Lost in the Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica. Decades later, as the second World War approaches, the lives of three children -- Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California -- become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting...

The Beatles arrived in the United States on February 7, 1964, and immediately became a constant, compelling presence in fans' lives. For the next six years, the band presented a nonstop deluge of sounds, words, images, and ideas, transforming the childhood and adolescence of millions of baby boomers.Beatleness explains how the band became a source of emotional, intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual nurturance in fans' lives, creating a relationship...

"Classically trained pianist and singer Natalie Curtis isolated herself for five years after a breakdown just before she was to debut with the New York Philharmonic. Guilt-ridden and songless, Natalie can't seem to recapture the joy music once brought her. In 1902, her brother invites her to join him in the West to search for healing. What she finds are songs she'd never before encountered--the haunting melodies, rhythms, and stories of Native Americans....

In 1927, Nate Owens, thirteen, sets out from Bristol, Tennessee, against the wishes of his father, a self-proclaimed preacher, to find himself and the song he thinks will heal his broken family.

In the summer of 1976, when punk rock is taking over England, Lili finds herself playing bass for a wild new band called Naked, and struggling to sort out complicated relationships with self-destructive band mates.

In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary, part music film, part historical record, created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was largely forgotten,...

Offers 12 different views on the environmental disaster that lasted for years. Each page provides information about what happened during the Dust Bowl and how it affected different people, along with interesting sidebars, questions to consider, and historical images.

Girls to the Front is the epic, definitive history of the Riot Grrrl movement—the radical feminist punk uprising that exploded into the public eye in the 1990s, altering America’s gender landscape forever. Author Sara Marcus, a music and politics writer for Time Out New York, Slate.com, Pos, and Heeb magazine, interweaves research, interviews, and her own memories as a Riot Grrrl front-liner. Her passionate, sophisticated narrative brilliantly...

Over the past six decades, Burt Bacharach's songwriting has touched millions of listeners all over the world. Here, Bacharach steps out from behind the music to give an honest, engaging look at his life--from his work with Hal David, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Costello and many others, to his tumultuous marriages and the devastating fate of his beloved daughter. Growing up in Forest Hills, NY, during the 1930s and 1940s, Bacharach fell in love with music...

Los Angeles in the 1960s gave the world some of the greatest music in rock 'n' roll history: "California Dreamin'" by the Mamas and the Papas, "Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds, and "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, a song that magnificently summarized the joy and beauty of the era in three and a half minutes. But there was a dark flip side to the fun fun fun of the music, a nexus between naive young musicians and the hangers-on who exploited the...