Related
PREMIUM
Why Wakanda Matters: What Black Panther Reveals About Psychology, Identity, and Communication
While academic in nature, these essays are accessible to general readers. Howard’s work is a solid addition to media studies sections in both public and academic libraries.
Those interested in music criticism will enjoy this in-depth study of unique women voices in pop music.
Much like the movie it dissects, this book is quirky and intelligent, with surprising revelations. A treat for cinephiles and fans of the Coen brothers.
Spending time inside the brain of this talented scholar and artist is worth the price of admission; a truly joyful experience.
This funny, charming, and inspiring look into the world behind the footlights will delight fans of musical theater and those hoping to see their own names in lights someday.
Curren’s work is both historically important and vital reading for the present moment. Our need for a spiritual and cultural revival is, it would seem, as essential and natural as our need to sing. Highly recommended.
This fun compendium will delight trip planners who like their vacations movie-oriented, as well as everyone who loves classic films.
This provocative and stimulating, yet readable narrative unearths the social and musical importance of an iconic band, both for general readers and fans.
Dancing “full out” means going all out during practice rather than saving energy for the performance. In this memoir Larsen is writing full out, and we are the lucky audience of her performance. Balletomanes, dance students, and aspiring dancers will applaud this absorbing account.
An engaging, thorough, slightly academic work about an overlooked period of American drama, perhaps best reserved for theater historians and course-specific studies.
PREMIUM
Brat: An ’80s Story
Students of acting will appreciate learning about McCarthy’s versions of method acting and his struggles with performing for a camera. Fans of ’80s cinema will love the chance to reminisce.
This third installment’s heartfelt exploration of the hobbies, obsessions, and families of the members of Rush more than compensates for missing some of the sparkle evident in the first two volumes. Popoff is to be congratulated for this herculean effort.
Lyrical and exquisitely detailed. For listeners and players of violin music and readers interested in the history of things.
A deeply reflective narrative that will appeal to both Margulies’s fans and anyone who enjoys a warm and well-crafted memoir.
Intended to “inspire the next generation of researchers,” this volume provides plenty of stand-alone independent resources, in concise language that will be useful to students of music or psychology.
Exemplary in its research and detail, Golden’s book may well become the definitive word--if not the last word--on the Mansfield story.
This important reference guide chronicles both television history and the story of racial attitudes in America; it will also empower readers to seek out inclusive programming and look with fresh eyes at favorite shows.
This is an excellent audiobook sure to thrill fans of Dolly Parton and country music, and readers who love unusual audiobook experiences.
This story of a woman artist realizing her dreams will resonate with readers reinterested in the evolution of American musical theater.
PREMIUM
Broken Horses
A good read for fans of Carlile who want a peek into her life and her growth as a musician.
This intriguing study of Baker’s cinematic work is likely to appeal to scholars of film and Black history but will be of little interest to general readers.
PREMIUM
Goodbye, Guns N’ Roses: The Crime, Beauty, and Amplified Chaos of America’s Most Polarizing Band
Much has been written about Guns N’ Roses. Tavana sets his book apart by using pop culture analogies throughout, but he provides little in original insight or access. The work is entertaining, but die-hard fans will not learn anything new.
An appealing survey that highlights many unsung heroines along with the superstars. For hip-hop fans and music historians alike.
Thompson’s spell is never broken, and, as on disc, his is a welcome voice to meet on the page. Readers will be eager for the next volume of the story. Like a great Richard Thompson solo, this title contains surprise, beauty, delight, and a voice like no other. His autobiography is as welcome as it is long overdue.
Though the preoccupation with Cohn seems unnecessary, Stanfield has masterfully identified the mod, pop art, and art rock stages of the Who’s career for rock fans and general readers alike.
Fans will enjoy this buoyant coming-of-age narrative by one of music’s most idiosyncratic performers.
Theater buffs and students of Black history will be pleased by this cogent defense of Shuffle Along.
Much like her music, Goldman’s book is witty, intelligent, and folksy. A must-read for aspiring performers.
Whether readers are intimately familiar with the golden age of Hollywood, or are newcomers to the topic, they’ll come away having learned something about one of its stars.
A skilled film critic, Koresky guides readers through salient plot points instead of rehashing entire films, but his real talent is using cinema as a starting point for conversation. This intimate, probing work will appeal to hard-core cinephiles, lovers of memoirs, and many other readers.
Readers familiar with Indian music will find much to appreciate, and those unfamiliar with it need only go to YouTube for examples of Chaudhuri’s work as a performer and composer.
Dodgion’s pull-no-punches style and determination in the face of daunting situations bring an obscure figure to vivid life. The title should appeal to jazz aficionados, who will recognize many of the musicians with whom she played, as well as those interested in ways in which women have flourished in the creative arts.
Kenner provides a behind-the-scenes look at the rap business and a musical genius. Rousing and powerful, this work will be devoured by Hussle’s fans and appreciated by students of Black culture and the music industry.
An enlightening and insightful chronicle. For Latin music fans as well as for those eager to learn more about this style of music.
PREMIUM
Just as I Am
Recommend to readers who enjoy engaging and sassy memoirs, and those interested in learning about 20th-century Black theater, film, and television.
Told with humor and grace, Abdurraqib’s stories will inspire and provoke thoughtful meditations on how Black lives matter in all areas of life and art.
Folk music aficionados will feel nostalgic at Harper’s reminiscences, and those with an interest in the sociology of the times will appreciate her clear-eyed observations.
An ambitious work of great complexity and depth. For scholars and interested readers, particularly in Black studies, but also music, anthropology, and archival studies.
Though the narrative is at times dry, readers interested in a serious study of Hughes and 1980s cinema will enjoy this engaging book, which serves as a solid companion piece to Susannah Gora’s You Couldn’t Ignore Me if You Tried.
A relatable and touching memoir that will resonate both with Bloom’s fans and those unfamiliar with her work.
This meticulously researched, affectionate biography analyzes Parker’s impact as a musician, a composer, and a political revolutionary. An important work that will appeal to jazz historians, scholars of Black history, and music lovers.
PREMIUM
Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story
Music lovers, both fans of Kweli and those less familiar with him, will be gratified by this evocative story of how he has drawn from experiences to craft his art.
With humorous and concise prose, Spitzer makes a convincing case for the irreducible musical properties of human beings.
Pair this trivia book with Edward Gross and Mark Altman’s Nobody Does It Better: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of James Bond for a comprehensive history of all things Bond.
This light and breezy work will be thoroughly enjoyed by über-fans of Dawson’s Creek and might inspire neophytes to binge the whole series. Purchase where popular culture titles circulate well.
An appealing and accessible musical history that showcases the importance of homegrown regional musical culture. For bluegrass fans and historians of the genre.
Though conducting many interviews, Jones offers few new insights; relies on generalizations, unfounded suppositions, and speculation; and writes in a cliché-ridden, offhand style. Readers would be better served by Ray Connolly’s Being John Lennon: A Restless Life.
An enthusiastic and enlightening view of an entertaining artist and humanitarian and his environment.
Though some chapters (musician Bob Marley, poet Robert Bly) are more convincing than others (actor Jerry Lee Lewis), this intriguing work stands well alongside the author’s other memoirs, such as Riders on the Storm and The Doors Unhinged. General readers and rock aficionados will find it fascinating.
Arnold’s knowledge is vast, and the joyful tone of his sprightly writing is infectious. With a foreword by current TCM host Ben Mankiewicz, an index and an extensive bibliography, and a list of all the films screened on The Essentials, this book will please film buffs of all ages and levels of cinema knowledge.
Infused with intelligence, honesty, and the perfect dose of optimism, Fox’s story will resonate with his fans, including those living with Parkinson’s.
Written for students at the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as for general learners, this is a necessary tool for those looking for guidance in finding music research.
The copious detail will appeal to musicologists, while the flowing, conversational style will draw in general readers who’d like to learn more about the composer. Heartily recommended to everyone with an interest in the subject.
In this time of dark stages and unemployed thespians, Sherman’s reflections will enchant all theater buffs.
With no real comparison book, this well-documented history, though uneven at times, should spark interest and future research.
Thomson’s own genius is his ability to remain one of the leading authorities on cinematic history, without shying away from the controversial. Cinephiles seeking provocative arguments will appreciate his work.
Ochs’s work remains relevant today, and this book will appeal to his loyal fans and to readers interested in folk music’s role in promoting justice.
A compelling storyteller, Harris sweeps readers up into the whirlwind of Nichols's life. Likely to become the definitive book about Nichols, Harris's exhaustive take should have widespread appeal, especially given the dearth of currently available literature about this important and influential entertainment icon.
In an earlier version of this review, LJ listed the author as Hermione Lee. We regret the error.
Protracted dissections of events such as the Grammys may prove tedious, but pop fans with an appetite for nostalgia will find much to like.
PREMIUM
They Just Seem a Little Weird: How KISS, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, and Starz Remade Rock and Roll
Devotees of Kiss, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, and/or Starz, and they are legion, are going to lick this up. Rock this way.
PREMIUM
Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces
Music students and aficionados alike will appreciate this engaging and accessible portrait of the composer.
This evocative work conveys the challenges and successes Hendricks experienced and make for an affecting, well-rounded portrait of an underappreciated jazz artist who is ripe for rediscovery.
PREMIUM
Jagged Little Pill
Ardent Morissette fans and Broadway buffs will enjoy this peek behind the curtain.
An illuminating compilation and study of an American artistic treasure. This study is both a finely wrought biographical snapshot and an opportunity to sit in on conversations with one of the sharpest and most provocative minds of our time.
Kinderman’s exhaustive scholarship and fluid style combine with up-to-date references to issues such as systemic repression and other provocative topics, which should resonate with both academics and informed general readers.
A multilensed view of a continually evolving and consistently vibrant art form. For gospel fans, music scholars, and scholars of African American history and culture generally.
Carlin’s spring-loaded narrative keeps the reader involved, and characterizing the empathetic side of some of the outsize personalities humanizes the Warner mythos. Record label books abound, but there has been little available about Warner itself or its sister companies since Warren Zanes’s Revolutions in Sound; Carlin’s title admirably fills that gap.
Recommended for film buffs and those interested in a reflective, nonacademic examination of race and film.
For the serious music lover and anyone seeking answers to some essential questions about art and music.
Though not writing for aficionados who undoubtedly have pored over the hundreds of detailed books and firsthand accounts about the Beatles, Reilly offers a breezy, heavily illustrated romp through Beatles history for listeners who might not know much about the iconic group.
PREMIUM
The Meaning of Mariah Carey
A must-read for Carey’s fans, though music lovers of all genres will also delight in this personal story.
PREMIUM
Grand
A perfect read for those who enjoyed Michelle Buteau’s Survival of the Thickest and Amy Poehler’s Yes, Please.
Readers of this breezy, fun, and informative work are the beneficiaries of the rarefied theatrical air of Broadway inhabited by Riedel. An obligatory purchase for all theater collections.
PREMIUM
Woody Guthrie: An Intimate Life
Though sometimes unable to explain the chasm between Guthrie’s words and actions, the author offers a well-researched addition to the Guthrie bibliography for general readers that complements Joe Klein’s standard biography, Woody Guthrie: A Life.
This enjoyable and encyclopedic treatment of a thriving and still-growing culture will appeal to listeners and scholars of Seattle hip-hop and the genre in general.
Accessible and illuminating, this is required reading for anyone interested in opera and its complete history.
Punch lines and favorite riffs, interspersed with a more academic discussion of political satire, all in about 175 pages before endnotes, make this an interesting but not overbearing choice for humor collections.
Followers of the convoluted drama series will have an easier time following the conversation. While it’s easy to embrace Twin Peaks for its quirkiness, Stallings successfully centers the conversation on its darkest secrets. The work includes trigger warnings for sexual assault, sexual abuse, and domestic violence, as it embraces difficult topics that are sadly as relevant today as when the show first aired.
Students of popular music and Turner devotees who want to know what Tina is doing now will enjoy this well-researched volume.
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