From literary icon Margaret Atwood comes a brilliant collection of nonfiction -- funny, erudite, intimate, impassioned, and always startlingly prescient -- which grapples with such wide-ranging topics as: Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories? How do we get rid of the immense amount of plastic that's littering our seas and lands? How much of yourself can you give away without evaporating? Is science fiction now writing us? So what...

A year-by-year history of people and events, this lively multi-layered account tells the whole story of jazz music and its personalities. The Chronicle of Jazz charts the evolution of jazz from its roots in Africa and the southern United States to the myriad urban styles heard around the world today, Mervyn Cooke gives us a narrative rich with innovation, experimentation, controversy, and emotion. The book is completely up to date, exploring the exciting...

"Celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of The Godfather-and America's obsession with the classic film trilogy"-- Forty years after the initial release of The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola's trilogy continues to fascinate viewers old and new. The Godfather Effect analyzes the reasons behind this ongoing global phenomenon. With behind-the-scenes anecdotes from all three Godfather films, Tom Santopietro explores the historical origins of the Mob and...

An intimate conversation about music and writing illuminates the perspectives and shared interests of the internationally acclaimed author of "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage" and his close friend, the former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Enslaved African Americans longed for freedom, and that longing took many forms including music. Drawing on biblical imagery, slave songs both expressed the sorrow of life in bondage and offered a rallying cry for the spirit. Like a Bird brings together text, music, and illustrations by Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator Michele Wood to convey the rich meaning behind thirteen of these powerful songs.

This volume collects, for the first time, 28 biographies of the greatest songwriters and lyricists of Broadway musicals, delving below the surface to see what made them tick and to uncover the secrets of their success as well as the personal foibles that sometimes led to their downfall.

"Every weekday for decades, a kind man named Mister Rogers stepped through a door in his TV house, spoke directly into the camera while he changed from street clothes into a cardigan and sneakers, and sang, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood." Offering unconditional love, this soft-spoken icon was a household name for tens of millions of children, as well as their parents who grew up with this friendly neighbor themselves. Fred Rogers (1928-2003)...

The town of Woodstock, New York, the original planned venue of the 1969 concert, is over 60 miles from the actual site. And Woodstock was a key location in the rock landscape even before Bob Dylan holed up there after his infamous 1966 motorcycle accident. Hoskyns re-creates Woodstock's community of brilliant dysfunctional musicians, scheming dealers, and opportunistic hippie capitalists drawn to the area by Dylan and his sidekicks from the Band.

"Embark on a musical journey around the world to meet the diverse cast of composers, musicians, and performers who are famous for making the music we love. From Johann Sebastian Bach to Billie Eilish, Hildegard of Bingen to DJ Kool Herc, Wolfgang Mozart to Miriam Makeba, musicians come from many different times and places and introduce music from a wide variety of genres. Why do we make music? How does music affect our brains and emotions? These are...

"Part of the nonfiction Orca Origins series for middle readers. Illustrated with photographs, Powwow is a guide to the dance, music and culture of this Indigenous celebration."--