{"product_id":"tombstone-confidential-james-mann-9780980227888","title":"Tombstone Confidential","description":"\u003ci\u003eTombstone Confidential\u003c\/i\u003e is a satire on mortality and contemporary culture, grounded in today's ingrained disregard for the relatively imminent approach and finality of one's death. An essentially comic work, at the same time the book is one long \u003ci\u003ememento mori\u003c\/i\u003e, filling a loosely narrative framework sequenced as a wandering journey across the United States. The poem unfolds panoramically through a wide variety of setting and reference, as it embodies the aesthetic position set forth by the author's \u003ci\u003eManifesto of Vandalism: \u003c\/i\u003e that in today's diverse and chaotic culture, the most competent and valuable art will be that which makes the fullest and richest use of the entire range of culture at all levels.\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003eWith 10,000 lines of rhymed pentameter quatrains, \u003ci\u003eTombstone Confidential\u003c\/i\u003e offers an individual reconstitution of the art of poetry. From beginning to end, the book is addressed in the second person to a fictive reader, whose mock persona thus becomes the clueless protagonist of the narrative. The implied speaker of the poem is equally problematic, serving as the rambling yet relentless accuser of the reader's fictional life of ignorance and crime. With a doppelganger leitmotif, the action turns from hell to Hollywood, from national parks to space exploration, from Thunder Road to Las Vegas, the Wild West to the Rolling Stones, vampire culture to cannibalism, sports to sex, the Blue Ridge to the Golden Gate. \u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e James Mann\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0980227887\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780980227888\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bell Tower Editions\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/07\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 476\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.53lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.02h x 5.98w x 1.06d\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"James Mann","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46571046043903,"sku":"9780980227888","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_043d3905-ac7b-44a4-8a0e-43234ca17488.jpg?v=1738807087","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/tombstone-confidential-james-mann-9780980227888","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}