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Marty Glickman: The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend
by Jeffrey S. Gurock2024 TAFWA Book Award WinnerThe first comprehensive biography of the preeminent voice of New York sportsFor close to half a century after World War II, Marty Glickman was the voice of New York sports. His distinctive style of broadcasting, on television and especially on the radio, garnered for him legions of fans who would not miss his play-by-play accounts. From the 1940s through the 1990s, he was as iconic a sports figure in town as the Yankees’ Mickey Mantle, the Knicks’ Walt Frazier, or the Jets’ Joe Namath. His vocabulary and method of broadcasting left an indelible mark on the industry, and many of today’s most famous sportscasters were Glickman disciples. To this very day, many fans who grew up listening to his coverage of Knicks basketball and Giants football games, among the myriad of events that Glickman covered, recall fondly, and can still recite, his descriptions of actions in arenas and stadiums. In Marty Glickman, Jeffrey S. Gurock showcases the life of this important contributor to American popular culture. In addition to the stories of how he became a master of American sports airwaves, Marty Glickman has also been remembered as a Jewish athlete who, a decade before he sat in front of a microphone, was cynically barred from running in a signature track event in the 1936 Olympics by anti-Semitic American Olympic officials. This lively biography details this traumatic event and explores not only how he coped for decades with that painful rejection but also examines how he dealt with other anti-Semitic and cultural obstacles that threatened to stymie his career. Glickman’s story underscores the complexities that faced his generation of American Jews as these children of immigrants emerged from their ethnic cocoons and strove to succeed in America amid challenges to their professional and social advancement. Marty Glickman is a story of adversity and triumph, of sports and minority group struggles, told within the context of the prejudicial barriers that were common to thousands, if not millions, of fellow Jews of his generation as they aimed to make it in America.
Programming Elastic MapReduce: Using AWS Services to Build an End-to-End Application
by Kevin Schmidt Christopher PhillipsAlthough you don’t need a large computing infrastructure to process massive amounts of data with Apache Hadoop, it can still be difficult to get started. This practical guide shows you how to quickly launch data analysis projects in the cloud by using Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR), the hosted Hadoop framework in Amazon Web Services (AWS).Authors Kevin Schmidt and Christopher Phillips demonstrate best practices for using EMR and various AWS and Apache technologies by walking you through the construction of a sample MapReduce log analysis application. Using code samples and example configurations, you’ll learn how to assemble the building blocks necessary to solve your biggest data analysis problems.Get an overview of the AWS and Apache software tools used in large-scale data analysisGo through the process of executing a Job Flow with a simple log analyzerDiscover useful MapReduce patterns for filtering and analyzing data setsUse Apache Hive and Pig instead of Java to build a MapReduce Job FlowLearn the basics for using Amazon EMR to run machine learning algorithmsDevelop a project cost model for using Amazon EMR and other AWS tools
Positioning in CSS: Layout Enhancements for the Web
by Eric A. MeyerThe Grid Layout spec will soon change your approach to website design, but there will still be plenty of uses for CSS positioning tricks. Whether you want to create sidebars that remain in the viewport (browser window), add sticky section headings to lists or long articles, or overlap one element with another, this concise ebook will expertly guide you through all the main CSS positioning types.Short and deep, this book is an excerpt from the upcoming fourth edition of CSS: The Definitive Guide. When you purchase either the print or the ebook edition of Positioning in CSS, you’ll receive a discount on the entire Definitive Guide once it’s released. Why wait? Make your web pages come alive today.You'll learn how to:Remove an element from a document but keep its new position part of the document’s flow with absolute positioningKeep an element like a masthead or sidebar in one fixed position in the viewport with fixed positioningPreserve an element’s shape and the space it occupied in the document with relative positioningMake a document’s headers selectively stay still in response to scrolling conditions with sticky positioningEric A. Meyer is an author, speaker, blogger, sometime teacher, and co-founder of An Event Apart. He’s a two-decade veteran of the Web and web standards, a past member of the W3C’s Cascading Style Sheets Working Group, and the author of O’Reilly’s CSS: The Definitive Guide.
Learning PHP Design Patterns
by William SandersBuild server-side applications more efficiently—and improve your PHP programming skills in the process—by learning how to use design patterns in your code. This book shows you how to apply several object-oriented patterns through simple examples, and demonstrates many of them in full-fledged working applications.Learn how these reusable patterns help you solve complex problems, organize object-oriented code, and revise a big project by only changing small parts. With Learning PHP Design Patterns, you’ll learn how to adopt a more sophisticated programming style and dramatically reduce development time.Learn design pattern concepts, including how to select patterns to handle specific problemsGet an overview of object-oriented programming concepts such as composition, encapsulation, polymorphism, and inheritanceApply creational design patterns to create pages dynamically, using a factory method instead of direct instantiationMake changes to existing objects or structure without having to change the original code, using structural design patternsUse behavioral patterns to help objects work together to perform tasksInteract with MySQL, using behavioral patterns such as Proxy and Chain of ResponsibilityExplore ways to use PHP’s built-in design pattern interfaces
Killer Game Programming in Java: Java Gaming & Graphics Programming
by Andrew DavisonAlthough the number of commercial Java games is still small compared to those written in C or C++, the market is expanding rapidly. Recent updates to Java make it faster and easier to create powerful gaming applications-particularly Java 3D-is fueling an explosive growth in Java games. Java games like Puzzle Pirates, Chrome, Star Wars Galaxies, Runescape, Alien Flux, Kingdom of Wars, Law and Order II, Roboforge, Tom Clancy's Politika, and scores of others have earned awards and become bestsellers.Java developers new to graphics and game programming, as well as game developers new to Java 3D, will find Killer Game Programming in Java invaluable. This new book is a practical introduction to the latest Java graphics and game programming technologies and techniques. It is the first book to thoroughly cover Java's 3D capabilities for all types of graphics and game development projects.Killer Game Programming in Java is a comprehensive guide to everything you need to know to program cool, testosterone-drenched Java games. It will give you reusable techniques to create everything from fast, full-screen action games to multiplayer 3D games. In addition to the most thorough coverage of Java 3D available, Killer Game Programming in Java also clearly details the older, better-known 2D APIs, 3D sprites, animated 3D sprites, first-person shooter programming, sound, fractals, and networked games. Killer Game Programming in Java is a must-have for anyone who wants to create adrenaline-fueled games in Java.
Making Software: What Really Works, and Why We Believe It (O'reilly Ser.)
by Andy Oram Greg WilsonMany claims are made about how certain tools, technologies, and practices improve software development. But which claims are verifiable, and which are merely wishful thinking? In this book, leading thinkers such as Steve McConnell, Barry Boehm, and Barbara Kitchenham offer essays that uncover the truth and unmask myths commonly held among the software development community. Their insights may surprise you.Are some programmers really ten times more productive than others?Does writing tests first help you develop better code faster?Can code metrics predict the number of bugs in a piece of software?Do design patterns actually make better software?What effect does personality have on pair programming?What matters more: how far apart people are geographically, or how far apart they are in the org chart?Contributors include:Jorge ArandaTom BallVictor R. BasiliAndrew BegelChristian BirdBarry BoehmMarcelo CataldoSteven ClarkeJason CohenRobert DeLineMadeline DiepHakan ErdogmusMichael GodfreyMark GuzdialJo E. HannayAhmed E. HassanIsrael HerraizKim Sebastian HerzigCory KapserBarbara KitchenhamAndrew KoLucas LaymanSteve McConnellTim MenziesGail MurphyNachi NagappanThomas J. OstrandDewayne PerryMarian PetreLutz PrecheltRahul PremrajForrest ShullBeth SimonDiomidis SpinellisNeil ThomasWalter TichyBurak TurhanElaine J. WeyukerMichele A. WhitecraftLaurie WilliamsWendy M. WilliamsAndreas ZellerThomas Zimmermann
iPhone: Covers All Models with 3.0 Software-including the iPhone 3GS (Missing Manual)
by David PogueIf you have a new iPhone 3GS, or just updated your 3G with iPhone 3.0, iPhone: The Missing Manual, will bring you up to speed quickly. New York Times tech columnist David Pogue gives you a guided tour of every feature, with lots of tips, tricks, and surprises. You'll learn how to make calls and play songs by voice control, take great photos, keep track of your schedule, and more. This entertaining book offers complete step-by-step instructions for doing everything from setting up and accessorizing your iPhone to troubleshooting. If you want to learn how iPhone 3.0 lets you search your phone, cut, copy, and paste, and lots more, this full-color book is the best, most objective resource available.Use it as a phone -- save time with things like Visual Voicemail, contact searching, and moreTreat it as an iPod -- listen to music, upload and view photos, and fill the iPhone with TV shows and moviesTake the iPhone online -- get online, browse the Web, read and compose email in landscape, send photos, contacts, audio files, and moreGo beyond the iPhone -- use iPhone with iTunes, sync it with your calendar, and learn about the App Store, where you can select from thousands of iPhone appsUnlock the full potential of your iPhone with the book that should have been in the box.
Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of Innovation
by AnnMarie ThomasThis is a book for parents and other educators—both formal and informal, who are curious about the intersections of learning and making. Through stories, research, and data, it builds the case for why it is crucial to encourage today’s youth to be makers—to see the world as something they are actively helping to create. For those who are new to the Maker Movement, some history and introduction is given as well as practical advice for getting kids started in making. For those who are already familiar with the Maker Movement, this book provides biographical information about many of the “big names” and unsung heroes of the Maker Movement while also highlighting many of the attributes that make this a movement that so many people are passionate about.
RESTful Web Clients: Enabling Reuse Through Hypermedia
by Mike AmundsenPowerful web-based REST and hypermedia-style APIs are becoming more common every day, but instead of applying the same techniques and patterns to hypermedia clients, many developers rely on custom client code. With this practical guide, you’ll learn how to move from one-off implementations to general-purpose client apps that are stable, flexible, and reusable.Author Mike Amundsen provides extensive background, easy-to-follow examples, illustrative dialogues, and clear recommendations for building effective hypermedia-based client applications. Along the way, you’ll learn how to harness many of the basic principles that underpin the Web.Convert HTML-only web apps into a JSON API serviceOvercome the challenges of maintaining plain JSON-style client appsDecouple the output format from the internal object model with the representor patternExplore client apps built with HAL—Hypertext Application LanguageTackle reusable clients with the Request, Parse, Wait Loop (RPW) patternLearn the pros and cons of building client apps with the Siren content typeDeal with API versioning by adopting a change-over-time aestheticCompare how JSON, HAL, Siren, and Collection+JSON clients handle the Objects/Addresses/Actions ChallengeCraft a single client application that can consume multiple services
Learning from First Responders: When Your Systems Have to Work
by Dylan RichardOne of the side stories of the 2012 presidential campaign was the success of Obama's software team. The team built their software in-house, and put into practice many ideas from the DevOps world. Game day was one of the most important: an exercise in which part of the team tried as hard as possible to break their systems, while the rest of the team tried to keep things running. They simulated everything from database failure to massive network outages. And as a result, when the election came, they were certain that they could respond to any crisis.
Web Site Measurement Hacks: Tips & Tools to Help Optimize Your Online Business
by Eric T. PetersonIn order to establish and then maintain a successful presence on the Web, designing a creative site is only half the battle. What good is an intricate Web infrastructure if you're unable to measure its effectiveness? That's why every business is desperate for feedback on their site's visitors: Who are they? Why do they visit? What information or service is most valuable to them?Unfortunately, most common Web analytics software applications are long on functionality and short on documentation. Without clear guidance on how these applications should be integrated into the greater Web strategy, these often expensive investments go underused and underappreciated.Enter Web Site Measurement Hacks, a guidebook that helps you understand your Web site visitors and how they contribute to your business's success. It helps organizations and individual operators alike make the most of their Web investment by providing tools, techniques, and strategies for measuring--and then improving--their site's usability, performance, and design. Among the many topics covered, you'll learn:definitions of commonly used terms, such as "key performance indicators" (KPIs)how to drive potential customers to actionhow to gather crucial marketing and customer datawhich features are useful and which are superfluousadvanced techniques that senior Web site analysts use on a daily basisBy examining how real-world companies use analytics to their success, Web Site Measurement Hacks demonstrates how you, too, can accurately measure your Web site's overall effectiveness. Just as importantly, it bridges the gulf between the technical teams charged with maintaining your Web's infrastructure and the business teams charged with making management decisions.It's the technology companion that every site administrator needs.
Australia's Curriculum Dilemmas: State Cultures and the Big Issues
by Lyn Yates Kate O'Connor Cherry CollinsAustralia's Curriculum Dilemmas tells the story of Australia's recent attempts to come to grips with the big challenges of curriculum and sets up the background to understanding the debates that continue to surface as we move for the first time towards a national approach. Detailing some of the inside stories and arguments of the last 30 years about what schools should do, as well as some of the politics and lessons that have been learnt along the way, it brings together accounts from a national research project and reflections from people who have been actively involved in developing curriculum policies for each state. Expert contributors examine the challenges of the public management of curriculum, drawing on the different experiences of curriculum reforms in different states. They take up the problems of framing vocational and academic education for the new century and of confronting equity and diversity issues. They show the fundamental differences that exist in Australia regarding the impact of examinations and assessment, and the very different policy approaches that have been taken to tackle these issues. Many people in this country are unaware of how much their experience of education has been formed by the particular values of the state in which they were educated. For the first time, this book demonstrates the effects of those differences, now and into the future.
Eureka Stockade
by Raffaello CarboniItalian revolutionary Raffaello Carboni reached the Ballarat goldfields in 1853 looking for adventure and wealth. Instead, he found growing unrest among the miners, who were straining against harsh and oppressive government regulations. This unrest came to a head at dawn on 3 December 1854, at the now legendary Eureka Stockade. Here, 120 angry miners revolted against police and soldiers, leaving thirty-five men dead. The courage, resistance to authority and support for democratic freedom displayed by the miners has shaped ideas of Australian nationhood ever since. Raffaello Carboni, an active participant, relates the story behind the myth. His eyewitness account, first published in 1855, vividly and accurately evokes the excitement, drama and horror of the Eureka Stockade, and its aftermath. This new edition of a classic work, supplemented with an introduction by Tom Keneally, is published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Eureka uprising.
Salzburg Tales
by Christina SteadA group of visitors to the Salzburg Festival, brought together by chance, decides to mark time by telling tales. Their fantasies, legends, tragedies, jokes and parodies come together as The Salzburg Tales.Dazzling in their richness and vitality, the tales are grounded in Christina Stead's belief that 'the story is magical . what is best about the short story [is] it is real life for everyone; and everyone can tell one'. Originally published eighty years ago, these are thoroughly modern stories that invite comparison with Boccaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. The Salzburg Tales are published here with a new introduction by Margaret Harris, Challis Professor of English Literature Emerita at the University of Sydney, and literary executor for Christina Stead.
Rules of Engagement: FOXTEL, football, News and wine: The secrets of a business builder and cultural maestro
by Kim WilliamsFrom FOXTEL to News Corp, film to football, opera to business, Kim Williams is a builder of Australian institutions. He has worked with some of the very best in their fields—Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Packer, Kevin Sheedy, Gail Kelly and Don Burrows to name just a few.Rules of Engagement is a candid, up close and very personal account of the exercise of power in the nation's leading boardrooms, political parties and media organisations.Told with a deft touch and an energetic, at times mischievous spirit, Rules of Engagement shows how much one person can achieve if they have insatiable curiosity, limitless interests and impressive discipline.
Meanjin Vol 73, No 1
by Meanjin QuarterlyThe March 2014 issue of Meanjin is full of outsiders, revolutionaries and dissenters. We discover a lost archive of photographs of Charmian Clift on and George Johnson on Hydra in an essay by Paul Genoni and Tanya Dalziell, while James Douglas take a look at the unique powers of persuasion employed by journalist and writer Anna Krien. In the Meanjin Papers essay, Paul Daley brings us the shocking history of Australia's unidentified Indigenous remains and we have a rich mix of memoir, fiction and poetry in this special bumper issue.
Old Land, New Landscapes: A story of farmers, conservation and the Landcare movement
by Chris WilliamsOld Land, New Landscapes is the story of a farming community fighting to rehabilitate land degraded by more than a century of farming. Chris Williams tells of the trials and triumphs of the Sutherland family and other volunteers based around Peak Hill in central western New South Wales, as they set out to restore native vegetation and create the Genaren Hill wildlife sanctuary. This authoritative and engaging book is essential reading for farmers and Landcare scheme participants, but will also appeal to those who enjoy reading about the Australian bush and the resourceful characters who live there.
Clarke of the Kindur: Convict, bushranger, explorer
by Dean BoyceTransported convict George Clarke absconded in the early 1800s and went far into the then unexplored wilderness of northern New South Wales. There, thought by the Aborigines to be a 'ghost', he lived with them for four years, integrating into their lives and later leading them on raids to steal the white men's cattle. On eventual capture he claimed to have crossed the continent and to have discovered a great inland river, the 'Kindur'—a 'desired blessing' of the colonists—which prompted Major Thomas Mitchell's expeditions into the area. This biography traces Clarke's eventful history from his transportation from England in 1824 for robbery, his escape and life with the Kamilaroi Aborigines, his ventures into bushranging, his capture and subsequent imprisonment on Norfolk Island, and death on the public gallows in Van Diemen's Land.
Force, Movement, Intensity: The Newtonian Imagination in the Humanities and Social Sciences
by Emma Kowal Ghassan HageOf all the scientific works that have influenced the social sciences and humanities, none has matched the profound effect of the work of Isaac Newton. In his 1687 masterpiece Principia Mathematica he laid the foundation of classical mechanics in his discoveries of the laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. He reoriented human understanding of the cosmos, thus boosting the confidence of human beings to access elements of what they saw as the divine logic behind the order of things and to have a sense of control over it. From the nineteenth century to the present day, Newton's science has inspired scholars of society in their attempts to discern the patterns of social life. For others, such a positivist project serves as a cautionary tale to be resisted by contemporary social sciences. This book considers the original and continuing legacy of Newtonian theories and imaginaries in the vast array of human attempts to understand the world. Drawing from a range of disciplines; including anthropology, sociology, the history of science, literary studies, cultural studies, social theory and economics; the essays in this volume engage with Newton as a thinker and examine his legacy. Some contributions illustrate the power of physical metaphors in understanding the social world; many others point to the limits of this endeavour. Still others show how since the eighteenth century Newtonian thought has influenced thinkers as diverse as Blake, Marx, Freud and Pierre Bourdieu. This innovative collection prompts a reconsideration of the importance of Newton for the social sciences and humanities.
Arab-Australians Today: Citizenship and Belonging
by Ghassan HageArab people first came to Australia in the late nineteenth century. Today more than half a million Australians claim some form of Arab ancestry.They are a diverse group, both socially and economically. New South Wales, for example, appointed Australia's first Lebanese Governor, while at the same time it was labelling groups of economically deprived young people as 'Lebanese gangs'. Victoria's Premier, Steve Bracks, comes from a Lebanese background. Melbourne has an important Arab business community, while newly arrived Arab immigrants have one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country.Arab-Australians Today raises important questions about immigration, settlement, marginalisation and participation in Western societies. It discusses the way early Arab immigrants were received in Australia and talks about contemporary issues of participation in the Australian political process. It examines the lives of diverse groups of people, ranging from entrepreneurs to Arab women activists to unemployed youth. It analyses issues ranging from the ways Arab-Australians grow to call Australia home, to the moral panic created around Arab youth and criminality.The book offers non-Arab-Australians a way to better understand the Arab presence in Australia. It is also an invitation for Arab-Australians to reflect on the history of their settlement in Australia, as well as on the current experience of more recent immigrants.
Five Hundred Years Rediscovered: Southern African precedents and prospects
by Natalie Swanepoel, Amanda Esterhuysen and Philip BonnerIn the age of the African Renaissance, southern Africa has needed to reinterpret the past in fresh and more appropriate ways. The last 500 years represent a strikingly unexplored and misrepresented period which remains disfigured by colonial/apartheid assumptions, most notably in the way that African societies are depicted as fixed, passive, isolated, un-enterprising and unenlightened. This period is one the most formative in relation to southern Africa’s past while remaining, in many ways, the least known. Key cultural contours of the sub-continent took shape, while in a jagged and uneven fashion some of the features of modern identities emerged. Enormous internal economic innovation and political experimentation was taking place at the same time as expanding European mercantile forces started to press upon southern African shores and its hinterlands. This suggests that interaction, flux and mixing were a strong feature of the period, rather than the homogeneity and fixity proposed in standard historical and archaeological writings. Five Hundred Years Rediscovered represents the first step, taken by a group of archaeologists and historians, to collectively reframe, revitalise and re-examine the last 500 years. By integrating research and developing trans-frontier research networks, the group hopes to challenge thinking about the region’s expanding internal and colonial frontiers, and to broaden current perceptions about southern Africa’s colonial past.
The New Sex Wars: Sexual Harm in the #MeToo Era
by Brenda CossmanRevisits the sex wars of the 1970s and ’80s and examines their influence on how we think about sexual harm in the #MeToo era#MeToo’s stunning explosion on social media in October 2017 radically changed—and amplified—conversations about sexual violence as it revealed how widespread the issue is and toppled prominent celebrities and politicians. But, as the movement spread, a conflict emerged among feminist supporters and detractors about how punishment should be doled out and how justice should be served. The New Sex Wars reveals that these clashes are nothing new. Delving into the contentious debates from the ’70s and ‘80s, Brenda Cossman traces the striking echoes in the feminist divisions of this earlier period. In exploring the history of past conflicts—the resistance to finding common ground, the media’s pleasure in portraying the debates as polarized cat fights, the simplification of viewpoints as pro- and anti-sex—she shows how they have come to shape the #MeToo era. From the ’70s to today, Cossman examines tensions between the need for recognition and protection under the law, and the colossal and ongoing failure of that law to redress historic injustice. By circumventing law altogether, #MeToo has led us to question whether justice can be served outside of the courtroom. Cossman argues for a different way forward—one based on reparative models that focus on shared desired outcomes and the willingness to understand the other side. Thoughtful and compelling, The New Sex Wars explores what can been learned from these stories, what traps we repeatedly fall into, how we have been denied our anger, and where to begin to make law work.
America's Dark Theologian: The Religious Imagination of Stephen King
by Douglas E. CowanIlluminating the religious and existential themes in Stephen King’s horror stories Who are we? Why are we here? Where do we go when we die? For answers to these questions, people often look to religion. But religion is not the only place seekers turn. Myths, legends, and other stories have given us alternative ways to address the fundamental quandaries of existence. Horror stories, in particular, with their focus on questions of violence and mortality, speak urgently to the primal fears embedded in such existential mysteries. With more than fifty novels to his name, and hundreds of millions of copies sold, few writers have spent more time contemplating those fears than Stephen King. Yet despite being one of the most widely read authors of all time, King is woefully understudied. America’s Dark Theologian is the first in-depth investigation into how King treats religion in his horror fiction. Considering works such as Carrie, The Dead Zone, Misery, The Shining, and many more, Douglas Cowan explores the religious imagery, themes, characters, and, most importantly, questions that haunt Stephen King’s horror stories. Religion and its trappings are found throughout King’s fiction, but what Cowan reveals is a writer skeptical of the certainty of religious belief. Describing himself as a “fallen away” Methodist, King is less concerned with providing answers to our questions, than constantly challenging both those who claim to have answers and the answers they proclaim. Whether he is pondering the existence of other worlds, exploring the origins of religious belief and how it is passed on, probing the nature of the religious experience, or contemplating the existence of God, King invites us to question everything we think we know.
Jewish Sunday Schools: Teaching Religion in Nineteenth-Century America (North American Religions #22)
by Laura Yares73rd National Jewish Book Awards FinalistCharts how changes to Jewish education in the nineteenth century served as a site for the wholescale reimagining of Judaism itselfThe earliest Jewish Sunday schools were female-led, growing from one school in Philadelphia established by Rebecca Gratz in 1838 to an entire system that educated vast numbers of Jewish youth across the country. These schools were modeled on Christian approaches to religious education and aimed to protect Jewish children from Protestant missionaries. But debates soon swirled around the so-called sorry state of “feminized” American Jewish supplemental learning, and the schools were taken over by men within one generation of their creation. It is commonly assumed that the critiques were accurate and that the early Jewish Sunday school was too feminized, saccharine, and dependent on Christian paradigms. Tracing the development of these schools from their inception through the first decade of the twentieth century, this book shows this was not the reality.Jewish Sunday Schools argues that the work of the women who shepherded Jewish education in the early Jewish Sunday school had ramifications far outside the classroom. Indeed, we cannot understand the nineteenth-century American Jewish experience, and how American Judaism sought to sustain itself in an overwhelmingly Protestant context, without looking closely at the development of these precursors to Hebrew School.Jewish Sunday Schools provides an in-depth portrait of a massively understudied movement that acted as a vital means by which American Jews explored and reconciled their religious and national identities.
Lift Every Voice and Swing: Black Musicians and Religious Culture in the Jazz Century
by Vaughn A. BookerWinner of the 2022 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities, award by by the Council of Graduate SchoolsExplores the role of jazz celebrities like Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Mary Lou Williams as representatives of African American religion in the twentieth centuryBeginning in the 1920s, the Jazz Age propelled Black swing artists into national celebrity. Many took on the role of race representatives, and were able to leverage their popularity toward achieving social progress for other African Americans. In Lift Every Voice and Swing, Vaughn A. Booker argues that with the emergence of these popular jazz figures, who came from a culture shaped by Black Protestantism, religious authority for African Americans found a place and spokespeople outside of traditional Afro-Protestant institutions and religious life. Popular Black jazz professionals—such as Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Mary Lou Williams—inherited religious authority though they were not official religious leaders. Some of these artists put forward a religious culture in the mid-twentieth century by releasing religious recordings and putting on religious concerts, and their work came to be seen as integral to the Black religious ethos. Booker documents this transformative era in religious expression, in which jazz musicians embodied religious beliefs and practices that echoed and diverged from the predominant African American religious culture. He draws on the heretofore unexamined private religious writings of Duke Ellington and Mary Lou Williams, and showcases the careers of female jazz artists alongside those of men, expanding our understanding of African American religious expression and decentering the Black church as the sole concept for understanding Black Protestant religiosity. Featuring gorgeous prose and insightful research, Lift Every Voice and Swing will change the way we understand the connections between jazz music and faith.