Background
Andersen, Kurt Byars was born on August 22, 1954 in Omaha. Son of Robert and Jean (Swarr) Andersen.
( The Manual No Real Guy Should Be Without Motor oil, be...)
The Manual No Real Guy Should Be Without Motor oil, beer, and charcoal--that's what real men are made of. A real man should be able to swap out the car's spark plugs and change its oil as his freshly caught fish smokes on open flame--all while shotgunning a beer. For how-to instructions on these and other equally manly activities, you need How to Back Up a Trailer. It's the ultimate guide to everything you better know how to do, like rotate your car's tires and change its brake pads, swing a bat like a homerun hitter, build and light a campfire during a rainstorm, install an electrical outlet in your home, and tap a keg for the perfect beer flow. Read it. Learn it. Live it. With How to Back Up a Trailer, you'll never have to stop and ask for directions again.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1598694936/?tag=2022091-20
(Heyday is a brilliantly imagined, wildly entertaining tal...)
Heyday is a brilliantly imagined, wildly entertaining tale of America’s boisterous coming of age–a sweeping panorama of madcap rebellion and overnight fortunes, palaces and brothels, murder and revenge–as well as the story of a handful of unforgettable characters discovering the nature of freedom, loyalty, friendship, and true love. In the middle of the nineteenth century, modern life is being born: the mind-boggling marvels of photography, the telegraph, and railroads; a flood of show business spectacles and newspapers; rampant sex and drugs and drink (and moral crusades against all three); Wall Street awash with money; and giddy utopian visions everywhere. Then, during a single amazing month at the beginning of 1848, history lurches: America wins its war of manifest destiny against Mexico, gold is discovered in northern California, and revolutions sweep across Europe–sending one eager English gentleman off on an epic transatlantic adventure. . . . Amid the tumult, aristocratic Benjamin Knowles impulsively abandons the Old World to reinvent himself in New York, where he finds himself embraced by three restless young Americans: Timothy Skaggs, muckraking journalist, daguerreotypist, pleasure-seeker, stargazer; the fireman Duff Lucking, a sweet but dangerously damaged veteran of the Mexican War; and Duff’s dazzling sister Polly Lucking, a strong-minded, free thinking actress (and discreet part-time prostitute) with whom Ben falls hopelessly in love. Beckoned by the frontier, new beginnings, and the prospects of the California Gold Rush, all four set out on a transcontinental race west–relentlessly tracked, unbeknownst to them, by a cold-blooded killer bent on revenge. A fresh, impeccable portrait of an era startlingly reminiscent of our own times, Heyday is by turns tragic and funny and sublime, filled with bona fide heroes and lost souls, visionaries (Walt Whitman, Charles Darwin, Alexis de Tocqueville) and monsters, expanding horizons and narrow escapes. It is also an affecting story of four people passionately chasing their American dreams at a time when America herself was still being dreamed up–an enthralling, old-fashioned yarn interwoven with a bracingly modern novel of ideas. "In this utterly engaging novel, the author of Turn of the Century brings 19th-century America vividly to life . . . While this is a long book, it moves quickly, with historical detail that's involving but never a drag on the action; the characters are beautifully drawn. A terrific book; highly recommended." –Library Journal "Heyday is fuled by manic energy, fanatical research, and a wicked sense of humor.... It's a joyful, wild gallop through a joyful, wild time to be an American." -Vanity Fair From the Hardcover edition.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812978463/?tag=2022091-20
( The Manual No Real Guy Should Be Without Motor oil, be...)
The Manual No Real Guy Should Be Without Motor oil, beer, and charcoal--that's what real men are made of. A real man should be able to swap out the car's spark plugs and change its oil as his freshly caught fish smokes on open flame--all while shotgunning a beer. For how-to instructions on these and other equally manly activities, you need How to Back Up a Trailer. It's the ultimate guide to everything you better know how to do, like rotate your car's tires and change its brake pads, swing a bat like a homerun hitter, build and light a campfire during a rainstorm, install an electrical outlet in your home, and tap a keg for the perfect beer flow. Read it. Learn it. Live it. With How to Back Up a Trailer, you'll never have to stop and ask for directions again.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1598694936/?tag=2022091-20
(Heyday is a brilliantly imagined, wildly entertaining tal...)
Heyday is a brilliantly imagined, wildly entertaining tale of America’s boisterous coming of age–a sweeping panorama of madcap rebellion and overnight fortunes, palaces and brothels, murder and revenge–as well as the story of a handful of unforgettable characters discovering the nature of freedom, loyalty, friendship, and true love. In the middle of the nineteenth century, modern life is being born: the mind-boggling marvels of photography, the telegraph, and railroads; a flood of show business spectacles and newspapers; rampant sex and drugs and drink (and moral crusades against all three); Wall Street awash with money; and giddy utopian visions everywhere. Then, during a single amazing month at the beginning of 1848, history lurches: America wins its war of manifest destiny against Mexico, gold is discovered in northern California, and revolutions sweep across Europe–sending one eager English gentleman off on an epic transatlantic adventure. . . . Amid the tumult, aristocratic Benjamin Knowles impulsively abandons the Old World to reinvent himself in New York, where he finds himself embraced by three restless young Americans: Timothy Skaggs, muckraking journalist, daguerreotypist, pleasure-seeker, stargazer; the fireman Duff Lucking, a sweet but dangerously damaged veteran of the Mexican War; and Duff’s dazzling sister Polly Lucking, a strong-minded, free thinking actress (and discreet part-time prostitute) with whom Ben falls hopelessly in love. Beckoned by the frontier, new beginnings, and the prospects of the California Gold Rush, all four set out on a transcontinental race west–relentlessly tracked, unbeknownst to them, by a cold-blooded killer bent on revenge. A fresh, impeccable portrait of an era startlingly reminiscent of our own times, Heyday is by turns tragic and funny and sublime, filled with bona fide heroes and lost souls, visionaries (Walt Whitman, Charles Darwin, Alexis de Tocqueville) and monsters, expanding horizons and narrow escapes. It is also an affecting story of four people passionately chasing their American dreams at a time when America herself was still being dreamed up–an enthralling, old-fashioned yarn interwoven with a bracingly modern novel of ideas. "In this utterly engaging novel, the author of Turn of the Century brings 19th-century America vividly to life . . . While this is a long book, it moves quickly, with historical detail that's involving but never a drag on the action; the characters are beautifully drawn. A terrific book; highly recommended." –Library Journal "Heyday is fuled by manic energy, fanatical research, and a wicked sense of humor.... It's a joyful, wild gallop through a joyful, wild time to be an American." -Vanity Fair From the Hardcover edition.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812978463/?tag=2022091-20
Andersen, Kurt Byars was born on August 22, 1954 in Omaha. Son of Robert and Jean (Swarr) Andersen.
AB magna cum laude, Harvard University, 1976.
Writer, NBC-television, New York City, 1976-1980; writer, Time Magazine, New York City, 1981-1984; archaeology critic, Time Magazine, New York City, 1984-1993; columnist, Time Magazine, New York City, 1993-1994; co-founder, co-editor, Spy Magazine, New York City, 1986-1993; editor-in-chief, New York Magazine, New York City, 1994-1996; columnist, The New Yorker, New York City, since 1996.
(Heyday is a brilliantly imagined, wildly entertaining tal...)
(Heyday is a brilliantly imagined, wildly entertaining tal...)
( The Manual No Real Guy Should Be Without Motor oil, be...)
( The Manual No Real Guy Should Be Without Motor oil, be...)
Author: The Real Thing, 1980. Turn of the Century, 1999, Heyday, 2007. Co-author: Tools of Power, 1980.
(off-Broadway revue and book) Loose Lips, 1994-1995, 98. Executive producer television pilots After Hours, 1987. Zero Hour.
1991, Pranks, 1992. Executive producer, co-writer television special How To Be Famous, 1990. The Hit List, 1992.
Host television special Comedy Spotlight, 1996. Radio show Studio 360, since 2000.
Member of board of trustees Pratt Institute.
Married Anne (Kreamer), May 9, 1981. Children: Katherine, and Lucy.