Emily St. James – författare

A comprehensive critical companion to the blockbuster TV show LOST, revisiting its core themes, lore, and impact on cultureFor fans of one of the most successful and highly discussed shows in recent memory, LOST: Back to the Island is both a delightful time capsule and a rousing work of entertainment criticism.Before it premiered in the fall of 2004, LOST looked doomed to be an expensive, disastrous plane crash of a TV show. Instead, LOST was a massive hit, debuting with the biggest audience for a new drama on ABC in over a decade, reaching heights of over 23 million viewers at its peak, and holding on to a hefty fan-base for its entire six-season run.The elements that made the series seem like a boondoggle proved, instead, to be a big part of its appeal. Audiences loved the exotic island setting, became invested in the morally compromised characters, and feverishly tried to unravel the show’s many mysteries.In LOST: Back to the Island, TV critics and veteran LOST recappers Emily St. James and Noel Murray revisit what made the show such a success and an object of enduring cultural obsession, twenty years later.Through essays, episode summaries, and cultural analysis, they take us back to the island and examine LOST’s lasting impact—and its complicated, sometimes controversial legacy—with a clear-eyed and lively investigation.

A fond and nostalgic cultural history of It's a Wonderful Life, celebrating the beloved holiday film's actors and creators, its unexpected journey from public domain to holiday classic, and what its enduring legacy reveals about America.An indelible time capsule into the 1940s, It’s a Wonderful Life remains a cornerstone of peak American film, and one of the greatest pieces of media that America has ever written about itself. At a time when popular art was grappling with  a picturesque vision of the American Dream, It's a Wonderful Life explored both its enduring qualities and hard edges, making it an exemplary piece of the post-World War II cultural zeitgeist.Today, when view the film through the prism of its origins, It's a Wonderful Life becomes something much more poignant, a holiday classic that casts a hopeful eye toward the future. At nearly 80 years old, the film serves as a message in a bottle from 1946, and an important relic of the golden age of television. Journalists Emily St. James and Lauren Theisen offer the definitive story of It's a Wonderful Life, from its creation to its everlasting echoes today.

An unforgettable and heartwarming book-club debut following a trans high school teacher from a small town in South Dakota who befriends the only other trans woman she knows: one of her students.