful, humorous, and always delicious history of Italian-Americans in Brooklyn.Paterna is the real deal, a second-generation Italian-American, whose family has preserved their culture from the shores of Naples to the streets of Bensonhurst. He'll show you how to make long-forgotten recipes like stuffed calamari and he'll take you to the stores, restaurants, and bakeries where artisans are still doing things the old way.This is an intensely personal book that powerfully illustrates the essence of the American experience: the ways food, family, and memory are preserved and changed by the immigrants who brought them to our shores, and the children of those immigrants who keep the flame alive.

Every industry around the globe is being completely disrupted. Stalwart brands are losing market share to upstarts that capture our collective consciousness. Trillions of dollars are at stake. Brands know a new approach is needed. But most don’t realize the strategic underpinnings need to change. Great brands are no longer built through interruptive advertisements. Friction argues that brands don't simply need clever messages or new, shiny technologies. They need a fundamental change in strategy. Friction provides a system for embracing transparency, engaging audiences, creating evangelists, and unleashing unprecedented growth. The authors of Friction have worked on some of the industry's most innovative assignments for the world’s most successful brands. This groundbreaking book reveals how corporations can divorce themselves from legacy business models to create a passion brand. A brand that breaks its addiction to traditional advertising. A brand that empowers its customers. A brand that dominates the competition.

Every industry around the globe is being completely disrupted. Stalwart brands are losing market share to upstarts that capture our collective consciousness. Trillions of dollars are at stake. Brands know a new approach is needed. But most don’t realize the strategic underpinnings need to change. Great brands are no longer built through interruptive advertisements. Friction argues that brands don't simply need clever messages or new, shiny technologies. They need a fundamental change in strategy. Friction provides a system for embracing transparency, engaging audiences, creating evangelists, and unleashing unprecedented growth. The authors of Friction have worked on some of the industry's most innovative assignments for the world’s most successful brands. This groundbreaking book reveals how corporations can divorce themselves from legacy business models to create a passion brand. A brand that breaks its addiction to traditional advertising. A brand that empowers its customers. A brand that dominates the competition.

Pearl Jam. Not many bands have achieved a status needing no adjective or description. Pearl Jam has. And fewer still have had an insider, much less a member, obsessively capture onstage and offhand pics of the experience—the friends, family, and fans... and one very famous plastic toy. Luckily for us lead guitarist Mike McCready did—trusty Polaroid camera in hand.Documenting years of touring and travels, McCready snaps meetings with heroes and inspirations from all walks of life; time spent with crazy friends and family; and moments featuring wildly artistic takes on art, nature, and architecture. Also: he once rocked a fab grey shift. And true to form for one not taking things too seriously, Mike sometimes had his pal, Mr. Potato Head, pop in and share in the fun.As wonderfully intimate as group “selfies” with the likes of Neil Young, Questlove, Jimmy Page, Ann and Nancy Wilson, Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, The Edge, Ben Harper, Peter Buck, Paul McCartney, Mike Mills, Sting, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Carrie Brownstein, Robert Plant, Peter Frampton, Dave Grohl, Gene Simmons, Bono, Jack White, Danny Clinch, Lady Gaga, Laura Dern, Dustin Hoffman, Judd Apatow, Will Ferrell, Leslie Mann, Jimmy Fallon, Mira Sorvino, Tim Robbins, Hugh Jackman, Venus Williams, and Kate Hudson are, it’s the massive homage to the band’s fans taken from stage view, in places from the Pacific Northwest to Peru, from Brussels to Bolivia, that brings McCready’s manic intimacy come roaring to life.Of Potato Heads and Polaroids is the scrapbook for our rockstar world—friends, family, and fans. With some wattage. And a great deal of fun and good times.

Midnight Modern brings into focus a view of Palm Springs and its internationally renowned modernist houses never before shown, shot entirely by the light of the full moon. Created over the course of three years by Australian photographer Tom Blachford, the surreal images function as portals in time, with the homes, cars, and beautiful scenery appearing almost exactly as it all did 60 years ago. The crisp moonlight adds a new dimension to the famous mecca of desert modernism and shows a contrasting side of a town famous for its sunshine, cocktails, and hedonism. Working closely with the Palm Springs community, Blachford gained remarkable access to some of the most coveted architectural jewels in the area, including the Kaufmann Desert House, Edris House, Frey House II, Frank Sinatra Twin Palms Estate, and dozens of restored Alexander tract homes in the valley. Blachford’s work builds on the famous documentary and lifestyle approaches of Julius Shulman and Slim Aarons, but injects a signature mystery. His cinematic aesthetic acts as a stage for an untold narrative, inviting the viewer to script their own drama going on behind the walls of these historic homes. This original, lush work is a rich contribution to the record for those midcentury architecture and design lovers fascinated by Palm Springs.

No Sleep is a visual history of the halcyon days of New York City club life as told through flyer art. Spanning the late 80s through the late 90s, when nightlife buzz travelled via flyers and word of mouth, No Sleep features a collection of artwork from the personal archives of NYC DJs, promoters, club kids, nightlife impresarios, and the artists themselves. Club flyers, by design, were ephemeral objects distributed on street corners, outside of nightclubs and concert halls, in barbershops and retail shops, and were not intended to be preserved for posterity. Through the 90s, they became both increasingly prevalent and more sophisticated as printing technology evolved. Overnight, however, with the advent of the internet, the flyer essentially disappeared, despite it being common at one time for promoters to print thousands of flyers for any given event. Recently, these flyers have become sought-after collector's items.

The New York Pigeon is a photography book that reveals the unexpected beauty of the omnipresent pigeon as if Vogue magazine devoted its pages to birds, rather than fashion models. In spite of pigeons' ubiquity in New York and other cities, we never really see them closely and know very little about their function in the urban ecosystem. This book brings to light the intriguing history, behavior and splendor of a bird that we frequently overlook.The New York Pigeon reveals the unexpected beauty of our omnipresent pigeon. Employing exquisite portraiture that one might find in a fashion magazine, the book features this underappreciated urban bird in a fresh, glamorous light.Finally, the much maligned pigeon gets its 15 minutes. “stool pigeon...” “rats with wings...” Why? What did pigeons ever do to deserve such disrespect? (They mind their own business, they saved lives in World War I and II, and they’re beautiful to boot.) Andrew Garn seeks to right this egregious wrong— through his keen eye, the pigeon is photographed in all its unexpected glory—elevated to its rightful place as a wondrous being of beauty and grace, soaring though time and space. You will never look at pigeons the same way again.In spite of pigeons’ ubiquity in New York and other cities, we never really see them closely and know very little about their function in the urban ecosystem. For many New Yorkers, pigeons are the “gateway drug” to nature. The result of eight years of passionate inquiry,The New York Pigeon is a photographic study of the birds’ power and allure. The dramatic, hyper-real individual studio portraits capture their personalities, expressiveness, glorious feather iridescence, and deeply hued eyes. High-speed strobe photography illustrates the pigeons’ graceful flight and dramatic wing movements. While The New York Pigeon is primarily a photography book, it also tells part of the 5,000-year story of the feral pigeon and their long association with humans. How did Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner teach pigeons to do complicated tasks, from tracking missile targets to recognizing individual human faces? How do pigeons find their way back home from hundreds of miles away? The New York Pigeon lovingly describes and illuminates the wonder of nature alive in our midst. With this book, the beautiful, savvy, graceful, kind pigeon will be invisible no more.

The Last Stop does far more than capture the remarkable, effective design of our nation's road stops. It preserves a moment in time that is quickly fading, a unique period in the American travel experience when the journey was just as important as the destination. It's clear these modest structures did far more than provide picnic tables, they shaped our collective experience of golden-age car travel across the vast United States. While driving in 2007 on a solo road trip from California to central Texas, photographer Ryann Ford was struck by a recurring sight: humble, solitary rest stops. A nondescript blur outside the car window to most, the quirky rest stops on Ford's journey seized her attention - mock adobe dwellings in New Mexico, depression-era stone houses in Arizona, faux oil rigs in Texas. What was the story behind these playful pieces of Americana?After doing some research, Ford was alarmed to learn that these rest areas were currently being closed and demolished all over the country. With countless commercial options at nearly every highway exit, and states needing to cut expenses, many felt that these old rest stops were no longer necessary. Upon learning the news, she immediately felt an urgency to capture as many as she could before they were gone forever.Ford spent years on the road ducking under fences, stepping over fallen trees, and hiking through snow to reach some of these iconic rest stops; in doing so, she learned that they are so much more than toilets and tables - for the past several decades they have given millions of travelers from around the world rest, relief, hospitality and nostalgia. States Ryann visited and featured in the book are: New Mexico, Texas, California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Montana, Mississippi, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, and Louisiana.

Navigating the landscape of young adulthood is fraught with challenges big, small, and existential that leave even the best of us screaming internally. Guac Is Extra But So Am I: The Reluctant Adult’s Handbook explains the realities of life people expect you to know—but aren't usually spelled out—through humorous, biting commentary, illustrations, and guidance from those who have seen it all.Packed with discussions, tips, and advice on everything from the shifting etiquette surrounding modern dating (Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and tolerant of your substance abuse?) to how you should be forcing yourself to save for retirement (We're all just a few breakdowns away from becoming an interior designer or golf pro), job hunting (No, you cannot choose “muse” as a career path), to the highly emotional and physical trials of moving (The road to hell is paved with shag carpeting). These topics, and anything else that might fluster a young adult, are explored and addressed with the author’s trademark wit and self-deprecating style. Add in contributions from leaders in their respective fields, including Mad Money’s Jim Cramer and editors ranging from The New York Times to Town & Country, and Guac Is Extra But So Am I becomes an illuminating guide to what it means to be a well-rounded individual in a digitally evolving world ridden with student debt and Instagram “models.”

A fantasy children's book intended for infants and toddlers, Flying Henry follows the story of a baby who develops a magical ability to fly. Aware of his rare gift, he soars through his home, into nature, and unfamiliar places, testing the limits of his new skill by examining the world around him from the sky and embarking on great adventures. But, eventually Henry grows lonely and has to learn a very important secret about flying in order to fully enjoy his gift. Realistic looking flight rendered by artist Rachel Hulin with the willing support of her son, Henry, is an exceptional addition to the genre of photographic children's books and will appeal to adults as well.

In 1960, burgeoning actress and defiant dreamer Lena Spencer opened a small, grassroots coffeehouse in the quaint upstate New York town of Saratoga Springs. Within her then-husband’s plan to start the Caffè as a means for the couple to artistically flourish while “making enough money to retire in Europe” lay the seed of a more impactful cultural contribution that would change music history forever. It was a time in America when a coffeehouse could be something more—a focal point for a different sort of people, radical new ideas, and notably, emerging artists. Caffè Lena’s humble stage regularly welcomed musicians such as a young Bob Dylan in 1961, the singer/activist Bernice Johnson Reagon in 1962, and a pre-”American Pie” Don McLean in 1965. Quickly, Caffè Lena took its place among the nation’s foremost incubators of an American folk movement that inspired a generation of musicians, artists, and thinkers and a country in need of a new vision of equality, freedom, and understanding. Fortunately for posterity, camera shutters were often snapping in time to the music, and so an intimate visual record of Caffè Lena’s early years exists. Now, thanks to years of dedicated digging by the Caffè Lena History Project—to unearth Lena’s secret memoirs, collaborating with photographers to identify and rescue mysterious negatives, and collecting stories from the original artists to highlight these materials—the time has come to share this treasure trove of authentic and rare Americana with the world. Caffè Lena: Inside America’s Legendary Folk Music Coffeehouse brings more than 200 never before seen, evocative images and stories to the public. Early 1960s photographs of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger and modern-day images of Rufus Wainwright and Patty Larkin blend with rare memorabilia and an oral history derived from more than 100 original interviews of artists who have graced Caffè Lena’s stage over the decades, including Ani DiFranco, Utah Phillips, Dave Van Ronk, Spalding Gray, and other luminaries of the folk, blues, jazz, and theater worlds. This exclusive time capsule chronicling the heyday of Caffè Lena—now the country’s oldest continuously operational folk music coffeehouse—provides an insightful look at the many artists whose poetic lyrics cast a mesmerizing spell over a generation, and who remain beloved today. Alongside the release of Caffè Lena: Inside America’s Legendary Folk Music Coffeehouse, San Francisco’s Tompkins Square label will release the 3-CD box set, ‘Live at Caffè Lena: Music From America’s Legendary Coffeehouse, 1967–2013′ on September 24, 2013. “Caffè Lena holds an important place in the folk and traditional music communities. For me it was the gateway to so many things I hold dear about music.” —Scott Goldman, The GRAMMY Foundation “The story of Caffè Lena is the secret history of the folk-music scene. Lena was a pioneering woman in a man's world and her story needs to be told.” —Holly George-Warren, The Road to Woodstock “Lena Spencer was a rare person with a shining spirit who created a small world of her own. The magic of her Caffè cannot be analyzed, computerized, or explained.” —David Amram, Musician