'An incredible story of musical instruments, how they're made and what people make of them' - Keith Richards Everyone knows of the legendary quality and unbelievable price tag of a Stradivarius violin.
Explores the visionary, mystical, and ecstatic traditions that influenced the music of the 1960s *; Examines the visionary, spiritual, and mystical influences on the Grateful Dead, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, the Incredible String Band, the Left Banke, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, and others *; Shows how the British Invasion acted as the ';detonator' to explode visionary music into the mainstream *; Explains how 1960s rock and roll music transformed consciousness on both the individual and collective levels The 1960s were a time of huge transformation, sustained and amplified by the music of that era: Rock and Roll.
NPR Best Books of 2017In this sweeping history of popular music in the United States, NPR's acclaimed music critic examines how popular music shapes fundamental American ideas and beliefs, allowing us to communicate difficult emotions and truths about our most fraught social issues, most notably sex and race.
Rick Beyer, the author of the acclaimed History Channel(R) series The Greatest Stories Never Told, returns with new historic tales, this time focusing on amazing war storiesSearch the annals of military history and you will discover no end of quirky characters and surprising true stories: The topless dancer who saved the Byzantine Empire; the World War I battle that was halted so a soccer game could be played; the scientist who invented a pigeon-guided missile in 1943; and don't forget the elderly pig whose death triggered an international crisis between the United States and Great Britain.
The definitive oral history of heavy metal,LouderThan Hellby renowned music journalists Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman includeshundreds of interviews with the giants of the movement, conducted over the past 25 years.
A new look at the life, times, and music of Polish composer and piano virtuoso Fryderyk ChopinFryderyk Chopin (1810-49), although the most beloved of piano composers, remains a contradictory figure, an artist of virtually universal appeal who preferred the company of only a few sympathetic friends and listeners.
Carlos Chavez (1899-1978) is the central figure in Mexican music of the twentieth century and among the most eminent of all Latin American modernist composers.
In a lively exploration of Jacques Offenbach's final masterpiece, Heather Hadlock shows how Les Contes d'Hoffmann summed up not only the composer's career but also a century of Romantic culture.
Derived from the colorful traditions of vaudeville, burlesque, revue, and operetta, the musical has blossomed into America's most popular form of theater.
A revealing look at French composer and virtuoso Camille Saint-SaensCamille Saint-Saens-perhaps the foremost French musical figure of the late nineteenth century and a composer who wrote in nearly every musical genre, from opera and the symphony to film music-is now being rediscovered after a century of modernism overshadowed his earlier importance.
New perspectives on the greatest Finnish composer of all timePerhaps no twentieth-century composer has provoked a more varied reaction among the music-loving public than Jean Sibelius (1865-1957).
Since its first publication in 1990, Brahms and His World has become a key text for listeners, performers, and scholars interested in the life, work, and times of one of the nineteenth century's most celebrated composers.
Wedding the American oral storytelling tradition with progressive music journalism, Mitch Myers' The Boy Who Cried Freebird is a treatise on the popular music culture of the twentieth century.
Featuring forewords from bandmates Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, this is the official and fully authorised biography of the world's most revered and celebrated drummer.
Originally published in 1997, Collins Opera & Operetta is an invaluable guide to this fascinating but sometimes misunderstood art form, presenting essential information on over 180 major operas and operettas in an accessible, yet scholarly, way.
LONGLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA NON-FICTION CROWN'A moving, powerful and highly innovative sidelight on the fall of Communism in East Germany through punk style and music.
