“As a proud member of the ‘Shmirshky Sisterhood,’ I can honestly say that E’s book, Shmirshky, is informative, engaging, and hilarious! Shmirshky allows women who are about to embrace ‘PM&M’ to do so with power, wisdom, and most importantly, a sense of humor.”
—Sarah Brokaw, author of Fortytude: Making the Next Decades the Best Years of Your Life—through the 40s, 50s, and Beyond

Hot flashes flashing you? Awake at 3 a.m.? Forgetting the names of your very own children? Don’t worry—E, the author of Shmirshky, understands how you feel.

Shmirshky is the first book of its kind—a guide to women’s midlife changes that’s quick, easy, and full of love! Reading Shmirshky is like having coffee with a hilarious friend who tells it straight about hormone craziness and how to get help.

Let’s face it, perimenopause and menopause are still too rarely talked about. Shmirshky turns this taboo topic into an all-inclusive page-turner.

Whether you’re a woman who’s suddenly losing her keys, her temper, and her mind, or that woman’s partner, child, or friend, Shmirshky is for you.

Suffering in silence is OUT. Reaching out is IN.

What the heck is a shmirshky?
a delicious dessert?
an ancient form of yoga?
a superfood?
a posh baby stroller brand?
a painful deep tissue massage?
an automatic floor mop?
a precursor to modern-day vodka?
the feeling you get after eating too many French fries?
a feeling of serenity and empowerment? a community? a movement?
a name for something special that only women possess?
a guide to achieving your very own version of hormone happiness?
. . . well, now you’re on to something!

The currency is fame,
and it’s bigger than money,
more desired than power.

Each season American Idol delivers on a promise whose epic scope is unparalleled in the annals of competition: to take an unknown dreamer from the middle of America and turn him or her into a genuine star. It has become not only the biggest show on television, but the biggest force in all of entertainment; its alumni dominate the recording charts and Broadway, win Academy Awards, and sweep up Grammys. In fact, American Idol has reshaped the very idea of celebrity.

But it didn’t start out that way. When the little singing contest debuted as a summer replacement on the U.S. airwaves, it was packed between reruns and low-cost filler. The promise that it would find America’s next pop star produced a hearty round of guffaws from the country’s media critics. Now, some ten years and millions of records later, no one is laughing.

American Idol: The Untold Story chronicles the triumphs and travails, the harrowing backstage drama and the nail-biting onstage battles that built this revolutionary show. In this revealing book, veteran journalist Richard Rushfield goes deeper inside the circus than any reporter ever has. Candid interviews with Idol alumni, including Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell, shed new light on the show that changed the entertainment industry. And because Rushfield had full access to the people who created the show, starred in it, and kept it atop the pop culture pyramid, this book is the first to take Americans behind the curtain and tell what has really been happening on the world’s most watched and speculated-about stage.

There was one lap to go in the 2001 Daytona 500, NASCAR’s most celebrated event. Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were running one-two. Junior’s legendary dad, the driver race fans called “The Intimidator,” was close behind in third, blocking anyone who might try to pass. Waltrip couldn’t stop thinking about all the times he’d struggled to stay ahead—and the 462 NASCAR Cup races he’d lost without a single win. He’d been a race-car driver all his adult life, following in the footsteps of his brother Darrell, a three-time NASCAR champion. And his losing streak was getting more painful every race.

But this day, he knew, could be different. He was driving for Dale Earnhardt now, racing as a team with his close friend and mentor. Yet as his car roared toward the finish line, ending that losing streak once and for all, Waltrip had no clue that the greatest triumph of his life could get mired in terrible tragedy.

This is the story of that fateful afternoon in Daytona, a day whose echoes are still heard today. But the story begins years earlier in a small town in Kentucky, with a boy who dreamed of racing cars, a boy who was determined to go from go-karts to the highest levels of NASCAR. For the first time ever, Michael Waltrip tells the full, revealing story of how he got to Daytona, what happened there, and the huge impact it had on so many in the racing world. He reveals for the first time how his own life changed as he dealt with guilt, faced his grief, and searched for the fortitude to climb into a race car again. It’s an inspiring and powerful story, told with Michael’s trademark humor, honesty, and irreverence. It’s a story of family, fulfillment, and redemption—and well-earned victory in the end.