criticism, interpretation, etc

In the 1920s, as radio took over the pop music business, record companies were forced to leave their studios in major cities in search of new styles and markets. The recordings they made of the ethnic groups of America helped democratize the nation and gave a voice to all its people: a woman picking cotton in Mississippi, a coal miner in Virginia, or a tobacco farmer in Tennessee could have his or her thoughts and feelings heard on records played in living rooms across the country. These records blended the intertwining strands of Europe, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas and formed the bedrock for modern music as we know it. Today, virtually no documentation of these extraordinary events survives, and nearly 90 percent of the music masters have been destroyed. Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty spent years traveling around the U.S. on a mission to rescue this history, interviewing hundreds of families and scouring attics and basements, collecting vintage film footage and hundreds of photographs that haven't been seen in nearly a century. This written account continues the journey of the PBS television series and features additional stories, photographs, and artwork. It also contains contributions from many of the musicians who participated, including Taj Mahal, Nas, Willie Nelson, and Steve Martin, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the incredible adventure across America in search of these recordings and eyewitness accounts.

In-depth critical discussions of the controversial play by Arthur Miller - Plus complimentary, unlimited online access to the full content of this great literary reference. This volume offers diverse perspectives on one of Arthur Miller's most popular, most controversial and most frequently staged plays. The volume situates the play within many different contexts--historical, critical, literary, biographical, social, cultural, and others.

"From the eighteenth century onwards, the ancient Greek writer Thucydides (c 460 - c 395 BCE) was viewed as the most important classical historian. He was acclaimed not only as a vital source for reconstructing antiquity but as a purveyor of timeless political wisdom. His name is almost inescapable in nineteenth-century discussions of history's nature and purpose. And his spirit, or the image of him constructed by German historicists, remains a significant presence in more recent debates about historical method. It is remarkable, then, that the trajectory of Thucydides' modern reception has never been properly studied. Neville Morley here sets right that neglect. He examines different aspects of the reception of Thucydides within modern western historiography, casting fresh light on ideas about history and the historian in the contemporary world. His nuanced readings illuminate changing notions of the nature and purpose of history and of the historian's proper task. This latest volume in the I.B.Tauris New Directions in Classics series makes a bold and significant contribution to understandings of how to reclaim the past."-- Provided by publisher.

Do you know a capella from zarzuela? Can you distinguish between a serenade and a symphony? If you only have 30 seconds, there is time to understand the creative journey taken by classical music from the Middle Ages to the modern era. This book explores the pivotal composers, movements and innovations from classical music's long and fascinating history.

". . . In this dramatic set of portraits created during Van Gogh's ten-year career, the reader sees his desire to record a number of themes, from the plight of the agricultural workers in his native Brabant and the destitution of prostitutes and their children in urban Europe to the lives of his cosmopolitan acquaintances in Paris, including caf? owners and art dealers. It was here that he began his remarkable sequence of self- portraits"--Provided by publisher.

"Will Ashon tells, in 36 interlinked 'chambers', the story of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and how it changed the world. As unexpected and complex as the album itself, Chamber Music ranges from provocative essays to semi-comic skits, from deep scholarly analysis to satirical celebration, seeking to contextualize, reveal and honor this singular work of art. Chamber Music is an explosive and revelatory new way of writing about music and culture."--.

If Woodstock tied the ideals of the '60s together, Altamont unraveled them. Writer and critic Saul Austerlitz tells the story of "Woodstock West," where the Rolling Stones hoped to end their 1969 American tour triumphantly, with the help of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and 300,000 fans. Instead, the concert featured a harrowing series of disasters, starting with its haphazard planning. The bad acid kicked in early. The Hells Angels, hired to handle security, began to prey on the concertgoers. And not long after the Rolling Stones went on, an 18-year-old African-American named Meredith Hunter was stabbed by the Angels in front of the stage. The show, and the Woodstock high, was over. Austerlitz shows how Hunter's death came to symbolize the end of an era, while the trial of his accused murderer epitomized the racial tensions that still underlie America. He also finds a silver lining in the concert in how Rolling Stone's coverage of it helped create a new form of music journalism, while the making of the movie about Altamont, Gimme Shelter, birthed new forms of documentary. Using scores of new interviews with Paul Kantner, Jann Wenner, journalist John Burks, filmmaker Joan Churchill, and many members of the Rolling Stones' inner circle, as well as Meredith Hunter's family, Austerlitz shows that you can't understand the sixties or rock 'n' roll if you don't come to grips with Altamont.

"Nathaniel Hawthorne's reputation has never faded from his appearance on the literary scene of young America. Two hundred years after his birth he remains one of America's most important and influential writers. In celebration of his bicentennial, this new collection gathers essays by novelists, critics, historians and biographers who explore aspects of Hawthorne's life and work. The writers and subjects here range from Louis Auchincloss and Elizabeth Hardwick on The Scarlet Letter to Paul Auster on Hawthorne's journals and what they reveal about his family life; from Harrison Hayford's previously unpublished exploration of Hawthorne's influence on Melville to Carol Gilligan's account of adapting Hawthorne's work for the stage; from Wendell Garrett's evocation of nineteenth-century Salem to a sample of Hawthorne's own journalism -- "Chiefly About War Matters by a Peaceable Man," written for The Atlantic Monthly in 1862." "This illustrated volume features original cut-paper illustrations by artist Pamela Dalton as well as historic prints, engravings and photographs. In these essays, curators of Hawthorne historical sites explore the influence of physical environment on the writer; biographer Brenda Wineapple examines the author's political views, including his controversial disdain of abolitionists; scholar Michael Gilmore views Hawthorne's relationship to classical truths; journalist and novelist Tom Wicker appraises Hawthorne's skills as a war correspondent and journalist Neil Hickey considers the author's ongoing cultural influence through film and television adaptations of his work. Their varied work provides insights into ways that Hawthorne's work resonates today. He's created for all of us a mirror through which we see our culture darkly and by which we, as Americans, may come to know ourselves and our nation -- insofar as, Hawthorne suggests, this is ever possible. Book jacket."--Jacket.

The definitive monograph on the art of Tintin. Since he first appeared in Herge's weekly cartoon strip in Le Petit Vingtieme in Brussels in 1929, Tintin has become one of the most celebrated characters in the comic world. With more than 200 million copies of the famous twenty-four "albums" sold worldwide, Herge's iconic hero has exploded genres and expectations, bringing readers of all ages to his stories for their unique mixture of artistry, history, and adventure. Drawing on the archives of the Herge Museum in Brussels, this book looks at the evolution of Herge's artwork, from the simplicity of the early newspaper strips to the sophisticated graphic work of the later books. An avid art collector, Herge was inspired by Old Masters but infatuated with graphic design and modern art, from the Constructivist work he studied in his youth to the Lichtensteins and Miros he would travel to see in his maturity. Written by the Belgian art critic Pierre Sterckx--and translated by the British expert on Tintin, Michael Farr--this is the definitive book on the art of Tintin. With rarely seen pencil sketches, character drawings, and watercolors alongside original artwork from the finished stories, the book illuminates Tintin's progress from whimsical caricature to profound icon and reveals Herge's parallel development from cartoonist to artist.