| Elvis in Vegas: The Heyday and Reinvention of the Las Vegas Show by Richard ZoglinWhat it's about: how Elvis Presley's 1969 career comeback revitalized the out-of-touch Las Vegas entertainment industry and made a lasting impact on the city's music scene.
Read it for: an upbeat, richly contextualized portrait of the fruitful relationship between performer and city.
For fans of: Rat Pack Confidential and other rousing Sin City showbiz chronicles. |
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Babel : Around the World in Twenty Languages
by Gaston Dorren
"The celebrated author of ""Lingo"" presents a whistle-stop tour of the world's 20 most-spoken languages, exploring the history, geography, linguistics and cultures that have been shaped by languages and their customs."
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Bestseller : a century of America's favorite books
by Robert McParland
A snapshot of America and its love of reading through the decades, this volume informs and entertains while also providing a handy reference of the country’s most popular books. For those wanting to learn more about the history of American culture through its reading habits, Bestseller: A Century of America’s Favorite Books is a must-read.
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Act natural : a cultural history of misadventures of parenting
by Jennifer Traig
From ancient Rome to Puritan New England to the Dr. Spock craze of mid-century America, the author, in this entertaining history of Western parenting, explores parenting techniques ranging from the misguided to the nonsensical, to the truly horrifying.
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Fault lines : a history of the United States since 1974
by Kevin Michael Kruse
Two award-winning historians trace the origins of today's divided America to pivotal events in 1974, from Watergate to the energy crisis, to explore how long-standing disputes over income inequality, racial division and gender roles fueled a polarized political landscape.
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| Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie BrownsteinWhat it is: a vivid, occasionally dishy memoir from the co-founder of the pioneering riot grrrl trio Sleater-Kinney.
What's inside: candid musings on Brownstein's fraught upbringing and chaotic coming-of-age, the sexism she's faced in the music industry, and Sleater-Kinney's squabbles and eventual breakup (though the band famously reunited to much fanfare in 2014).
Is it for you? Portlandia fans looking for scoop on Brownstein's Emmy-nominated work on the series won't find it here. |
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A Visit from the Goon Squad
by Jennifer Egan
Working side-by-side for a record label, former punk rocker Bennie Salazar and the passionate Sasha hide illicit secrets from one another while interacting with a motley assortment of equally troubled people from 1970s San Francisco to the post-war future. By the National Book Award-nominated author of Look at Me.
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| Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall by Tim MohrWhat it's about: the underground East German punk movement whose political activism contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Featuring: 15-year-old "Major," the self-proclaimed first punk in East Germany, known for her safety pin-adorned jackets.
Book buzz: Longlisted for the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, Burning Down the Haus was also named one of the Best Music Books of 2018 by Rolling Stone. |
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| Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone by Marky Ramone with Rich HerschlagWhat it is: a revealing memoir from drummer Marky Ramone (born Marc Bell), the last surviving member of 1970s New York band the Ramones.
Read it for: Ramone's insights on his bandmates, including Joey's battles with obsessive compulsive disorder, Johnny's buttoned-up political conservatism, and DeeDee's addiction woes.
Who it's for: Ramones devotees; punk and New Wave enthusiasts. |
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Punk rock : an oral history
by John Robb
Through more than 150 interviews with key players in the punk-rock scene, the author gives a thorough account of the rise of his important new genre, from its roots in the 1960s to the the influence of such acts as The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Henry Rollins and Black Flag, the Buzzcocks and many more.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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