Books by Roadside America authors
Junk English 2
by Ken Smith
In Junk English 2, Ken Smith takes on the misuse, abuse, and downright decay of the English language. His weapons? A sharp wit and 
an almost frightening grasp of the depths of the decline. Written so that the ordinary user of English can readily see how the manipulation of words keeps the culture in a haze of misunderstandings and vagueness, Junk English 2 covers the whole spectrum of the problem.
In
short sections such as Crybaby Verbs, Risk Adverse, Asymmetric
Warfare, Classroom Cacophony, and Verbal Prestidigitation,
Smith shows how everyone from Madison Avenue to middle America has succumbed
to
euphemisms, mindless jargon, and weasel words. The book’s inclusion
of basic advice on how to avoid lazy language shows there's at least
some hope for the future.Fan's
of Ken's revelatory Junk English will delight in the entirely new language
horrors examined in Junk English 2
Junk English
by Ken Smith
That Ken has done it now! Unfulfilled by a life writing about
roadside attractions, analyzing old dating films, or poking fun at the
Bible,he
takes on the English language. Junk English is
Ken "Mr. Picky" Smith's "quirky,
pleasingly judgmental dictionary of language crimes."From "invisible
diminishers" ("virtually flawless") to technology jargon ("It is simply
not natural to use feedback for opinion, [or] synthesis for combination"),
Smith will delight language purists with his wit while confirming their
grave assessments
of contemporary speech. Order Junk English
Mental Hygiene: Better Living Through Classroom Films 1945-1970
by Ken Smith
RA co-author Ken Smith tracked down and studied thousands
of old 16mm films overthe
last decade... Social guidance films like Dating Do's and Don't's,
Shy Guy, Are You Popular. Grisly safety films like Highways of Agony,
Signal 30... and stern social warnings such as Narcotics: Pit of Despair. He
interviewed long-lost stars and directors of these classics, and dug around
in their attics.
It's
all here, along with 400 photographs from the films. Older readers can relive
the horror of classroom films and their painful lessons; youngsters can discover
the mass mind control experiments which shaped their parents and GPs! Mental Hygiene
Raw Deal: Horrible and Ironic Stories of Forgotten Americans
by Ken Smith
Hilarious chronicle of the lives of 22 unlucky -- seemingly
CURSED --individuals. The greatest victims in America are in Raw Deal.
Nathan Stubblefield's wireless phone could have ushered in the era of wireless
telephony 75 years ago -- if he hadn't been betrayed by his business
partners. Frank Olson just wanted to have a good time when he inadvertently
drank a cocktail
spiked with LSD by the CIA. Dagger-toothed Ota Benga was unlucky enough to
be a pygmy exhibited in a cage in the Bronx Zoo monkey house. Raw Deal
Sex and Zen and a Bullet In the Head
by
Stefan Hammond, Mike Wilkins.
Definitive American guide to Hong
Kong films, writtenand designed "Roadside-style," in easy-to-digest
chunks! Mike spent the vacation off-season scouring Chinatown video
stores with
fellow Hong Kong film expert Stefan Hammond. Enter the bizarre world
of ghost girls, monsters, and the quintessential gun battle. Jackie
Chan wrote
the Forward...Sex and Zen and a Bullet In the Head
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