A salacious, gossipy and utterly readable account of the rise and fall of the "New American Cinema" of the 1970s. No matter what one thinks of Biskind's opinions of the major players in Hollywood (he backs them up with piles of quotes drawn from hours of interviews), you have to appreciate his kinetic style and ability to tell an epic story of hedonism, greed and creative genius. The main characters in the tale read like a laundry list of Hollywood elite, from Warren Beatty, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Speilberg, to Martin Scorsese, Robert Towne and George Lucas.  (FLM06, $18.00)