I stood at the window . . . looking out.But, I couldnt make out what lay just on the other side. So it is, too . . . with The Plan we are about to embark on. What DOES lay . . . just beyond? Nobody knows . . . least of all, me. But, here we go.Here we go, like a pack of fools standing at the top of that precipice in the distance . . . and only feeling . . . the rush.

An inquiry into improvisation as practiced by Richard Bull and his contemporaries.

In 1940s Chicago, fifteen-year-old Ruby hopes to escape poverty by becoming a taxi dancer in a nightclub, but the work has unforeseen dangers and hiding the truth from her family and friends becomes increasingly difficult.

First published in 2003. This is Volume II of eight in the Early Sociology of Culture collection and offers a sociological study on the commercialized recreation. Paul G. Cressey while serving as a case-worker and special investigator for the Juvenile Protective Association was requested during the summer of 1925 to report upon the new and then quite unfamiliar closed dance halls. This book is in a sense the outgrowth of those assignments.

Booklist Top of the List Reference Source The heir and successor to Eric Partridge's brilliant magnum opus, The Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, this two-volume New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is the definitive record of post WWII slang. Containing over 60,000 entries, this new edition of the authoritative work on slang details the slang and unconventional English of the English-speaking world since 1945, and through the first decade of the new millennium, with the same thorough, intense, and lively scholarship that characterized Partridge's own work. Unique, exciting and, at times, hilariously shocking, key features include: unprecedented coverage of World English, with equal prominence given to American and British English slang, and entries included from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, South Africa, Ireland, and the Caribbean emphasis on post-World War II slang and unconventional English published sources given for each entry, often including an early or significant example of the term’s use in print. hundreds of thousands of citations from popular literature, newspapers, magazines, movies, and songs illustrating usage of the headwords dating information for each headword in the tradition of Partridge, commentary on the term’s origins and meaning New to this edition: A new preface noting slang trends of the last five years Over 1,000 new entries from the US, UK and Australia New terms from the language of social networking Many entries now revised to include new dating, new citations from written sources and new glosses The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is a spectacular resource infused with humour and learning – it’s rude, it’s delightful, and it’s a prize for anyone with a love of language.

With wit, humor and imagination, the author entertains us with stories of growing up a second-generation Italian-American in Brooklyn during the Depression amidst a large clan of relatives. Among the family members we meet are his grandfather, a “piece of work,” his strong-willed mother, a real “Italian Mama,” and his musically gifted brother, a boyhood friend of Tony Bennett. In telling his life story, the author reflects upon his rich and varied life experiences. He relives his indoctrination into the Catholic Church (complete with stories of his erotic altar boy outings to Coney Island), boyhood vacations to an Italian resort in upstate New York, adventures in Europe as a young man, meeting the girl of his dreams, marrying and raising a family. Let it Be a Dance is, ultimately, the story of one man’s evolution from a physical-training instructor in the army in WW II, to a ballroom dance teacher and performer in a Catskill Mountain resort, to a professor of psychology (where he was dubbed “Crazy Frank”) and psychotherapist, and finally to a retiree with a life filled with creative opportunities. He writes, “Being not famous, rich, or powerful, if I do not tell my story, who will?”

The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English offers the ultimate record of modern American Slang. The 25,000 entries are accompanied by citations that authenticate the words as well as offer lively examples of usage from popular literature, newspapers, magazines, movies, television shows, musical lyrics, and Internet user groups. Etymology, cultural context, country of origin and the date the word was first used are also provided. This informative, entertaining and sometimes shocking dictionary is an unbeatable resource for all language aficionados out there.