Includes sections on Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie, Earl Hines, Chick Webb, McKinneys̕ Cotton Pickers, Claude Hopkins, Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, Andy Kirk, Don Redman, Benny Carter, Mills Blue Rhythm Band, Lionel Hampton, Cootie Williams/Erskine Hawkins, Horace Henderson, Edgar Hayes, Harlem Bands, Tiny Bradshaw, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Bunny Berigan, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Red Norvo, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Charlie Christian,...

This study explores literary treatments of the end of the world in an array of works which appeared over the course of a 500-year span throughout the Americas. Beebee provides nuanced readings of the apocalyptic vision in an eclectic group of resources, ranging from letters of Christopher Columbus to the lyrics of Bob Marley.

An engrossing and provocative look at the decline of tragedy in modern art "All men are aware of tragedy in life. But tragedy as a form of drama is not universal." So begins George Steiner's adept analysis of the demise of classic tragedy as a dramatic depiction of heroism and suffering. In The Death of Tragedy, Steiner examines the uniqueness and importance of the Greek classical tragedy-from antiquity to the age of Jean Racine and William Shakespeare-as...

From colonial times, American composers have lived on the fringes of society & defined themselves in large part as outsiders. Michael Broyles considers the tradition of maverick composers & explores what these mavericks reveal about American attitudes toward the arts & about American society itself.