With more than 500 pictures, and extensive entries on more than 350 orchestras, this complete coverage of black and white bands—from the almost-forgotten Basie, Ellington, Miller, Shaw, and Dorsey—wil
In the twenties, Surrealists proclaimed that words had stopped playing around and had begun to make love. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the writings of Marcel Duchamp, who fashioned some of th
In 1863 Walt Whitman first proposed to the publisher John Redpath a book about his Civil War experiences. It was never published. But in a draft prospectus Whitman described ”a new book . . . with its
”The terror film, with puzzling, disturbing, multivalent images, often leads us into regions that are strange, disorienting, yet somehow familiar; and for all the crude and melodramatic and morally qu
An excellent history of the Mexican War of 1846-1848, with the US Army commanded by the likes of Zachary Taylor, Robert E. Lee, Winfield Scott, John E. Wool, Stephen Kearny, The Texas Rangers, etc.
The SS?short for the German Schutzstaffeln?was a far-flung organization, of which the Gestapo was only one branch, that served as the tyrannical expression of Nazi bureaucracy, a politics of terror. G
T. E. Shaw, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, was one of the most romantic, heroic, and enigmatic figures of his day. The subject of myth and hagiography, he was equally accomplished in several fie
Test your wits with this all-new collection of mindbusters from Mensa, the high-IQ society. Master puzzler Abbie Salny provides a fun brainteaser, logic twister, math mystery, or word game for every
Modern master Pablo Picasso's views on art are outrageous and iconoclastic. He was generally reticent on the subject of the work of others, preferring to joke rather than discuss. And he was true to f
"The jazz decade saw the emergence of many of the great figures who defined the music for the world: Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Earl Hines, Bix Beiderbecke, Fats Waller, Jack Teagarden, Fletcher H
William Ferris, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, has written a book as deep as the blues: rich in conversation, reference, history, and firsth
The acclaimed director of Mishima, American Gigolo, Hard Core, Blue Collar, Cat People also the screenwriter for Taxi Driver, Paul Schrader here analyzes the film style of three great directors—
Thomas Jonathan Jackson was the most renowned and skillful commander of Confederate troops in the Civil War. Not even Lee or Stuart matched his purely military intelligencehis intransigence at Bull Ru
As trumpet player and singer, Louis Armstrong is the single most important figure in jazz history, and one of the most influential musicians--in any category--in this century. He was also, as this boo
Only a few books stand as landmarks in social and scientific upheaval. Norbert Wiener's classic is one in that small company. Founder of the science of cybernetics—the study of the relationship betwee
Maria Montessori (1870–1952) brought about a revolution in the classroom. She developed a method of teaching small children and inspired a movement that carried that method into every corner of
Cynthia Griffin Wolff’s brilliant literary biography of Emily Dickinson is the first to unravel the intricate relationship between her life and her poetry. It is a vivid portrait of the poet an
Here is the American Revolution, the epic struggle that brought forth a new nation, told in a great measure by those who fought and lived it: major figures like Washington, Revere, Franklin and many o
"Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Norman Granz, Oscar Peterson, Ray Charles, Don Ellis, and Miles Davis?these are the dozen
”Marcel Duchamp, one of this century’s pioneer artists, moved his work through the retinal boundaries which had been established with impressionism into t field with impressionism into t
This book analyzes the process of composition, learning and performance of the Southern folk blues of black America. Never before has this musical form been examined so scrupulously. Evans traces the
The story of one of the most important and least-understood jobs in moviemaking—film editing—is here told by one of the wizards, Ralph Rosenblum, whose credentials include six Woody Allen
”In all my whole career the Brick House was one of the toughest joints I ever played in. It was the honky-tonk where levee workers would congregate every Saturday night and trade with the gals
In the words of one of his English contemporaries, Louis Pasteur was ”the most perfect man who ever entered the kingdom of science.” His contributions to the development of microbiology and medicine w
In December 1950 General Matthew B. Ridgway replaced General Walton Walker as commander of the Eighth Army, and in April 1951 he succeeded Douglas MacArthur as supreme commander of the United Nations
”The reader must have noted in the favorite magazines of the practicing pianist how often the same troubled queries reappear: How can memorizing be made easier and more secure? How can the four
Homespun humor about the way we live, from the pleasant futility of salmon fishing and the joys of Halloween, to quiet afternoons with soap opera families and endless nights in pursuit of trivia
Jean Liedloff, an American writer, spent two and a half years in the South American jungle living with Stone Age Indians. The experience demolished her Western preconceptions of how we should live an
The late Count Basie is one of the jazz immortals. The master of swing, whose beat was the subtlest and supplest of all the bandleaders, Basie featured some of the great soloists in jazz history while
This pioneering study documents the birth of soul music in America during the 1950s and '60s when, in response to the black community's new self-awareness and pride, musicians such as James Brown,
Theodore Roosevelt’s writing has the same verve, panache, and energy as the life he lived. Perhaps no president in U.S. history—not even Jefferson—had so many opinions and intellect
It would be no exaggeration to call Charles Mingus the greatest bass player in the history of jazz; indeed, some might even regard it as understatement, for the hurricane power of his work as a compos
Acclaimed through three editions for its uniquely informative and entertaining style, this fourth edition of Stanley Green's World of Musical Comedy updates and enlarges the theatrical scope to in
The fifties, though a quiescent period in many ways, was one of the most fervent decades in jazz history. The landmarks of modern jazz were firmly planted and, it could be argued, nearly all direction
While Puccini wrote only twelve operas during a long life?three of them one-acters designed to be performed together?he has to be ranked today as the world’s most popular composer of opera. His La Boh
So You Think You’re Pretty Smart...Try these quizzes, games, puzzles and strategies to find out just how intelligent you really are. Following the success of The Mensa Genius Quiz Book, here is anothe
The major operas of Mozart?Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Cosifan Tutte?are well known to music listeners everywhere, having secured a permanent place in the repertoire of comp
