Ragged but Right


Book Description

The commercial explosion of ragtime in the early twentieth century created previously unimagined opportunities for black performers. However, every prospect was mitigated by systemic racism. The biggest hits of the ragtime era weren't Scott Joplin's stately piano rags. “Coon songs,” with their ugly name, defined ragtime for the masses, and played a transitional role in the commercial ascendancy of blues and jazz. In Ragged but Right, Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff investigate black musical comedy productions, sideshow bands, and itinerant tented minstrel shows. Ragtime history is crowned by the “big shows,” the stunning musical comedy successes of Williams and Walker, Bob Cole, and Ernest Hogan. Under the big tent of Tolliver's Smart Set, Ma Rainey, Clara Smith, and others were converted from “coon shouters” to “blues singers.” Throughout the ragtime era and into the era of blues and jazz, circuses and Wild West shows exploited the popular demand for black music and culture, yet segregated and subordinated black performers to the sideshow tent. Not to be confused with their nineteenth-century white predecessors, black, tented minstrel shows such as the Rabbit's Foot and Silas Green from New Orleans provided blues and jazz-heavy vernacular entertainment that black southern audiences identified with and took pride in.




A Dictionary of the Drama


Book Description







D is for Death


Book Description

'A little bit Margery Allingham with hints of Mitford, definite tones of Eva Ibbotson and as delightful as I Capture the Castle, D is for Death is an instant classic. I loved it so much' MARIAN KEYES 'I absolutely loved D is for Death - mischievous and Mitford-esque and tender' ALEX HAY 1935. Dora'son the first train to London, having smuggled herself out of the house in the middle of the night to escape her impending marriage. But unluckily for her, Dora's fiance is more persistent than most and follows. As Dora alights at Paddington station, she is immediately forced to run from the loathsome Charles Silk-Butters. She ducks into the London Library to hide and it is there, surrounded by books, where she should feel most safe, that Dora Wildwood stumbles across her first dead body. Having been thrown into the middle of a murder scene, it's now impossible to walk away. Indeed, Dora's certain she will prove an invaluable help to the gruff Detective Inspector Fox who swiftly arrives on the scene. For as everyone knows, it's the woman in the room who always sees more than anyone else: and no one more so than Dora herself... D is for Death heralds the launch of a brilliant historical crime series that marries the quality of Dorothy L. Sayers with the ingenuity of Janice Hallett - and in Dora Wildwood introduces a character with the spark and gusto of Enola Holmes and the detective skill of Miss Marple. *** Readers already love Dora Wildwood! *** 'Witty, beautifully plotted and full of memorable characters. I for one can't wait to see what Dora does next. Highly recommended' 'The start of a new historical mystery series with a delightful protagonist, a deftly drawn cast and a well imagined backdrop' 'Oh my god this book! I want to inhale it. I want to live in it. I want to buy the rest of the series and read them all one after the other while feasting on peppermint creams' 'Absolutely delicious, a mash up of so many of my favourite things, with a heroine who has gone straight to the top of my list of favourite sleuths'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ *** And so do your favourite writers! *** 'A charming and authentic ode to Golden Age crime fiction and to books in general. In a genre replete with world-weary cynicism, Dora Wildwood makes for an endearingly optimistic feminist sleuth' CHRIS BROOKMYRE 'A glorious, stylish story of passion, poison and peril' LUCY DIAMOND 'What a world, what a plot, what a cast - a masterpiece!' VERONICA HENRY







Oddball Iowa


Book Description

This zany travel guide presents a more peculiar state than the Iowa Tourism Office might like out-of-towners to imagine. Leaving out the traditional scenic trips to the Mississippi River bluffs and the Amana Colonies, this guide will take the adventurous traveler to the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk, the home of the "Lonely Goat Herder" marionettes from The Sound of Music, and the world's largest Cheeto. To enhance the experience of this unusual side of Iowa, the guide includes facts about numerous events in Iowa's history, such as Ozzy Osbourne's infamous bat-biting incident and Jesse James's first moving-train robbery. Iowa is depicted as the birthplace of the Roto-Rooter, the Delicious apple, the electronic computer, the reinforced concrete bridge, and the Eskimo pie. The accompanying photographs and maps will direct travelers to other fun vacation spots and attractions, including the butter sculptures at the Iowa State Fair, the annual National Skillet Throw, the Hobo Convention and Museum, the Ice Cream Capital of the World, and the National Balloon Museum.




Fast Food and Junk Food [2 volumes]


Book Description

This fascinating and revealing work examines the incredible power of junk food and fast food—how nostalgic we are about them, the influence of the companies that manufacture or sell them, and their alarming effect on our country's state of health. In the last half century, junk food and fast food have come to play an extremely important role in American economic, historical, cultural, and social life. Today, they have a major influence on what Americans eat—and how healthy we are (or aren't). Fast Food and Junk Food: An Encyclopedia of What We Love to Eat tells the intriguing, fun, and incredible stories behind the successes of these commercial food products and documents the numerous health-related, environmental, cultural, and politico-economic issues associated with them. With more than 700 alphabetically arranged entries, this two-volume encyclopedia contains enough listings to allow readers to research a wide range of fascinating topics. The author treats the massive amount of subject material within this reference title in a fair and balanced manner. A secondary focus of this encyclopedia is to chart the spread of some American fast food chains and commercially produced junk foods internationally.




Herd Register


Book Description




Mindset List of the Obscure


Book Description

An entertaining trip through pop culture, for the "old fogeys" and "kids these days" Today's teens and twentysomethings have never seen a real airplane ticket. To them, point-and-shoot cameras are so last millennium and "Star Wars" is a movie, not a defense strategy. The world views of today's young and old have never been more different. In this entertaining romp through American culture, the creators of the Beloit College Mindset List explore 75 icons once-famous and now forgotten-from Abbott and Costello to the singing telegram. Packed with entertaining facts, trivia, and photos, this is the perfect gift for college students, their oh-so-outdated parents, and pop culture mavens nostalgic for days gone by.