Genres Books

This book was a really quick read: not only was it too short, but I couldn't stop once I started. After reading the first two books, I really wanted to know what the plot would turn out to be and the Wizardwar wraps up everything and each event that happens is important. Even though I didn't skim this book, it only took me several hours to complete. If you read the first two, you would love how this book has a mixture of the two books. I can't stand the ending though! It wasn't bad, its just that the book ended! Overall the book was very well written and a nice creative break from my favorite author, R.A. Salvatore. But honestly, after this book I'm starting to like Cunningham more. The character developement is amazing as they grow and grow on you. I would highly reccomend it to anyone who likes fantasy (and elves: Elaine likes elves) but you should read the first two books (The Magehound and The Floodgate) first!

The Counselors and Kings trilogy is author Elaine Cunningham's best work since Elfshadow. Although they can be taken one at a time, these three novels are best read as one monolithic book. In The Wizardwar, the author brings the intricate plot to resolution, in one of the best finales I've seen in fantasy literature.

Readers of the previous books might have picked up some hints about what will happen in the magical kingdom of Halruaa, but many things are left unanswered. Namely, who is descended from who, and why does this matter? I won't spoil it for you here, but suffice to say that the answers might be surprising, and it indeed does matter. The machinations of the elven wizard Kiva and the efforts of her victims to stop her are both intriguing and exciting. Though the object that is the Cabal was finally revealed in The Floodgate, you'll finally discover exactly what it does.

Cunningham weaves an truly fine yarn, as usual interspersed with excellent characterization and humor. The magical kingdom of Halruaa comes to life in astonishing detail, including a unique cast that is both memorable and believable. For any fan of the Forgotten Realms, this is a must-read.

This book is excellent. As a gamer that has been living in the Forgotten Realms for years, I was truly fascinated by a closer look into this new area of the Realms. The book tied up all loose ends and shocked us with several revelations. The introduction of new people, such as the Crinti, have really given gamers fuel for their fires. The characters are deep and complex. I will agree with one other review, it was a bit rushed or short depending on your point of view. If you are a fan of mages in the Forgotten Realms, this series is an excellent place to start. Thanks Elaine for such a great series and I'm looking forward to the next.

This book is everything I have come to expect from Elaine Cunningham. Its very well written, the characters deep and detailed, and the plot well thought out. However, the last 100 pages or so seem very rushed. Like this trilogy likely should have been four books, or book three should have been extended another 200-300 pages. Quite frankly though, when the only thing you can find about a book that is negative is that it seemed too short, it must be a pretty good book. Pick it up. Its well worth the read.

The Wizardwar brings the Counselors and Kings trilogy to an exciting conclusion. In this book, all of the main plot lines from the previous books are tied up nicely with some good surprises. The main characters really develop in this book and take on new levels of depth. The interesting culture and intrigues of the people of Halruaa are really fleshed out in this book.

Needless to say, if you enjoyed the previous two books, this conclusion will not disappoint you in the least. Elaine Cunningham continues to please this reader with another excellent Forgotten Realms series.

In writing The Women of Motown, Susan Whitall digs beneath the veneer of the Motown publicity machine to give us an intimate view of the real people who literally changed the face of R&B. Even more fascinating than the conversations with those we instantly identify with the Motown sound are the stories of Kim Weston, Mabel John and the Velevelettes, artists who may not have enjoyed the same notoriety, but clearly influenced the heart and soul of Detroit's most famous record company. Ms. Whitall's brings a unique perspective to the project. She grew up in Detroit and has written about its music and culture for more than a quarter century. Her always excellent prose also benefits from the magic touch of rock journalist Dave Marsh, a mentor at Creem Mangazine and an able chronicler of rock history in his own right

I enjoyed reading this book because it explores the personal side of Motown and its artists. I also appreciated that the writer also explored the stories of lesser-known Motown acts like Mable John and the Velvelettes. My only criticism of the book is that it failed to include a chapter on Gladys Knight. How can you do a book called, "Women of Motown" without Gladys Knight?

I have always been Facsinated By Motown Records.it's so Important For African-Americans to Have A Stake in things and Berry Gordy is someone very Special in Keeping the Dream Alive.more often than Not The Women of Motown were pretty much just show except Diana ROss but this Book kicks that down and explores The Importance Of The Ladies at Motown.This Great Label had Many Great Minds of both Sexes and it's Important that they be heard.

This book is a comprehensive review of a very special time in American music. We are treated with actual stories that haven't been shared in the media until now. For those that feel that Motown women consist of only the Supremes, this book introduces us to a group of musicians that will surely inspire the reader to find some new artists in the Motown section of the local CD store. Let's see some more! Hopefully a new group of Motown ladies are out there that will revive the Detroit sound.

As a life-long Detroit resident, the Motown story is near and dear to me. What I like the best about this book is the author lets the distinct voices of these beautiful, tough ladies shine through in this collection of oral histories. It is obvious the women Ms Whitall interviews are important to her. I am glad these stories are being told--too much emphasis is placed these days on the superstars of Motown; Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations. For me, the gritty, soulful backbone of the Motown sound will always be Martha Reeves, Mary Wells, Kim Weston. The homegirls! I am eager to read other books in the series if they are as well-written, thoughtful and fun.

Three seamen in the Merchant Marine when America was at war were Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston and Jim Longhi, this book's author. Not many people know Woody shipped out with the Merchant Marine in 1943 with nothing more than a seabag, well he took along a guitar, a mandolin, a case of books and a portable typewriter. One might have thought he was going to a concert and not to war, but Woody played guitar, wherever he went, the Grand Coulee Damn or U-boat infested waters. And with fellow folksinger Cisco along for the ride, you can bet the playing on that boat was mighty fine.

Though they had regular duties aboard, Woodie and Cisco were morale boosters and with U-boats lurking, storms raging, seas rough and waves high, they were certainly appreciated. On more than one occasion they saw other ships in their convoy go down, but this page turning book isn't only about the terror of the deep during war, it also has quite a few laughs thrown in. You just won't believe the cooking school bit Woodie, Cisco and Jim had to go through and you'll enjoy all heck out of their shore leaves. Still, war is grim business.

This is a must read for any fan of Woodie Guthrie's or Cisco Houston's. It's also a very good book which reads like fiction, though every word is true. I can't recommend this highly enough, it's a story about America, a story about folksingers, a story you'll never forget.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

The main reason I bought this book, and (unfortunately) it wasn't too easy to find, was to learn more about Cisco Houston. There hasn't been much written about him except a few pages of reference here and there in his contempories biographies and stories. In that regard, this novel didn't disappoint. Many sides of Cisco are shown - strong and solid, brilliant, an athlete, a quiet war hero looked up to by men from all walks of life, a fair and honest man with a strong sense of justice, a man among men who also liked his women, his booze, his gambling, and who would not mince words. Also, someone with a tender heart of gold. Woody is portrayed as the icon he is, at times almost a "wizard" able to snatch victory out of the clutches of defeat, able to rally huge groups of men and children from all cultures and walks of life with his singing. And the author, Jimmy Longhi, manages to bare his soul throughout much of this rollicking, constantly funny and often touching story which, for the most part, takes place during a less than two year period - the final two years of WWII - during the three times that Woody, Cisco and Jimmy shipped out with the Merchant Marines.
The style of this book is so entertaining, so fluid, so descriptive that it's amazing that Longhi's main walk of life is that of lawyer, not author (although he is also a playwrite). The story is filled with memorable characters - Davey Bananas, Nino Sala, Courtroom Kelly, Newington, Frank Strahele, the evil Jojo, Mando - to name a few. I really had trouble putting it down. Parts made me laugh out loud while others brought a tear to my eye. As a bonus, this story draws you into the realities of WWII. The extreme patriotism among men from all walks of life regardless of race (although archaic prejudicial customs are brought to light) or political conviction (the far left or "reds" were as much behind beating Hitler as the far right), the thoughts and fears of the soldiers before the Normandy invasion, the abject poverty of Sicily, northern Africa and Belfast. This is a great read and highly recommended.

As a long time listener to Woody, and Cisco I was familiar with Woody through his writings and the biographical material about him. However, Cisco, seemed to have only existence as Woody's "sidekick". This book introduces the reader to a remarkable, and very interesting person. Jimmy Longhi's book provides the reader with an opportunity to relive those days with three remarkable me

Most fans of Woody and Cisco know they made a few trips as merchant seamen during the War, and were torpedoed once and were on another that hit a mine. This wonderful book makes that period REAL, in excellent detail, because Jim Longhi was present. His depiction of Woody reveals a man who had been somewhat famous for three years, and who was still ten years away from being disabled by Huntington's Chorea. The Woody here is almost totally admirable...a bit nutty, but in a brave, sweet way. The book also represents perhaps the closest thing we'll get to a real biography of Cisco Houston, Woody's long-time best friend and arguably still the best singer of Guthrie songs. Meeting Jim Longhi, whose existence I was unaware of despite years of researching Woody and Cisco, was quite a pleasure. He's a fine writer, and obviously a good man, who can poke fun at himself, looking 50 years back at the zealotry of his youth. The book has just about everything...war, music, humor, exotic places, danger, hints of love and sex, fantastic coincidences, political debates---it would make a great movie in skilled hands. The character of Courtroom Kelly, introduced briefly in the mid-section of the memoir, is unforgettably hilarious. In l968, I spent more than 30 days as an Army private sailing to Vietnam on a troopship, so Jim's portrait of shipboard life heading to a war zone for troops and crew alike resonates with me. He and Woody and Cisco were usually mess attendants, but on one trip Jim was a cook and baker. He does a fine job proving how important such workers are to the men they feed. The most touching segment is how Woody insisted on singing to troops down in the hold during submarine attacks on the convoy, competing with the noise from depth charges, and sickness-causing storms, and even racist military policies keeping black and white soldiers from enjoying the same concert at the same time. One comes away even more a fan of Woody and Cisco than before, and with a new friend, Jim, whose singing career didn't survive the voyages, but who lived to tell us an interesting and important tale. Get the book and see for yourself.

This is a terrific tale of friendship, heroism and the power of a magnetic personality. While there have been numerous attempts to paint the definitive portrait of Woody, none have shown this particular picture. To the list of scalliwag, drunkard, genius, writer, singer, guitarist, vagabond and saint, we now must add "war hero."

Think of country music and you think of the South automatically - but California too has been the source of many a notable country music artists, and here's Workin' Man Blues: Country Music In California by Gerald Haslam with the assistance of Alexandra Haslam Russell and Richard Chonto celebrates and highlights that fact. Chapters cover a range of artists who contributed to the genre, from early immigrants to California to later stars. Bob Wills, Gene Autry, Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam: the lives of each famous contributor to the genre is linked with California musical history as a whole, creating a vivid interplay between musical history and biography. Outstanding.

Nashville has not always been the home of country music. Following migrations westward from the South and Dust Bowl states during the 1930s and 1940s, country music flourished in California, where it thrived in Hollywood, throughout the agricultural interior valleys and around the war-related industries in Los Angeles. And it continued in the post-war years, peaking in creative output one final time in the 1960s.

Author Gerald Haslam's history of country music in California tells a story full of rich appreciation for its many musical styles, from hillbilly (the Crockett Family, seen on the cover), to the singing cowboys (Gene Autry), to the heyday of western swing (Bob Wills and Spade Cooley), to Tennessee Ernie Ford, and the Bakersfield music scene, centered around Buck Owens in the 1960s. Haslam then tracks its story since those golden years in the careers of Californians who made it big in the Nashville years, such as Merle Haggard.

Haslam's sympathies are clearly with performers who have bucked the homogenizing trends of Nashville and the dominance of a music today that calls itself country but has largely lost contact with its roots. He praises the musical mavericks and outlaws who keep traditional and "hard" country alive in California, giving special attention to Dwight Yoakum, who stubbornly and fiercely chose Los Angeles as a base to launch a career that got national attention in the 1980s.

You may or may not love the author's blue-collar bias. He notes the frequent theme of discontent in traditional country music, characterizing it as the music of the hard-working men and women who labor not always successfully in pursuit of an American dream. Their yearning for simpler times and rural values is a sensibility mostly absent from today's country play lists, with only rare exceptions like Alan Jackson. It's a sentiment that finds its parallel in the traditionalist's dislike for the urban market-driven output of Nashville's lucrative music industry.

This is a highly readable book, with over 50 photographs of performers, and it's also a reference based on a good deal of scholarship. There's a 22-page bibliography and both a song title index and a subject index covering another 24 pages. Readers interested in western swing will especially appreciate the author's extensive study of this subject. As a companion volume, I'd also recommend "The Rough Guide to Country Music."

Nobody doubts the importance of Texas and Tennessee in the development of country music, yet the substantial contribution of California to country music is often ignored. At first glance, this is understandable, since the Californian music scene is generally dominated by the major cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. However, these two cities are several hundred miles apart and much of the territory in between is deeply rural, populated by people displaced from other states, who took their music with them when they migrated. In particular, Bakersfield and its surrounding area became a hotbed of country music. This is the area from which the author comes, but in this book he covers all aspects of the California country music scene including Hollywood's contribution.

Whole chapters are devoted to the Crockett family, Gene Autry, Bob Wills, Spade Cooley, Rose Maddox and her brothers, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Dwight Yoakam. These are clearly the artists that the author regards as the most important to the development of Californian country music and I'm certainly not going to argue with him. While very few people these days know about the Crockett family, they were California's first country stars even if (as it seems) their appeal did not extend beyond their home state.

Between the chapters devoted to individual artists, there are chapters devoted to particular decades. These chapters describe all the remaining significant artists. Early on, the author attempts to define country music but, as we all know, it is impossible to define. Being unable to clearly define the music, the author covers the music in all its aspects from traditional to contemporary singers but focuses mainly on tradition. Thus, Glen Campbell (born in Arkansas but who made his career in California) and Barbara Mandrell (born in Texas but raised in California from an early age) are given due coverage, their achievements being far too important to ignore. Although I love their music, I know as much as I want to from elsewhere. It is important that they are covered but they are not the reason to buy this book.

Apart from the chapters on the selected major traditional artists, this book serves as a reminder of many great but obscure performers such as Kate Wolf, who seemed set to make a major commercial breakthrough with her brand of folk-country music but died of leukaemia before she could capitalize on her growing popularity.

Country-rock is covered too - there is a page devoted to a family tree showing how various performers switched between various groups - the Byrds, the Eagles, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills and Nash, Poco and a few others. It's not complete (no Dillard and Clark Expedition, no Desert Rose Band) but it covers all the line-ups that most people are interested in. A truly comprehensive family tree would take too much space to make it easy to follow.

This book is a real treasure trove of information about country music in California but if it whets your appetite for more reading, there is a selected bibliography that runs to over twenty pages.

Every country music fan can learn much about the history of the music from this book, which proves that California has played a major role in the development of country music - maybe not quite as important as Tennessee and Texas, but far more important than most people realize.

I simply can't recommend this book highly enough! It was the first scholarly work on Country Music that I read, and it really opened my eyes to country music as a serious field of study. Being a native Californian, I had always been aware of the pivotal role the CA scene played in Country Music history, I was exposed to the music of Haggard at an early age and became familiar with the music of Buck Owens through Hee Haw, but I didn't know too much about other important players such as Chester Smith, The Maddox Bros & Rose, Wynn Stewart Etc. This book inspired me to go out and discover the music of these pioneering artists. The author also discusses the way rock and roll influenced west coast country and vice versa. If you're a serious student of country music history, this book is a must read! It should be required reading in all CA schools :)

As one who was born and reared in California's Great Central Valley, and is old enough to remember the country music of the 30's and 40's, I very much enjoyed this book. Haslam not only brought back lots of memories, but he also skillfully told the story of the rise and fall of country music in California. Clearly, he's been there and he "talks the talk". As an admitted liberal, he unfortunately litters the landscape with some superfluous "social commentary". Nonethe less, it's a fine book, deserving of reading by all who like country music and/or the Central valley.

Gail's book has given me insights into my genre, as well as direction in technique. She has succinctly defined our category and provided a useful tool in a market previously lacking such a resource. Three cheers to Gail Gaymer Martin and Writer's Digest for meeting this need.

Gail's book is the 'bible' for new Christian romance writers. She covers every angle I could think of to get a writer started and headed in the right direction, giving examples from her own and other authors' works.

This book is a great resource for romance writers of all genres, but especially for those writing for the Christian market. Full of examples and at-your-fingertips information, the book is an easy-read, and one you'll refer back to again and again. Plus, it's pretty enough to be a coffee table edition.

Prolific author Gail Gaymer Martin has skillfully produced a long-awaited and much-needed book for aspiring Christian romance authors. Writing the Christian Romance is clearly written and well-organized, with varied input from successful authors in the field. I highly recommend this excellent resource for those who are seeking to break into this extremely competitive genre.

Having read some of her novels, I was looking forward to reading Gail's book and gleaning all the advice she had to give about writing romance. Gail covered most of the essential elements of a good story: characterization, dialogue, tension, POV, and plotting. She leads the reader through the process of developing the hero and heroine as multi-dimensional, believable characters and escalating their romantic interest throughout the story.

Gail does a thorough job of speaking to the specific elements of a Christian romance verses other genre fiction. She gives excellent information on how to handle delicate subjects without offending the Christian publisher or reader. She explains how to develop the spiritual thread of a story.

Her suggestions and tips are backed up by examples from a wide variety of authors. The exercises at the end of each chapter are thought-provoking and geared to teach the writer how to improve in specific areas.

Gail provided an example of a query/cover letter, short synopsis, a one-page synopsis, and a long synopsis. There may be others out there, but this is the first writing craft book I have read that gives a complete example of all four. This will be most helpful to those who struggle with this integral step in making a sale. She also gives sound advice on publication options, choosing a publisher, and searching for an agent.

Thanks for a great book, Gail!

This book is a must have for any intermediate guitarist who wants to start playing blues with a band. Its appropriate for anyone who has played for a year or longer, learned basic chords, basic barre chords, as well as minor and major pentatonic scales. If soaring solos are the fancy main dish the rhythm guitar riffs and chord voicing in this book are the vegetables; you gotta eat them if your going to stay alive. No band is gonna want you to shred solos if you can't back up the singer and let the keyboards and harp solo once in a while. There are chord voicings/ progressions and riffs for every type of blues playing as well as a brief section on turnarounds and intros. The majority of the examples are movable and therefore extremely useful as you hook up with other musicians who may not prefer your favorite key. I'm well on my way to memorizing the whole book. Well worth the money and well worth the time.

Excellent book introducing the fundamentals of blues chords and basic 12-bar progressions. It is on the beginner side, and while it provides a great basic course on blues styles and chords, it doesn't pay too much attention to rhythm patterns, and theory is given out in small doses.

The book has progressions in different keys to get you going with a variety of styles, including your basic slow blues, shuffle rhythms, swing & boogie, riff blues and some cool jazz stuff, etc. Most examples are moveable chords, so it gets you playing all over the neck. The explainations are low key but pretty good, pointing out info on the sounds and tonality of the different chords, and some advice on getting a good sound.
There are also sections including some generic but cool turnarounds and intros, and a couple pages about soloing.
Don't think you'll be blazing open mic night after this book, but you will have a good foundation in chords and 12-bar progressions.

If you want to play in a blues band, you better know these riffs. I would say memorize this book so you can play it in your sleep. There isn't alot of fancy stuff in here, but it is the foundation you need.

Before I ran into this book as well as a teacher who taught me similar stuff, I had been playing for years and thought I was pretty good - but I always fell apart when I tried to play with others. That's because I did not have these basic building blocks.

I am a beginning guitar player and this book has been a tremendous help. This is a book that you will use a little at first then return to it over time. For me some of the chord shapes are still a little difficult so what I often do is use my chord book (ISBN 0947183094) to find easier versions of the chords.
Also I just wanted to say that the thing that makes this book so valuable is the fact that after you learn one of the lessons you will find that you are now armed with a technique that allows you to play many different songs for example: the riff to good morning little school girl is in the book. After I got fairly comfortable with that I found that I could play born under a bad sign, sunshine of your love etc. there are many songs that use that same combination of notes just varied in timing and order a little. That seems to be the case with chord progressions as well. If you are a beginner like me, remember to play chords that are easy at first then progressively try to play the more difficult ones. Eventually you will be able to play the same chords the pros use. Also as a beginner you probably use open chords. You won't really see how the chords work until you use bar chords so start incorporating those into your playing. I would recommend the F bar chord and the B minor bar chord as there are really no good open chord versions of those. Also learn the A D E bar chord combination at the 5th and 7th frets.
I used to think that the more guitar books I owned the better guitarist I will be. That has not proven to be true. I probably have 30 or so guitar books on the shelf and of those 30 I only use maybe 5, one of which is this 12 bar blues book, the other being Progressive guitar chords.

1776 is a very special play. It portrays true historical magic. I especially liked the play because of the character development. I liked how Peter Stone, the author, developed John Adams character. Stone portrayed Adams as an egotistical jerk who would not take no for an answer. The ironic thing was that his unwillingness to quit was the key to winning our independence.

I am especially involved in the study of history. The play was actually quite accurate except for all the singing and dancing which was added for theatrical purposes. The play had great lyrics and music. Not only was the book version well done the movie was also excellent. The movie stayed word for word with the book.

This play attracted my attention to a specific theme. When John Adams was desperate and discouraged he did not give up. He kept on pushing and pushing untill he had the outcome he wanted. A major theme of this novel would have to be to not give up when faced with tremendous odds. If John Adams had given up then we would most likely still be under British rule.

This play should definitly be read by all u.s. history classes. It inspires patriotism just at the mention of the title. This play is a great source and accurate account of exactly how this great nation became so great. A truly outstanding book.

Every 4th of July I watch the restored laser disc edition of "1776," the musical that has our Founding Fathers singing and dancing their way to Independency, and every time John and Abigail Adams sing goodbye to each other ("Till Then" and "Yours, Yours, Yours"), I get absolutely choked up (to be fair, I get absolutely choked up when I listen to either the original Broadway cast with William Daniels as John Adams or the revival cast with Brent Spiner in the role). But as much as I enjoy the songs, from "Sit Down, John" to "Is Anybody There?", what I admire is the way Peter Stone's book tells the story of what happened in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia.

Granted this is drama and not history. A historian would point to a big error in that John Dickinson did not show up the day of the crucial vote so that Pennsylvania would not kill independence. But Stone lays out the positions of those who oppose independence, not only Dickinson but Edmund Rutledge of South Carolina, who wants independence but sees it as independence for South Carolina. Consequently, even though we know that these men are going to sign their John Hancocks to the Declaration we still wonder how it will happen given the obstacles. The biggest one is slavery, and while the song "Molasses To Rum" captures the Triangle Trade, it is the debate between Rutledge on the one side and Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin on the other that is even more memorable as the Founding Fathers discuss the difference between "property" and "people being treated like property."

One of the most unusual things about "1776" as a musical is that the vast majority of songs are in Act I, because once the declaration committe's draft is read to the congress ("The Egg"), the debate becomes too important for anything but the most somber of songs. The genius here is the ability to mix low comedy, as in "The Lees of Old Virginia," with the historical drama, best represented by the moment when Franklin justifies the need for independency to Dickinson. Stone takes Franklin's old words, "We are a new nationality. We require a new nation," and amplifies them into a moment of ideological clarity. It is the gravity of that moment which allows the songs by Sherman Edwards to go off in fanciful directions, along with Franklin's pointed reminder at the crucial moment that the Founding Fathers were not demi-gods.

I maintain there is a wonderful educational opportunity with "1776." Obviously it is not what "really" happened, but it is based on such things, from the words of the Declaration of Indpendence to the letters exchanged between John and Abigail always addressed to "My dearest friend." Granted, not all students will be interested in exploring the reality behind the drama, but for those willing to make the connection, it is a worthwhile step in the development of their critical faculties.

Peter Stone's play "1776", is not only a wonderfully entertaining piece of musical theatre, containing great songs and dialogue (often with a healthy amount of wit), it is also historically accurate. The story centers around the Second Continental Congress in Philidelphia (most notably John Adams), in the months immediately prior to the signing of The Declaration of Independence. One of the things that impressed me most about this play was that when writing dialogue between Congress members, letters from Gen. Washington, and conversations between Adams and his wife, Stone reviewed historical documents. Thus, many exchanges you hear/read throughout the play were actual conversations or letters written by those people. Therefore, the play is not only entertaining, it's educational. This play allows you to better understand the people who fought so hard to secure American independence. So often we revere our forefathers with such a sense of awe that we forget their basic humanity. Stone does a wonderful job of reminding us all that these were simple men and women, with everyday hopes and dreams, who were also willing to risk their lives for the freedom that they sought. I think that this play ought to be performed for every school in America -- it teaches while it entertains!

This musical play really inspires patriotic feelings for any American that reads it. A sense of the magnanimity of such an occasion can be felt by its readers. From John Adams's beligerant character to Ben Franklin's sensibility, the reader will feel like he has known these great men and women forever.

I am a middle school teacher who was looking for a way to get my English students to even DO a book report. This book was an answer to whatever prayer I had. The diifferent genres helps them figure out WHAT genre of book they are reading and choose accordingly. The rubrics are easy for them to follow and understand and make my grading a breeze.

This book is a wonderful resource, and full of great book report ideas. I like the pages that can be photocopied and distributed to the students. I have already used four of the projects, and found they are really well done.

This is a wonderful book. It is a great resource for teachers and offers a variety of reproducibles for use in the classroom. I would recommend this book to anyone who actively works in the classroom.

This book is a timesaver in every way: the ideas are great, the pages to photocopy are well thought out, and the scoring rubrics are very helpful! I'll use this book alot in my fourth grade classroom this year!

I have been playing for over 30 years, this is the best book on Bottleneck blues guitar. It is also alot of fun to play.

Bob Brozman, in addition to being a certified ethnomusicologist and world expert on the National resonator guitar has compiled a mother lode of slide and rhythm techniques in the Country Blues style.Although at his own admission Brozman doesn't "play Robert Johnson like Robert Johnson.." in recordings or live venues he does easily teach the style of Johnson flawlessly in rhythm, phrase and slide technique. In addition he quotes and instructs from the other Country Blues giants..Charlie Patton, Willie Brown as well as including his own trademark licks. The rhythmic instruction included is essential learning for this style. Included CD is excellent in detail and example. A must have for anyone interested in this style

I'm an intermediate player who bought 3 books to learn slide from.
This is the best of the bunch. The book covers a lot of ground but
the basics are here as well. Well spaced info and a good CD to
learn from. Other good books on blues (but not slide per se) are the Kenny Sultan series - they are not as hard as the Grossman and Mann books

I'm a metal guitarist (the real stuff, Maiden, Morbid Angel, Slayer style metal) that dabbles in jazz and fingerstyle.

I've loved Robert Johnson's country style blues forever and this book introduced me to the joys of playing slide guitar in open G in just two days! I can already play enough stuff to sound like I know what I'm doing.

A collection of intelligent and informed essays from the late, lamented magazine. Not necessarily for the casual fan, but rabid BB admirers will find tasty food for thought in these pages.

Because I have begun my doctoral thesis on this very subject, I found that this critique has opened windows that heretofore I have only imagined. Mr. Cunningham must have known his subjects well (or developed a preternatural insight into their oeuvre) and also must possess an astounding knowledge of music, both classical and modern. I would recommend this book to anyone with more than a superficial interest in the subject.

Don Cunningham and Jeff Bleiel edit Add Some Music To Your Day, about analyzing the music of the Beach Boys. Over forty articles, essays and reviews provide critical analysis of albums and songs in a coverage which will delight Beach Boys fans. A highly recommended pick.

Don Cunningham and Jeff Bleiel have assembled some of the best Beach Boys writings here in this book, "Add Some Music To Your Day." I wasn't around to read these the first time in the "Add Some..." fanzine, but this is GREAT stuff. BRAVO!