"The thrill of quiet adventure. The constant hope of discovery. The reminder that the world is filled with wonder. When I bird, life is bigger, more vibrant." That is why Susan Fox Rogers is a birder. Learning the Birds is the story of how encounters with birds recharged her adventurous spirit. When the birds first called, Rogers was in a slack season of her life. The woods and rivers that enthralled her younger self had lost some of their luster. It was the song of a thrush that reawakened Rogers, sparking a long-held desire to know the birds that accompanied her as she rock climbed and paddled, to know the world around her with greater depth. Energized by her curiosity, she followed the birds as they drew her deeper into her authentic self, and ultimately into love. In Learning the Birds, we join Rogers as she becomes a birder and joins the community of passionate and quirky bird people. We meet her birding companions close to home in New York State's Hudson Valley as well as in the desert of Arizona and awash in the midnight sunlight of Alaska. Along on the journey are birders and estimable ornithologists of past generations—people like Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Florence Merriam Bailey—whose writings inspire Rogers's adventures and discoveries. A ready, knowledgeable, and humble friend and explorer, Rogers is eager to share what she sees and learns. Learning the Birds will remind you of our passionate need for wonder and our connection to the wild creatures with whom we share the land.

Y/A fantasy series, 3 books based on Native American beliefs in magic. Books 1 and 2 are illustrated with black and white chapter drawings. The books are for ages 8 to 18.

In offering this study of Negro music, I do so with the admission that there is no consistent development as found in national schools of music. The Negro, a musical force, through his own distinct racial characteristics has made an artistic contribution which is racial but not yet national. Rather has the influence of musical stylistic traits termed Negro, spread over many nations wherever the colonies of the New World have become homes of Negro people. These expressions in melody and rhythm have been a compelling force in American music Ð tragic and joyful in emotion, pathetic and ludicrous in melody, primitive and barbaric in rhythm. The welding of these expressions has brought about a harmonic effect which is now influencing thoughtful musicians throughout the world. At present there is evidenced a new movement far from academic, which plays an important technical part in the music of this and other lands. The question as to whether there exists a pure Negro art in America is warmly debated. Many Negroes as well as Anglo-Americans admit that the so-called American Negro is no longer an African Negro. Apart from the fusion of blood he has for centuries been moved by the same stimuli which have affected all citizens of the United States. They argue rightly that he is a product of a vital American civilization with all its daring, its progress, its ruthlessness, and unlovely speed. As an integral part of the nation, the Negro is influenced by like social environment and governed by the same political institutions; thus page vi we may expect the ultimate result of his musical endeavors to be an art-music which embodies national characteristics exercised upon by his soul's expression. In the field of composition, the early sporadic efforts by people of African descent, while not without historic importance, have been succeeded by contributions from a rising group of talented composers of color who are beginning to find a listening public. The tendency of this music is toward the development of an American symphonic, operatic and ballet school led for the moment by a few lone Negro musicians of vision and high ideals. The story of those working toward this end is herein treated. Facts for this volume have been obtained from educated African scholars with whom the author sought acquaintanceship and from printed sources found in the Boston Public Library, the New York Public Library and the Music Division of the Library of Congress. The author has also had access to rare collections and private libraries which include her own. Folk material has been gathered in personal travel.

Explores the history and development of Pittsburghese as a cultural product of talk, writing, and other forms of social practice.

The Pitcher's Kid is Jack Olsen's memoir of the first 18 years of his life, years that formed his voice, his ear, and his passionate concern for the underdog. It is a story of a young boy's desperate yearning for a father during a time of extreme poverty and confusion. The book has been compared to Frank McCourt for its poignant depiction of deprivation, to Geoffrey Wolff for its sad depiction of a deceptive father, and to David Sedaris for its hilarious depiction of childhood. This is an unforgettable tale of coming of age during the hard years of America's Depression and of a family's struggle to not just survive, but to triumph.

A #1 NEW RELEASE ON AMAZON! El McMeen hails from rural Pennsylvania. His full name is “Elmer Ellsworth McMeen, III.” That’s a good name for a kid, El says, if you want him to learn how to fight in elementary school. El didn’t start so well. He wasn’t on the gravy train, more like in front of it, waiting to get run over. He nearly died at birth. He has cerebral palsy. He had a broken home. He was, in his own words, a “miscreant.” But his story is one of redemption. El became a “Wall Street lawyer,” an internationally acclaimed acoustic guitarist, and a Christian minister. He and his wife Sheila have four married children and three grandchildren. “The Lord became my GPS,” El says, “but in my case He still has to do a lot of ‘recalculating.’” Join El on his journey. He is a gifted storyteller. The road winds through physical disability, youthful misdeeds, family tragedy, Harvard University, Penn Law School, music, and the intricacies of law practice, with a lot of laughs along the way. From small-town life to New York City, and back. "Growing Up in God’s Country" is unabashedly evangelistic. It shows the amazing ways in which God moves in everyday lives. God has a sense of humor, too. If He didn’t, El says, where did ours come from?

Americans from Africa seeks to convey varying perspectives on the "Black Experience" in the United States and its controversial history. This volume, Slavery and Its Aftermath, deals with four major issues: the extent of African influences on the lives of those enslaved and brought to America, beginning with an essay on "Africanisms in Everyday Life" by Melville J. Herskovits; the impact of slavery on personality and social structure, sometimes called "The Elkins Debate;" similarities and differences in life for African Americans in the South and in the North; and matters of community, class, and family, including the full text of the "Moynihan Report" and several pointed critiques.In addition to the commentaries by and on the works of Herskovits, Elkins, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, other contributors to Volume I include Kenneth B. Clark, Mina Caulfield Davis, E. Franklin Edwards, Eugene Genovese, Ulf Hannerz, Charles S. Johnson, Leroi Jones, and Charles Keil.The second volume, Old Memories, New Moods, contains essays on the roots of black protest; the background and character of the Civil Rights Movement; interpretations of the impact and significance of Black Power, and varied views on changing self-images of being African American.