The son of an enslaved blacksmith learns that his father is using the rhythm of his hammering to communicate with travelers on the Underground Railroad. When Pa falls ill, it's up to his son to help others along the journey―and also lead his family to freedom. Pa works hard as a blacksmith. But he's got another important job to do as well: using his anvil to pound out the traveling rhythm―a message to travelers on the Underground Railroad. His son wants to help, but Pa keeps putting him off. Then one day, Pa falls ill, and the boy has to take over. A little-known piece of history comes to life in Elizabeth Van Steenwyk's absorbing story, exquisitely illustrated by Anna Rich. Ripe with themes of bravery, community, family, freedom, and hope, this award-winning book is perfect for Black and Civil War-era history units

" ... Finely crafted scholarship. Elegant and graceful, yet packed with knowledge and information, it embodies the aesthetic qualities which it describes and explores." American Ethnologist "The text is detailed and informative, and enjoyable reading ..." Choice "The Mande Blacksmith is an important book ... sensitive, sympathetic, multifaceted, and thorough ..." African Arts "McNaughton's Mande Blacksmiths is undeniably the most profound study of African artists yet published." Ethnoarts " ... penetrating ... McNaughton boldly grapples with the thorniest issues related to his subject and articulates them with clarity and precision." International Journal of African Historical Studies " ... a work in the best tradition of ethnographic research ... critical reappraisal, innovative inquiry, and fresh observation ... make this book an invaluable fund of new material on Mande societies ..." American Anthropologist "McNaughton ... provides an important interpretation of these artists' conceptual place as members of a complex culture." Religious Studies Review Examining the artistic, technological, social, and spiritual dimensions of Mande blacksmiths, who are the sculptors of their society, McNaughton defines these artists conceptual place as extraordinary members of a complex culture.

Winner of the Classics and Ancient History award in the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Awards given by the Association of American Publishers In this bold work, Thomas Habinek offers an entirely new theoretical perspective on Roman cultural history. Although English words such as "literature" and "religion" have their origins in Latin, the Romans had no such specific concepts. Rather, much of the sense of these words was captured in the Latin word carmen, usually translated into English as "song." Habinek argues that for the Romans, "song" encompassed a wide range of ritualized speech, including elements of poetry, storytelling, and even the casting of spells. Habinek begins with the fraternal societies, or sodalitates, which predated the Republic and endured into the Imperial era, and whose rites, although adapted over time to different deities and cults, were from the beginning centered on song (perhaps most notably in the ancient Carmen Saliare). He goes on to show how this early use of song became a paradigm for cultural reproduction throughout Roman history. Ritual mastery of the chaos of everyday life, embodied and enacted in song, produced and transmitted the beliefs on which Roman culture was founded and by which Roman communities were sustained. By the emergence of the Empire, "song," in all of its senses, served in particular to reproduce the power of the state, organizing relations of power at every level of society. The World of Roman Song presents a systematic and comprehensive approach to Roman cultural history. Informed and imaginative, this book challenges classicists, social theorists, and literary scholars to engage in a provocative discussion of the power of song.

If you love magic and adventure, here is the book for you. In this treasure trove of tales, storyteller Michael O’Leary has collected stories from the Hampshire Downs (which are up), the New Forest (which is old), the copses and coppices, fields and farms, villages, towns and cities of Hampshire. In these stories you will meet dragons, giants, knights, princesses and some vile Vikings – and of course the Liphook fairies. From ‘Once upon a time ...’ to ‘Happy ever after’ you will be transported to Hampshire, where even the stones have stories to tell.