Here is an animated and wonderfully engaging work of cultural history that lays out America’s unruly past by describing the ways in which cutting loose has always been, and still is, an essential part of what it means to be an American.From the time the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Americans have defied their stodgy rules and hierarchies with pranks, dances, stunts, and wild parties, shaping the national character in profound and lasting ways. In the nation’s ...

A quietly influential force in African American literature and art, Clarence Major makes his Penguin Classics debut with the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of Dirty Bird BluesThe PRH Audio book of Dirty Bird Blues by Clarence Major won a 2022 EARPHONE AWARD. Narrated by Dion Graham.A Penguin ClassicSet in post-World War II Chicago and Omaha, the novel features Manfred Banks, a young, harmonica-blowing blu...

A quietly influential force in African American literature and art, Clarence Major makes his Penguin Classics debut with the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of Dirty Bird BluesThe PRH Audio book of Dirty Bird Blues by Clarence Major won a 2022 EARPHONE AWARD. Narrated by Dion Graham.A Penguin ClassicSet in post-World War II Chicago and Omaha, the novel features Manfred Banks, a young, harmonica-blowing blu...

**The New York Times bestsellerA New York Times Notable and Critics’ Top Book of 2016Longlisted for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for NonfictionOne of NPR's 10 Best Books Of 2016 Faced Tough Topics Head OnNPR's Book Concierge Guide To 2016’s Great ReadsSan Francisco Chronicle's Best of 2016: 100 recommended booksA Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2016Globe & Mail 100 Best of 2016“Formidable...

The star of Parks and Recreation and author of the New York Times bestseller Paddle Your Own Canoe returns with a second book that humorously highlights twenty-one figures from our nation’s history, from her inception to present day—Nick’s personal pantheon of “great Americans.”To millions of people, Nick Offerman is America. Both Nick and his character, Ron Swanson, are known for their humor and patriotism in equal measure.After ...

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An extraordinary look at privilege, discrimination, and the fallacy of post-racial America by the renowned Pulitzer Prize–winning cultural criticJefferson takes us into an insular and discerning society: “I call it Negroland,” she writes, “because I still find ‘Negro’ a word of wonders, glorious and terrible.”Margo Jefferson was born in 1947 into upper-crust black Chicago. Her father was head of pe...

Rajen Persaud brings a refreshingly honest voice to the highly controversial topic of interracial dating as he explores the stereotypes and perceptions associated with it.Why do so many high-profile black men date and marry the most ordinary white women? Why do so many other black men desire and covet the company of white women? And why does this subject deeply touch so many people of both races? Are these provocative questions matters of love, sex, revenge, power,...

The New York Times bestseller, these groundbreaking essays and poems about race—collected by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward and written by the most important voices of her generation—are “thoughtful, searing, and at times, hopeful. The Fire This Time is vivid proof that words are important, because of their power to both cleanse and to clarify” (USA TODAY).In this bestselling, widely lauded collection, Jesmyn Ward gathers our most...

In this "beautifully written, sharply observed, and heartfelt" guide to his hometown ( New York Times), legendary New York City journalist Pete Hamill leads us on an unforgettable journey through the city he loves.Walking the Manhattan streets he loves, from Times Square to the island's southern tip, Pete Hamill combines a moving memoir of his own days and nights in new York with a lively and revealing history of the city's most enduring places and people.

This chronicle of vaudeville is "an essential (and very funny) history of American popular entertainment" (Greg Kotis, creator of Urinetown ).When Groucho Marx and Charlie Chaplin were born, variety entertainment had been going on for decades in America, and like Harry Houdini, Milton Berle, Mae West, and countless others, these performers got their start on the vaudeville stage. From 1881 to 1932, vaudeville was at the h...

From the critically acclaimed author of Crazy '08 comes the thrilling true story of the most colorful and notorious law firm in American history. Scoundrels in Law offers an inside look at crime and punishment in the nineteenth century, and a whirlwind tour of the Gilded Age.Gangsters and con men. Spurned mistresses and wandering husbands. Strippers and Broadway royalty. Cat killers and spiritualists. These were the friends and clients of Howe & Hummel, the most f...

Dive deep into the history of Blues Music History anywhere you go: on a plane, on a mountain, in a canoe, under a tree. Or grab a flashlight and read Shmoop under the covers. Shmoop's award-winning US History Guides are now available on your eReader. Shmoop eBooks are like having a trusted, fun, chatty, expert history-tour-guide always by your side, no matter where you are (or how late it is at night).Shmoop US History Guides offer fresh analysis, timelines of important events, brief bios of...