Excerpt of the Day: "Seal It with a Kiss" by Violet Blue

Get your kiss on with Violet Blue's Seal It with a Kiss, a guide to all the different ways to kiss and the varieties of techniques to perfect your very own style. No matter if you're a novice kisser or a kissing bandit, discover all the dos and don'ts in this adorable little volume devoted to making out.

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Chapter 1

The Secret Society of Kissing Artist

The average woman spends two weeks of her life kissing—but what girl wants to be average? Two weeks of smooches just won’t do—especially when you want to be the kind of kisser who has them coming back for seconds. And thirds. Maybe an all-you-can-kiss make-out buffet. With the secrets, tips, techniques, and detailed steps to becoming a master kisser in this book, you’ll be more than the average player: you’ll be at the top of the kissing game.

Kissing is one of the most sensual of all the acts of flirting, foreplay, seduction, and sex we can enjoy. In a kiss, you use all of your senses—and his too. You feel a kiss with your body, your heart, and your mind. You can communicate desire, urgency, caring—anything you want, because what you’re feeling when you kiss someone can be channeled right through you like an electric charge. The greatest kissers know a variety of techniques that can be applied to a range of situations, tricks to make their kisses unforgettable, strategies to seduce even the shyest pair of lips, and how to jump-start that erotic spark with a first (or second, or third) kiss.

The sensual kisser has a lot more going on than a pair of kissable lips—though I’ll tell you all about making your lips silky smooth and utterly irresistible in a bit. A truly sensual kisser is a girl who feels confident and sexy from within, no matter whether she happens to think she looks “perfect” at the moment, and a great kisser stays in touch with all of her senses—before kissing even begins. It’s like flipping a light switch: when you know a kiss is about to happen, all of your senses sharpen. And once the kiss starts, everything goes into overdrive as you drink in the taste, the smell, the touch, the sound, the feelings. And the person on the receiving end is hooked.

What’s in a Kiss?

Kissing is a single act that can convey a wide variety of intentions. For instance, one type of kiss, a light, affectionate peck, is a message of tenderness—it can be nonsexual, or a loving reminder. On the other hand, a first romantic kiss, built up to with nervousness and desire, might begin with the softest touch and pull you together like a red-hot magnet. A kiss between lovers is the spark that ignites passions into a blazing fire that may consume you both in a delicious makeout session. This kind of kiss can be more powerful than the need to eat when you’re famished. Sometimes the prelude to a kiss is the best part; other times it’s only a teasing, playful beginning.

One kiss can change everything. It can make friends into so much more. A kiss is the moment when sex and science meet, when we know whether our chemistry matches our desire. A casual encounter might turn into a pivotal, life-changing moment, after which ordinary everyday situations with your friend become lustful encounters. Often, when we kiss someone for the first time, we know instantly whether or not we click with them sexually.

Kissing is also really good for you and good for everyone around you. The act of kissing makes you feel emotionally ecstatic—it stimulates the release of endorphins, natural opiates similar to the delirious rush we feel while running and when we fall in love. Prolonged sensual kissing releases the arousal hormone oxytocin, essential for orgasm. And it’s good for our teeth, because the increased flow of saliva washes our teeth in a plaque-dispersing bath. Now, doesn’t that sound sexy?

Most of all, kissing is fun. Welcome to the world of kissing bandits and superkissers, where you’ll learn how to cast an unforgettable, seductive spell with your lips. You’ll join the legions of women who can melt a man like butter with a kiss, are always the first ones picked for the kissing booth, and can easily become rulers of small countries with their ability to deliver the perfect kiss anywhere, anytime. The tips in this guide will make your past experiences with kissing seem like amateur night, and already-great kissers will find more secret kissing weapons, tips, and tricks to fortify their arsenal of techniques. Here you’ll discover can’t-fail techniques for ramping up your sensuality, the keys to perfect first kisses, the fine points of timing a kiss, oodles of techniques and surprises, and how to make an innocent kiss turn into a lustful session of tonsil hockey.

You don’t need to be a man-eater or a villainous vixen to deliver the most wicked smooches—though all skill levels are encouraged to apply. Perhaps you’re tired of being a one-date wonder or feel that you’ve missed far too many kissing opportunities. Or maybe you’re a would-be kissing virtuoso, coiled up and ready to spring. Maybe you’d just like to know when and where different types of kisses are appropriate, how to be a better kisser, how to become a more magnetic kisser, or you want to learn new kissing techniques to make your sweetie give you—and your kissable lips—a double-take. This guide gives you concrete tools to nurture your kissing prowess, useful for a lifetime of being a first-rate, unforgettable kisser.

Excerpt of the Day: "The Frugal Foodie Cookbook" by Lara Starr and Lynette Shirk

Eat better for less?  Sounds crazy, right? The Frugal Foodie Cookbook will help you do just that.  Lara Starr and Lynette Shirk have packed this book with hundreds of delicious recipes and expert advice to help you save both your wallet and your sanity.

Take a peek:

Cents-able Solutions:

Meal Planning 101

You can avoid both overshopping and undershopping by setting aside a few minutes over the weekend to plan out your meals for the week. There are countless benefits to meal planning. You won’t find yourself roaming the aisles desperate for inspiration for the evening’s meal, and you won’t be tempted by the expensive prepared foods in the in-store delis. And when you buy what you need for the week, you’ll save time and money on midweek trips to the store.

Dinners

On the day you do your shopping, make a list of the dinners you’ll have for the week, including the main dish and any veggies and sides. If you’re making a “big dish” like pasta or a roast, you can slot in “leftover night” as well. Then, make a grocery list of all of the items you’ll need to prepare the week’s menu. You’ll know exactly what you need and don’t.

Post the week’s menu on the fridge, and save them up for a few weeks—you’ll build a repertoire of your family’s favorite dishes.

Lunches

Most kids are happy to eat the same thing over and over again, but neither man nor child can live on peanut butter and jelly alone. Foods like pizza, quesadillas, and even homemade chicken nuggets are perfectly palatable to kids at room temperature and make great lunches.

To keep yourself sane and your kids healthy and happy, make a five-day menu that can be repeated week to week. Monday could be pizza day, Tuesday bagel and cream cheese day, etc. Supplement the main dish with fruit or cut-up veggies and something crunchy, like crackers, dry cereal, pretzels, or rice cakes. These “sides” keep well and are easy to grab if junior wants to dip into his lunchbox at recess.

Breakfasts

Weekday breakfasts are usually quick affairs. Save your big cooking guns for the weekend, when you can make waffles, pancakes, and quiches that can last for several meals. It takes only minimally more time and trouble to make two quiches than to make one, and you’ll have a hearty slice of eggy goodness ready for weekday breakfast.

Excerpt of the Day: "Help! My Baby Came Without Instructions" by Blythe Lipman

Make no mistake, babies are precious.  With their cute little noses, teeny tiny toes, eyes full of wonder, and infectious giggles, these little bundles can bring you hours of joy and entertainment.  But for a new parent, bringing home a baby can be the scariest day of his or her life.

It doesn’t have to be. 

Help! My Baby Came Without Instructions is a truly useful how-to that will have nervous new moms and sleep-deprived dads feeling confident about their parenting skills.  Blythe Lipman has devoted her life to the gentle art of infant care and offers wise and witty practical advice in this parent-tested, expert-approved book.  Rest easy, new parents, help is here.

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Slip and Slide

The safe, fun way to bathe your baby

Bathing can be very scary for your new baby. Once the water hits her little body, it is a whole new experience of slipping, sliding, and squirming. Here are a few tips to make Bath Time 101 a bit easier.

-Before you fill up any kind of tub, have the baby’s towel (and all other supplies you might need) next to the tub.

-Fill the tub or sink with enough water to cover the baby’s tummy. Before you put your baby in the water, test the water temperature with your elbow. It should be warm to the touch.

-Make sure all the windows are closed and fans are turned off. The room should be free of drafts.

-Take the baby’s diaper off last. Naked babies (as you will learn probably sooner than later) go to the bathroom anyplace. Don’t be alarmed if she goes in the bath. This is very natural but sometimes frustrating when you have to start all over.

-Wash from the bottom of the toes up to the head. Some babies don’t like having their hair washed. Starting with tears is not fun.

-Buy Summer Comfy Baby’s Safety Foam Bath Sponge, by Summer Infant, a rectangular sponge with indentations that look like the baby’s body. This sponge will fit in the bathtub or a large sink. Fill the tub or sink with enough water to cover three-fourths of the sponge. Put the baby on her back so you have both hands free to soap, wash, and play. You can find this sponge at Babies “R” Us, Target, and Walmart, as well as online.

-Use a small plastic baby tub that will fit into your large tub. They make these tubs with fabric attached to the top (like a hammock), extending from top to bottom on a slant. The baby’s bottom is submerged in the water and the rest of her body is partially covered. You still need to support the baby with one hand, but you don’t have to worry that her head will go under the water.

-Or put a large towel in the bottom of the sink and fill it with a few inches of water. While you support the baby’s head and body with your hand, the towel will prevent her from sliding.

-When the baby can sit up, purchase a plastic bath chair. This seat attaches to the bottom of the tub with suction cups.

-When washing the baby’s hair, hold a washcloth in front of her eyes while you rinse, to keep them dry and shampoo-free. Gently tilt the baby’s head back and rinse using a plastic cup filled with warm water.

-There’s even a product that looks like a circle of soft plastic, almost like a sun visor, that attaches around the back of the baby’s head with Velcro. This hat fits on top of the baby’s head so you can pour water to rinse the shampoo away without it getting into her eyes.

-Picking baby shampoos or bath products is personal. Some contain aloe, lavender, roses, and conditioner together with shampoo, baby wash to relax the baby, and so on. Try them all until you find one that you and she like.

-Bubble bath sometimes irritates the baby’s skin. As an alternative, if you want to make bubbles, pour a small capful of shampoo under the running water.

-The bathtub is a great place to blow bubbles with a wand, for the baby to play with.

-Take the baby out and put her onto a big towel, wrap her up, and give her a kiss.

-If you use powder, pour it into your hand first, then rub it on the baby. Never shake it directly on her body, as it could get into her eyes, nose, mouth, and lungs.

-Don’t forget to have fun washing, singing, and playing. There is nothing cuter than a squeaky-clean baby to make you smile.

Excerpt of the Day: "Total Flirt" by Violet Blue

Did you know there are two types of flirting?  Have you ever wished you could “just tell” if he was interested in you?  Whether you’re tired of waiting for your chance or you want to play for higher stakes, Total Flirt will teach you the tools of the flirting trade—and sexy secrets no girl should be without.  Under Violet Blue’s wise and helpful tutelage, readers learn how to walk like a siren, talk like a bombshell, and seduce like a vamp — and even do it all online!

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The Flirting Game: Two Ways to Play

Flirting is a game that no girl should ever wait to play: you can play now or later, but flirting is too much fun to let the party pass you by. And besides, the legions of flirt fatales who enjoy the fruits of guys on tap could always use another talented secret agent to join in the quest for world domination (or the snaring of the sweetest heart in the sexiest package to keep all to herself).

The first step in our master plan is understanding the concept of flirting. Guys see girls who flirt in a number of ways: cute, sweet, annoying, sexually available (most guys mistake female attention for sexual interest), scary but exciting, thrilling, and slutty, or they’re relieved not to be guessing whether you’re interested at all. In later chapters you’ll find out how to navigate all of these situations and turn them to your advantage, even if that turns into “get me outta here!”

The most important thing to know about the concept of flirting is that there are two ways to flirt. There is flirting for fun, and there is flirting with intent. Flirting for fun is when you use all those wickedly wonderful smiles, teases, eyelash bats—many but not all of the flirting skills detailed in this book—for a playful tête-à-tête with someone you think is cute but who is off the menu. They may be off the menu for a variety of reasons: because he has a girlfriend (naughty you!), or she’s a friend of a friend, or he’s your gay pal who flirts back with feeling and fun. You don’t mean anything when you flirt for fun, except to feel saucy and make your friend feel the same. It’s reserved for people who feel safe to flirt with.

Flirting with intent is when you flirt with a goal. Your “flirtee” is your prey, and you are the huntress. Flirting with intent is a lot of fun; it’s when the person you flirt with could be more than a friend, and you want to find out what that “more” looks like. You are sure it looks sexy, and will look good on your arm. Flirting with intent is how we scope for dates and mates, and while it’s not uncommon to go from “fun” to “intent” in the span of a few beverages, usually when we’re going out to flirt with intent a conquest of some kind is already on our to-do list. It’s when you flirt and you mean it.

Flirt fatales in the know already know this: flirting for fun and flirting with intent don’t look or sound very different to your flirt target. Even when flirting with intent, our manner is playful and teasing. We may in fact be engaged in a serious attempt to assess someone’s suitability as a potential date—and to advertise our own perfectness for this position—but we do not conduct this mate-selection process like a job interview. We exchange glances, smiles, jokes, compliments, and touches, not résumés and experience. (No, never experience, ahem.)

Use the valuable tips in this guide to help you cultivate the perfect Flirt Mode for your goals. This guide is designed to help you meet your goals and avoid confusion. The initial stages of flirting with intent can look a lot like flirting for fun—and this similarity can be a source of confusion and misunderstanding.

Researchers have found that two-thirds of all flirting is initiated by women. Did you know? Get down with your bad self! Girl flirting is done so subtly and unobtrusively that most people think men take the initiative with sexual cues. Women use subtle cues and signals so discreetly that men are not consciously aware of them and so men usually believe they have made the first move. Many studies show that men are not consciously aware of female flirt signals to which they are clearly responding. You can call the shots anytime you feel like stepping into the game. So even if you come across a “pickup artist” who thinks he’s “always closing the deal” when he’s chatting you up—this guide will keep you on top of the flirting food chain, right where you belong.

Excerpt of the Day: "Wordcatcher" by Phil Cousineau

Phil Cousineau’s Wordcatcher is a logophile’s dream.  250 words, each with a delightful back story to keep you entangled in etymologies, what’s not to love?  And, who knows, perhaps this treasure chest of remarkable words will encourage you to start your own wordcatching journey.

Take a look:

Arachibutyrophobia

The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. Curious, right? Every time I read or hear the word I think of spiders, from the Greek arachne. But it’s really a very long and potent word for a very peculiar phobia, stemming from the Greek arachi, a glutinous oil present in peanut butter; butryo, to stick or adhere; and phobia, fear. As someone who has been afflicted with esophageal and swallowing problems all his life, I can swear to what appears to be a universal fear of getting something stuck in the throat. So it’s not difficult to imagine someone, especially with a peanut allergy, being terrified of its buttery version clogging up her mouth. The problem is mythic, a larger-than-life fear, or phobia—a word that can be traced back to Phobos, son of Ares, god of terror, but the symptoms are real, persistent, an unrealistic fear that seizes the whole person, resulting in symptoms of nausea, dizziness, and shame. That said, there is no shortage of curious phobias, such as: erythrophobia, the fear of blushing; ablutophobia, fear of washing or cleaning; euphobia, fear of good news; chromophobia, fear of color; gnomophobia, fear of gnomes; catoptrophia, fear of mirrors; Venustraphobia, the fear of beautiful and alluring women; kakorrhapphiophobia is the fear of failure and hippomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, fear of long words, and perhaps longer definitions. Speaking of frightful words, a curious fear I’ve suffered from on occasion, especially on long airplane flights, is abibliophobia, the fear of not having enough to read. To be fair, let’s conclude with an antidote of a word, counterphobia, which refers to “the desire or seeking out of experiences that are consciously or unconsciously feared.” It’s not unlike the advice your mom gave you after your first bad fall from a bicycle—climb back on.

Argonaut

A bold and daring sailor. A smooth-sailing word that combines the ancient Greek argos, swift; the beauty of a fine ship, naus; and the sailor courage of a nautes. They merge in Argo, the galley on which the Argonauts set sail, which in turn was named after Argus, its ingenious builder. Webster’s succinctly defines an Argonaut as “any of a band of heroes who sailed with Jason in quest of the Golden Fleece.” I vividly recall my father’s Heritage Club edition of the book by Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, which we read aloud as a family over one long Michigan winter. The legend recounts how Jason persuaded forty-nine sailors to accompany him on a perilous mission from Iolcos to remote Colchis, in what is now Georgia, at the far end of the Black Sea. Their mythic task was to capture the golden fleece, which hung on a sacred oak guarded by a fire-snorting dragon. Curiously, in 1849, many of those who left home and hearth for the California gold mines were called “Argonauts,” in honor of Jason’s adventure, as well as “’49ers,” an uncanny echo of the forty-nine sailors who traveled with him in search of the resplendent wool. The Argonauts adventure lives on in Argos, a constellation in the northern sky; Captain Nemo’s ship, the Nautilus, in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea; the spiral-shelled nautilus, which the ancients believed sailed underwater; and nausea, seasickness, from naus, ship. Another haunting echo of the word is found in one of the most touching scenes in all of literature, from the final book of the Odyssey, when the hero returns home to Ithaka after his twenty-year long adventure and is recognized by his faithful dog Argos— who wags his tail, then dies quietly.

Excerpt of the Day: "Every Day Love" by Judy Ford

Falling in love: easy

Sustaining love: well, it’d be easier to complete a triathlon ten times over.

We long for love.  It’s a universal want.  But for some of us, sustaining love is difficult.  Counselor and author Judy Ford’s Every Day Love can help.  Filled with stories and experiences that are often overlooked as insignificant, this book sheds light on how to avoid pitfalls and celebrate the differences between yourself and your love.

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Not Easy Being a Sweetheart

You’ve probably experienced how your sweetheart can bring out the best in you and the worst in you? In the morning, sharing the paper, sipping coffee, making pancakes for the kiddies, looking forward to the evening out together—content and optimistic—all is right with the world. Your kids are smart and cute, your husband’s smart and cute, and you’re feeling on the smart and cute side yourself. In those smart and cute moments your heart swells up so big that you think it might burst.

Later it’s a whole new scenario. The kids make sandwiches, spill ketchup on the floor, leave crumbs on the counter. Your husband decides to remodel the bathroom. You’re glad to get the project started but secretly question his timing. Proud for showing restraint and not wanting to stir up trouble, you squelch your observations. But two hours before you’re scheduled to go out he’s still tearing down a wall and removing the sink.

“We have reservations across town,” you say. “Aren’t you going to get ready?”

He doesn’t respond.

“Are you going to get ready?” you ask a little louder. Still, no answer. To get his attention, you call his name. Firmly.

“What?” he answers.

“Why do you always do this?”

“Do what?”

“Why do you squeeze everything in at the last minute?”

“I thought you wanted me to remodel the bathroom.”

“Not when we have plans,” you snap.

“What’s your problem?” he snaps back. “There’s plenty of time.”

Next thing you know, you’re crying and slamming the door. “Geez,” you hear him mutter as he steps into the shower.

After all I do for you, you’re thinking. Later he confesses what he was thinking: I can never do anything right.

Without even knowing there are triggers, triggers get triggered. Buttons get pushed. Feelings get bruised. You hate to admit it but you’re hard on your sweetheart and hard on yourself. You know it’s impossible to get it right every time, but you want to. You expect to do better, you fail, you beat yourself up, you try again. You’re tired and cranky and when your sweetheart asks what’s wrong, you know you should be happy that he noticed, but his tone sounds more like criticism than concern.

“Nothing,” you snap.

“I was just asking,” he snaps.

Suddenly you’re embroiled in a snapping match.

You’d like to reach out, kiss and make up, but instead you walk on eggshells for a while. It’s hard. It hurts. It’s very confusing.

“I’m sorry,” you say.

You both mean it. You promise not to act that way again. You love your sweetheart, yet life around the home doesn’t always go in the direction intended.

It is not easy to be a person. It is not easy to be a sweetheart. A lover. A partner. A spouse. A friend. A parent. A child. A companion. A confidante. Much is expected, so many surprises. That smart, cute side we’re so proud of is not the only side. It seems there are multiple sides—our public side, our private side, and the secret side only our sweetheart knows.

Excerpt of the Day: "It's Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been" by BJ Gallagher

Have you ever given up on a dream in order to be more “practical” in making a living?  Do you long to pick up that dream again?  Well, the title of this book says it all: It’s Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been.  Inspired by the timeless quote by great writer George Eliot, BJ Gallagher has written a guidebook to getting the life you’ve always wanted.  Whether you are a brand new college graduate going out into the big, wide world, a business executive escaping burnout, or a 40-something mom looking for a "second life," this book is a wonderful combination of great advice, step-by-step guidelines, and pure inspiration to help you seize not just the day, but the rest of your life!

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Arnold Schwarzenegger has spent his whole life living his dreams, one after another. As a young, unknown bodybuilder in Austria, he had big dreams. He knew his destiny was in America, not Europe, and he often credits his dreams with enabling him to survive a harsh childhood. His father, a policeman, was a brutal disciplinarian. As he told Fortune magazine in 2004, “My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. So was the kid next door. It was just the way it was. Many of the children I’ve seen were broken by their parents, which was the German-Austrian mentality.... It was all about conforming. I was the one who did not conform, and whose will could not be broken. Therefore, I became a rebel. Every time I got hit, and every time someone said, ‘You can’t do this,’ I said, ‘This is not going to be for much longer, because I’m going to move out of here. I want to be rich. I want to be somebody.’”

Schwarzenegger’s first dream was to become the greatest bodybuilder in the world—Mr. Olympia. In 1970, at age 23, he became the youngest man to win the title, an honor he still holds today.

His second goal was to become a movie star—a bit of a challenge considering his thick German accent. “It was very difficult for me in the beginning—I was told by agents and casting people that my body was ‘too weird,’ that I had a funny accent, that my name was too long. You name it, and they told me I had to change it. Basically, everywhere I turned, I was told that I had no chance.” (“Ask Arnold,” www.Schwarzenegger.com.)

After a few less-than-notable films and performances, Schwarzenegger finally achieved some recognition with his 1977 bodybuilder film, Pumping Iron. But his big break didn’t come until 1982, with the box-office hit Conan the Barbarian. The ’80s saw a series of successes for the ambitious young Austrian, including his signature 1984 hit, The Terminator. The public appetite for action films was at its peak and he, along with Sylvester Stallone, became an action hero superstar.

The year 1990 brought Schwarzenegger’s first taste of political life, when he was appointed chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness. After holding that appointment for three years, until 1993, he gained attention for his work with the American Red Cross. People speculated about a political future for the bodybuilder-turned-action-hero. In an interview with Talk magazine in 1999, Schwarzenegger was asked if he thought of running for office. He replied, “I think about it many times. The possibility is there, because I feel it inside.”

The rest, of course, is history. In 2003, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for governor of California in the recall election for Governor Gray Davis. He won by over a million votes. This 56-year-old Austrian immigrant launched his third career, continuing to live out his dreams.

Is it too late for you to live YOUR dreams? Just ask California’s Governator.

Excerpt of the Day: "The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll" by Christopher Knowles

Sex.  Drugs.  Loud music.  Wild costumes.  Pyrotechnics.  Sounds like a wild rock concert, right?  But these words also describe the ancient cultural phenomenon known as the “Mystery religions,” whose rites often made Lollapalooza look like a church picnic.  In The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll, author Christopher Knowles shows how, 2,000 years later, the mystery religions got a secular makeover when the new musical form called rock 'n' roll burst on the scene.  Don’t you want to find out how your favorite rock bands fit into the same archetypal roles as the ancient gods?

Have a look:

Party Animals

The New Dionysians

The Dionysian archetype trades in sex ’n’ drugs ’n’ drink ’n’ mayhem—straight up, no chaser. These are the sex-crazed madmen of rock ’n’ roll, the bands that caused thousands of parents to lock up their daughters (and sometimes their sons) when they rolled into town. The parallels to the ancient Dionysian cults are many, and the effect was usually the same. The touchstone for the Dionysian rockers was the blues, but many of them have wandered far afield into more exotic musical genres. In their prime, these bands drove teenage girls out of their minds, creating newly converted bands of Maenads wherever they traveled.

The Rolling Stones

Storming out of London’s rock underground, the Rolling Stones played the bad-boys role in the British Invasion. The young blues fanatics were able to channel the spirit of heroes like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf largely because lead guitarist Brian Jones knew all those old licks by heart. Drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman were also well seasoned in the genres for which band leaders Mick Jagger (vocals) and Keith Richards (guitar) had more enthusiasm than proficiency.

The Stones were swept over to America in the Beatles’ wake, but they didn’t hit the jackpot until 1965, when “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” rocketed to No. 1. From then on, the Stones cranked out one dark, sarcastic hit after another. The band’s sexy, druggy aura also earned them scrutiny and scorn from the Establishment; one famous tabloid headline screamed “Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?” They became a cause célèbre after a notorious 1967 drug bust that threatened the band with serious jail time.

Things were going worse for Brian Jones. Marginalized by Jagger and Richards (later dubbed “the Glimmer Twins”), Jones became increasingly obsessed not only with drugs but with exotic foreign music, particularly the Pan Pipers of Morocco. He finally left the Stones in 1969, only to be murdered by a disgruntled handyman in July of that year.

Around the same time, the Stones fell under the spell of Kenneth Anger, who introduced them to the works of Aleister Crowley and Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. Jagger reportedly wrote “Sympathy for the Devil” under Anger’s influence and recorded a startlingly avant-garde soundtrack for his 1969 film Invocation of My Demon Brother, using cutting-edge synthesizer equipment. But the Devil would catch up with the Stones by year’s end.

Having missed out on Woodstock, the band held its own free festival at the dusty Altamont Raceway on the edge of California’s Central Valley. The Stones hired the Hell’s Angels to provide security, and the Angels proceeded to pummel with pool cues anyone who got too close to the low-rise stage. The entire concert was a disaster, and the bikers killed a disgruntled fan who rushed the stage with a gun. The Stones survived the ensuing uproar, but they seemed to lose something vital after Altamont.

Still, their 1970 opus Exile on Main Street is considered a milestone, and they enjoyed a string of hit singles like “Angie” and “Heartbreaker” throughout the Seventies. Some Girls (1978) was a smash hit, giving the band a second wind. Their most satanic innovation came long after “Sympathy for the Devil,” when the Stones pioneered the concept of corporate sponsorship of rock ’n’ roll for their 1981 world tour. The band continued to score hits throughout the Eighties, but for many diehards the glory days were long over. Many saw their Eighties and Nineties albums as perfunctory, simply excuses to wrest funds from their record company for their mammoth stadium tours. But whatever one thinks of their later records, the Stones’ stamina certainly can’t be faulted. And their influence is incalculable, even on younger bands who’ve never heard much of their music. The Stones’ lascivious DNA is firmly implanted in rock’s genome.

Excerpt of the Day: "Feisty First Ladies and Other Unforgettable White House Women" by Autumn Stephens

In the midst of popping firecrackers, eating delicious barbeque, and celebrating our independence, checkout Feisty First Ladies and Other Unforgettable White House Women!  Part irreverent portrait gallery, party exuberant expose, Autumn Stephens’ book introduces a remarkable array of wild women, starting with Martha Washington, to Abraham Lincoln's spendthrift wife Mary, to rebellious daughters like Patti Davis and Amy Carter who were the tabloid fodder of their day.  Filled with amazing stranger-than-fiction facts from our American history, Feisty First Ladies is sure to get you laughing!

Have a look:

THE CONSTITUTION IS CLEAR on the point: Technically speaking, the president of the United States, and not the woman in his life, gets to be the official Big Cheese. Yet from firebrand Abigail Adams, who exhorted the Founding Fathers to “remember the ladies” (or else!) to career woman Hillary Clinton, frankly advertised as part of the presidential package in her husband’s “two-for-one” campaign, American wives, mistresses, mothers, and even serving maids over the centuries have matched the mettle of the men in the Oval Office—and, on occasion, the gall.

“The whole government is afraid of me, and well they may be,” gloated early nineteenth-century reporter Anne Royall, who held a naked president’s pants hostage until he granted her an interview. “Well, Warren, I have got you the presidency…what are you going to do with it?” inquired indomitable First Lady Florence Harding in 1921. And the words of audacious phone freak Martha Mitchell, who didn’t hesitate in 1973 to tell Watergate conspirator Richard Nixon (and every reporter in Washington) that she had his number, still ring across the decades: “Mr. President should resign!”

Many a secret White House paramour, of course, has held (or at least briefly handled) the reins of Executive power. The careers of Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Grover Cleveland, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, to name only a few, all once hung on the question of an extramarital indiscretion (and also the forbearance of American voters).The many madcap lovers of John F. Kennedy—among them Judith Campbell Exner, also intimately involved with a Mafia boss during her two-year affair with JFK—probably deserve a book (among other things) of their own.

Not every female who infiltrates the bastion of patriarchal power, of course, revels in her role. Fiercely private Bess Truman, plagued in the mid-twentieth century by unfavorable comparisons to her larger-than-life predecessor, Eleanor Roosevelt, termed the Executive Mansion “The Great White Jail”; 150 years earlier, the much-scrutinized Martha Washington, Mother of All First Ladies, grumbled that she was “more like a state prisoner than anything else.” And to the present day, savaging the president’s spouse rivals football as a beloved national sport.

But for every reluctant White House resident, a dozen would-be denizens wait restlessly in the wings. Nowhere is it written, all appearances to the contrary, that the individual who inhabits the Oval Office must actually be a man: From self-proclaimed libertine Victoria Woodhull in 1872 to black feminist leader Shirley Chisholm a century later to Hilary Clinton in 2008, a host of bold trailblazers have not only fantasized about becoming president, but seriously contended for the position. And overriding the democratic process altogether, a brazen bevy of protestors, picketers, and gate-crashers—not to mention rock star Grace Slick, who once plotted to spike Richard Nixon’s tea with LSD, has simply tried to take the White House by storm.

From feisty first ladies and mutinous housekeepers to overt publicity hounds and behind-the-scenes dictators, American women have left an enduring imprint in the annals of presidential history. In the spirit of 1776, here’s to every White House revolutionary who celebrated Independence Day her way and to the proposition that a nation of enlightened voters will someday also “remember the ladies” at the ballot box.

Excerpt of the Day: "Random Obsessions" by Nick Belardes

Do you delight in random trivia?  Did you know some dinosaurs were teeny tiny as hens or that Thomas Jefferson’s grandson was an ax murderer? Before buying that plane ticket, don’t you NEED to know which exotic islands still have cannibals? Wonder what it’s like to live in Hell Town at the End of the World? How about an ailment so surreal it’s named after Alice in Wonderland?  Then Random Obsessions is truly “trivia you can’t live without.”  Historian Nick Belardes has dug into the raw source material found in historical archives, scientific studies, and libraries the world over.  You’ll also read first-person interviews with people who can explain the unexplained, from the permanently puzzling Mothman conspiracy to secret Star Wars Jedi religious cults, and the charmingly eccentric reason why British aerospace engineers sent teddy bears floating out into space.

Here’s a taste:

Examining the past, one must understand whether history comprises “everything that happened,” as philosopher R.G. Collingwood once wrote, or just whatever the written record illuminates. Dr. Oliver Rink, a professor of early Dutch America, once explained history as a drunk man searching for his lost keys under a lamppost. When the man was asked why he was searching near the lamppost while his car was a block away, in the dark, Rink imagined the drunkard saying, “Because there’s light over here.” If history is the light cast by that streetlamp, how much of the past is left to be illuminated and discovered?

The ever-changing prism of perspectives that defines our present also transforms long-discovered details of the past. That’s because historians are always experimenting with new approaches to reinterpret wars, peoples, culture, economics, and politics. History is under constant pressure in the present to shake the dustrags of past interpretations and reexamine what’s underneath. But, of course, that only leads to more questions and further mystery.

In “Amassed from the Past” you will get a look at many topics, including a peek at witchcraft in early America (“To Burn or Not to Burn”). Don’t even begin to think historians are done examining the Puritan obsession with the idea of Satanic people in their midst. You will read an account of a bizarre sighting by the maidservant Tituba. In “Did Napoleon’s Gastric Secret Cost Him Waterloo?” I examine the idea that an ailment affecting one man could have a great impact on the outcome of history. In “Why Obama Was Sworn In as President in Washington, D.C.” I look at the how yellow fever epidemics in the 1790s could have prevented the construction of the capital in the most enlightened city in America. Perhaps you didn’t know that Philadelphia was once called the federal city? Many wanted the capital there.

One of the greatest American mysteries revolves around what happened to the lost colony of Roanoke Island in North Carolina in the late 1500s. Did the colony perish at the hands of hostile natives? What were the cryptic tree carvings found at the site? We’ll look at an original source document that reveals more in “The Strange Fires of Roanoke.” In “September 11, 1775” I reveal a connection between tragic historical events and the idea of government betrayal. You’ll find even more enigmatic history in sections on Christopher Columbus’s ship’s log, Thomas Jefferson’s mental state and ax murderer grandson, the apocalypse of 2012, a note from the Kennedy assassination hearings, and a letter doubting President Abraham Lincoln. In reading this chapter you’ll find that while history constantly presents itself as fact, it really may be only a fuzzy glimpse of time past and just an elusive grab at the idea of truth.