Search Results for: justin martin

On September 17, 1862, the “United States” was on the brink, facing a permanent split into two separate nations. America’s very future hung on the outcome of a single battle–and the result reverberates to this day. Given the deep divisions that still rive the nation, given what unites the country, too, Antietam is more relevant now than ever.

The epic battle, fought near Sharpsburg, Maryland, was a Civil War turning point. The South had just launched its first invasion of the North; victory for Robert E. Lee would almost certainly have ended the war on Confederate terms. If the Union prevailed, Lincoln stood ready to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. He knew that freeing the slaves would lend renewed energy and lofty purpose to the North’s war effort. Lincoln needed a victory to save the divided country, but victory would come at a price. Detailed here is the cannon din and desperation, the horrors and heroes of this monumental battle, one that killed 3,650 soldiers, still the highest single-day toll in American history.

Justin Martin, an acclaimed writer of narrative nonfiction, renders this landmark event in a revealing new way. More than in previous accounts, Lincoln is laced deeply into the story. Antietam represents Lincoln at his finest, as the grief-racked president–struggling with the recent death of his son, Willie–summoned the guile necessary to manage his reluctant general, George McClellan. The Emancipation Proclamation would be the greatest gambit of the nation’s most inspired leader. And, in fact, the battle’s impact extended far beyond the field; brilliant and lasting innovations in medicine, photography, and communications were given crucial real-world tests. No mere gunfight, Antietam rippled through politics and society, transforming history.

A Fierce Glory is a fresh and vibrant account of an event that had enduring consequences that still resonate today.

In the shadow of the Civil War, a circle of radicals in a rowdy saloon changed American society and helped set Walt Whitman on the path to poetic immortality.

Rebel Souls is the first book ever written about the colorful group of artists- regulars at Pfaff’s Saloon in Manhattan-rightly considered America’s original Bohemians. Besides a young Whitman, the circle included actor Edwin Booth; trailblazing stand-up comic Artemus Ward; psychedelic drug pioneer and author Fitz Hugh Ludlow; and brazen performer Adah Menken, famous for her Naked Lady routine. Central to their times, the artists managed to forge connections with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, and even Abraham Lincoln. This vibrant tale, packed with original research, offers the pleasures of a great group biography like The Banquet Years or The Metaphysical Club. Justin Martin shows how this first bohemian culture-imported from Paris to a dingy Broadway saloon-seeded and nurtured an American tradition of rebel art that thrives to this day.

Alan Greenspan is one of the most powerful and enigmatic men in the world. Although endlessly pursued by the press and ceaselessly present in the public spotlight, very little about his private life has ever been revealed. Greenspan: The Man Behind Money presents the celebrated Fed Chairman as few know him. It spans his hardscrabble childhood in Depression-era New York City, his fascinating decades-long friendship with controversial author Ayn Rand, his Juilliard education and days spent touring with Henry Jerome’s jazz band, as well as his two marriages, dynamic D.C. social life, and service to five U.S. presidents. Artfully crafted, this biography paints an astonishing and enthralling portrait. Based on unprecedented access to Greenspan’s family members and to such peers as Henry Kissinger, Gerald Ford, and Milton Friedman, Greenspan: The Man Behind Money makes news and breaks new ground. It also provides fresh insight into Greenspan’s reign at the Fed — from the stomach-churning crash of 1987 to today’s rollicking markets — and a glimpse at what’s next for the famous Chairman.

Celebrate the holidays with this merry collection of beloved Christmas albums paired with mood-setting cocktails—a companion to the bestselling listening party guide, Booze & Vinyl.

Whether you're planning your finest Ugly Christmas Sweater Party or spending a quiet evening by the stocking-lined fireside at home, make the season bright with this guide to 40 favorite holiday albums from the 1940s to the present. Each entry features liner notes on the album and accompanying boozy beverage recipes that complement the music or connect the drink to the artist. Select holiday food recipes throughout complete the experience.

Among the artist albums featured are: Johnny Mathis, the Beach Boys, Elvis, the Jackson 5, Mariah Carey, Bob Dylan, Justin Bieber, Gwen Stefani, Sia, Dolly Parton, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Vince Guaraldi, Barbara Streisand, Willie Nelson, Boyz II Men, Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Michael Bublé, and John Legend.

A monumental gift for music lovers: a deluxe boxed set of Philip Glass’s most personal body of work, along with Studies in Time, a book of essays from notable fellow artists
 
Philip Glass is one of the most influential artists of our time. In his long and staggeringly creative career as a composer, he’s transformed how we listen to music. He’s written more than 30 operas, 14 symphonies, 13 concertos, and 35 film scores. But his most personal work is a series of 20 piano etudes, originally created to “address the deficiencies in my own playing,” in Glass’s words. The etudes have taken on a life of their own as a modern masterpiece. Majestic and intimate at the same time, these compositions for solo piano have been performed and recorded by dozens of artists and streamed over 100 million times.

Philip Glass Piano Etudes is in every way a one-of-a-kind tribute to this singular work. This deluxe boxed gift set includes the complete etudes (1–20), which have each been newly engraved, printed on oversize heavy stock, and sewn-bound into individual folios ideal for both beginner and experienced pianists; plus a hardcover book, Studies in Time, which explores Philip Glass’s music, the art of composition, and the meaning of practice through essays by Alice Waters, Angélique Kidjo, Ari Shapiro, Ira Glass, Justin Peck, Laurie Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Pico Iyer, and more.

In its heirloom box, Philip Glass Piano Etudes is to be cherished by music lovers, piano students and players, and anyone attuned to contemporary culture, savored for its beauty and insights, and, of course, explored at the keyboard.