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  Fela - Kalakuta Notes

  John Collins

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  “A vibrant and multifaceted portrait of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti . . . and his role as a giant of modern African music.” —Michael E. Veal, author of Dub 
   
  Fela: Kalakuta Notes is an evocative account of Fela Kuti—the Afrobeat superstar who took African music into the arena of direct action. With his antiestablishment songs, he dedicated himself to Pan-Africanism and the down-trodden Nigerian masses, or “sufferheads.” In the 1970s, the British/Ghanaian musician and author John Collins met and worked with Fela in Ghana and Nigeria. Kalakuta Notes includes a diary that Collins kept in 1977 when he acted in Fela’s autobiographical film, Black President. The book offers revealing interviews with Fela by the author, as well as with band members, friends, and colleagues. 
   
  For this second edition, Collins has expanded the original introduction by providing needed context for popular music in Africa in the 1960s and the influences on the artist’s music and politics. In a new concluding chapter, Collins reflects on the legacy of Fela: the spread of Afrobeat, Fela’s musical children, Fela’s Shrine and Kalakuta House, and the annual Felabration. As the dust settles over Fela’s fiery, creative, and controversial career, his Afrobeat groove and political message live on in Kalakuta Notes. A new foreword by Banning Eyre, an up-to-date discography by Ronnie Graham, a timeline, historical photographs, and snapshots by the author are also featured. 
   
  “As multilayered and significant a document as the singer’s musical contributions. It is a crucial testament about one of the world’s most outspoken and radical artists, and gives deep insight into his life, music and struggles against oppression and mediocrity.” —Journal of World Popular Music

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  Fifty Places to Run Before You...

  Chris Santella

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  A breathtaking guide to the world’s fifty best places to run, as chosen by experts who’ve been there. 
   
  The beautiful thing about running is that all you need is a trusty pair of shoes and a little determination. When you can practice a sport almost anywhere, from your own neighborhood to courses across the world, where do you begin? In Fifty Places to Run Before You Die, Chris Santella gathers fifty bucket list recommendations from some of the running world’s most accomplished leaders and athletes, including ultra-runner and record breaker Jim Walmsley; Runner’s World chief running officer Bart Yasso; NPR star Peter Sagal; race director of the Boston Marathon Dave McGillivray; U.S. Olympian Magdalena Lewy Boulet; and internationally recognized endurance athlete Dean Karnazes. 
   
  Featuring a mix of popular foot races (such as marathons, 10Ks, and endurance runs) and scenic trails off the beaten path, this book divulges what makes each venue unique, offering firsthand anecdotes and practical advice for those who aspire to run there. Discover incredible events and trails both national and international, including the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc in France, the New York City Marathon, the Vancouver Sun Run, the Grand Canyon, the Dolomites in Italy, and the Great Ocean Road Marathon in Australia. Fifty Places to Run Before You Die is the essential travel companion for runners of all levels who seek to conquer new terrain while breaking personal records.

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  United States Navy Destroyers

  Michael Green

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  This pictorial history examines the key role played by US Navy destroyers from the turn of the twentieth century through the Cold War and beyond. 
   
  The first sixteen United States Navy destroyers were ordered in 1898. Prior to America’s entry into the First World War, another sixty-three destroyers were commissioned and, due to the U-boat threat, 267 more were authorized by Congress once hostilities were joined. 
   
  Between 1932 and Pearl Harbor ten new classes totaling 169 destroyers came into service. During the Second World War, American shipyards turned out a further 334 vessels. Of the three classes, the 175 Fletcher-class were judged the most successful. 
   
  The Cold War years saw the development of seven more classes, while more recent additions include eighty-two of the stealth-shaped Arleigh Burke class. In this comprehensive account, author and military expert Michael Green combines a superb collection of historical images with an authoritative text.

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  How To Play Violin

  HowExpert, Somer Taylor

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  This guide seeks to take the reader on a journey. Starting with the history of the violin, it moves on to offer various lessons and techniques to help those new to the violin learn to play the instrument. It also seeks to teach something new to those already seasoned in violin playing. 
  The violin is an instrument with a very long history. The first known string instrument using a bow was called the ravanastron and was created in India thousands of years ago. More recently, the violin was an instrument born of the fiddle, rebab and the lira da braccio. Once considered a lowly instrument, the violin started to gain status when, among other things, it was used in operas by famous Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi. The violin is certainly one of the more well-known instruments used in “Classical” music. It has a familiar shape, like that of the cello and viola, except it is smaller. Its flat, pear-shaped wooden body is minimally decorated with purfling and perforated with F-holes. Great skill and dedication went into perfecting the instrument. Some of the greatest violin makers included Antonio Stradivarius as well as members of the Guarneri family, especially del Gesu. It was during the time in which these and other luthiers were creating violins in Italy that violin-making reached its zenith. In fact, today, many luthiers still use the patterns created by some of these craftsmen to make their instruments. 
  Skill and dedication is required to not only create violins but also to play the instrument. Starting with beginning lessons using simple songs from the Müller-Rusch violin method book, “How to Play Violin” progresses to the more challenging exercises like the Rode Caprices. The book has not only musical exercises and examples, but also pieces and excerpts by Bach, Schubert, and Beethoven, among others. 
  HowExpert publishes quick 'how to' guides on all topics from A to Z by everyday experts.

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  The Guggenheims - A Family History

  Debi Unger, Irwin Unger

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  A portrait of a great American dynasty and its legacy in business, technology, the arts, and philanthropyMeyer Guggenheim, a Swiss immigrant, founded a great American business dynasty. At their peak in the early twentieth century, the Guggenheims were reckoned among  America's wealthiest, and the richest Jewish family in the world after the Rothschilds. They belonged to Our Crowd, that tight social circle of New York Jewish plutocrats, but unlike the others -- primarily merchants and financiers -- they made their money by extracting and refining copper, silver, lead, tin, and gold.The secret of their success, the patriarch believed, was their unity, and in the early years Meyer's seven sons, under the leadership of Daniel, worked as one to expand their growing mining and smelting empire. Family solidarity eventually decayed (along with their Jewish faith), but even more damaging was the paucity of male heirs as Meyer and the original set of brothers passed from the scene.In the third generation, Harry Guggenheim, Daniel's son, took over leadership and made the family a force in aviation, publishing, and horse-racing. He desperately sought a successor but tragically failed and was forced to watch as the great Guggenheim business enterprise crumbled.Meanwhile, "Guggenheim" came to mean art more than industry. In the mid-twentieth century, led by Meyer's son Solomon and Solomon's niece Peggy, the Guggenheims became the agents of modernism in the visual arts. Peggy, in America during the war years, midwifed the school of abstract expressionism, which brought art leadership to New York City. Solomon's museum has been innovative in spreading the riches of Western art around the world. After the generation of Harry and Peggy, the family has continued to produce many accomplished members, such as publisher Roger Straus II and archaeologist Iris Love.In The Guggenheims, through meticulous research and absorbing prose, Irwin Unger, the winner of a Pulitzer Prize in history, and his wife, Debi Unger, convey a unique and remarkable story -- epic in its scope -- of one family's amazing rise to prominence.

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  Erik Rivera: I'm No Expert

  Erik Rivera

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  Charming, charismatic and brutally honest, Erik Rivera is the hilarious best friend we all wish we had. I'M NO EXPERT brings his talents center stage as he riffs on relationships, fatherhood and his eccentric extended family.

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