A moving work of autobiographical fiction, That Lucky Old Son takes readers on a journey of adventure, danger, and self-discovery as the author weaves his own memories with his father’s experiences in Bomber Command with No. 158 Squadron RAF during the Second World War. Writing from a child’s point of view, Mark Cote combines known facts with what he imagines his father doing from basic training through to being shot down and captured by the Germans. He poignantly communicates the terror, uncertainty, and fleeting hope felt by the crew, transporting readers back in time to 1940s Europe. Having lost his father when he was only eight years old, Cote embarks on a quest to discover the man who left him too soon, but who left behind a legacy of courage, love, and faith. That Lucky Old Son is a book that will educate, inform, move, and inspire readers of all ages.

Provides insight into the lives of Italian musical personalities and features over 100 photos. This compendium explores the musical world of Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine, Perry Como, Jerry Vale, Al Martino, Dean Martin, Julius La Rosa, Tony Bennett, Vic Damone, Don Cornell, Bobby Darin, Louis Prima, Lou Monte, Russ Columbo, and many others.

An essential work for rock fans and scholars, Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock ‘n’ Roll surveys the origins of rock ’n’ roll from the minstrel era to the emergence of Bill Haley and Elvis Presley. Unlike other histories of rock, Before Elvis offers a far broader and deeper analysis of the influences on rock music. Dispelling common misconceptions, it examines rock’s origins in hokum songs and big-band boogies as well as Delta blues, detailing the embrace by white artists of African-American styles long before rock ’n’ roll appeared. This unique study ranges far and wide, highlighting not only the contributions of obscure but key precursors like Hardrock Gunter and Sam Theard but also the influence of celebrity performers like Gene Autry and Ella Fitzgerald. Too often, rock historians treat the genesis of rock ’n’ roll as a bolt from the blue, an overnight revolution provoked by the bland pop music that immediately preceded it and created through the white appropriation of music till then played only by and for black audiences. In Before Elvis, Birnbaum daringly argues a more complicated history of rock’s evolution from a heady mix of ragtime, boogie-woogie, swing, country music, mainstream pop, and rhythm-and-blues—a melange that influenced one another along the way, from the absorption of blues and boogies into jazz and pop to the integration of country and Caribbean music into rhythm-and-blues. Written in an easy style, Before Elvis presents a bold argument about rock’s origins and required reading for fans and scholars of rock ’n’ roll history.

A definitive study of the most important decade in post-World War II popular music history