The Big Bad Blockbusters

BLOCKBUSTERS OR BUST-CAN SPECTACLE SAVE A DYING LIBRARY?

In 1980s New York City, the once-prestigious Hunt-Lenning Library is on life support, ravaged by budget cuts and public indifference. The last hope? A ragtag team of five misfits from museum backgrounds tasked with launching spectacular exhibitions to coax crowds-and cash-through the door. Unwelcomed by library staff, branded "The Big Bad Blockbusters," their exhibitions range from the Dead Sea Scrolls to Frankenstein, the Statue of Liberty to Rogue magazine models. With little more than dark humor, stubborn grit, a shared sense of purpose and a belief in the power of storytelling, they weather professional rivalries, disastrous openings, public scandals, and quiet triumphs. Over time, their oddball team becomes an unlikely family, sharing love, loss, betrayal, and redemption-all while mirroring the seismic shifts in New York's cultural and economic landscape. The Big Bad Blockbusters pulls back the curtain on the drama, heartbreak, absurdity, and occasional magic behind the exhibitions that saved a library-and changed lives.

"In The Big Bad Blockbusters, Lou Storey has captured the zeitgeist of the 1980's New York cultural scene, still reeling from the financial crisis of the previous decade. With delicious turns of phrase, an insider's perspective, and humor that ranges from wry to gallows, Storey skewers the egos, internal machinations, and warring agendas behind the scenes at one of the city's beloved but beleaguered institutions."

Mimi Bowling

Charles J. Liebman Curator of Manuscripts (Retired), The New York Public Library

*****

Legacy Book Press LLC is a traditional publisher of personal stories told via fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or a combination.