Baby Aretha

Download Baby Aretha PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Running Press Kids
ISBN 13 : 0762479590
Total Pages : 26 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (624 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Baby Aretha by :

Download or read book Baby Aretha written by and published by Running Press Kids. This book was released on 2022-01-04 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduce your littlest rocker to early concepts through the empowering words and look of Aretha Franklin in this fun and entertaining book that is perfect for the next generation of music lovers. Every Girl Deserves Respect! Strength. Love. Hope. Smarts. Celebrate the iconic Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, with little ones in this colorful, playful, and inspiring new board book in the Baby Rocker series. The theme of girl empowerment runs throughout this delightful and aspirational board book for rock and soul fans big and small.

A Voice Named Aretha

Download A Voice Named Aretha PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1547602732
Total Pages : 40 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (476 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Voice Named Aretha by : Katheryn Russell-Brown

Download or read book A Voice Named Aretha written by Katheryn Russell-Brown and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From acclaimed author and illustrator pairing comes a beautiful picture book biography about the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin and how she fought for respect throughout her life. Aretha Franklin is the Queen of Soul, a legend. But before she became a star, she was a shy little girl with a voice so powerful it made people jump up, sway, and hum along. Raised in a house full of talking and singing, Aretha learned the values that would carry her through life--from her church choir in Detroit to stages across the world. When she moved to New York City to start her career, it took years of hard work before she had a hit song. In the turbulent 1960s, she sang about "Respect" and refused to perform before segregated audiences. The first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Aretha always remembered who she was and where she came from. In this stirring biography of a true artistic and social icon, award-winning creators Katheryn Russell-Brown and Laura Freeman show young readers how Aretha's talent, intelligence, and perseverance made her a star who will shine on for generations to come. Acclaim for Little Melba and Her Big Trombone 2015 NAACP Image Award Nominee Outstanding Literary Work--Children 2015 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honor 2015 ALA Notable Children's Book 2015 Amelia Bloomer Project - Feminist Task Force 2015 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction, Recommended Title

Baby Brother's Blues

Download Baby Brother's Blues PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : One World
ISBN 13 : 0345481119
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (454 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Baby Brother's Blues by : Pearl Cleage

Download or read book Baby Brother's Blues written by Pearl Cleage and published by One World. This book was released on 2007-02-27 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Regina Burns married Blue Hamilton, she knew he was no ordinary man. A charismatic R&B singer who gave up his career to assume responsibility for the safety of Atlanta’s West End community, Blue had created an African American urban oasis where crime and violence were virtually nonexistent. In the beginning, Regina enjoyed a circle of engaging friends and her own work as a freelance communications consultant. Most of all, she relished the company of her husband, who never ceased to be a source of passion and delight. Then everything changed. More and more frightened women were showing up in West End, seeking Blue’s protection from lovers who had suddenly become violent. When the worst offenders begin to disappear without a trace, the signs–all of them grim–seem to point toward Blue and his longtime associate, Joseph “General” Richardson. Now that Regina is pregnant, her fear for Blue’s safety has become an obsession that threatens the very heart of their relationship. At the same time, Regina’s friend Aretha Hargrove is desperately trying to redefine her own marriage. Aretha’s husband, Kwame, is lobbying for them to leave West End and move to midtown. Aretha resists at first, but finally agrees in an effort to rekindle the flame that first brought them together. Regina and Aretha have no way of knowing that what they regard as their private struggles will soon become very public. When Baby Brother, a charming con man, insinuates himself into the community, it becomes clear that there is more to his handsome façade than meets the eye. He carries the seeds of change that will affect both women in profound and startling ways. Returning to the vividly rendered Atlanta district of her last two novels, New York Times bestselling author Pearl Cleage brilliantly weaves the threads of her characters’ intersecting lives into a story of family, friendship and, of course, love. Baby Brother’s Blues is full of wit and warmth, illumination the core of every woman’s hopes and dreams.

Respect

Download Respect PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Little, Brown
ISBN 13 : 0316196827
Total Pages : 528 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (161 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Respect by : David Ritz

Download or read book Respect written by David Ritz and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive biography of the Queen of Soul from acclaimed music writer David Ritz, hailed by Rolling Stone as "a remarkably complex portrait of Aretha Franklin's music and her tumultuous life." Aretha Franklin began life as the golden daughter of a progressive and promiscuous Baptist preacher. Raised without her mother, she was a gospel prodigy who gave birth to two sons in her teens and left them and her native Detroit for New York, where she struggled to find her true voice. It was not until 1967, when a white Jewish producer insisted she return to her gospel-soul roots, that fame and fortune finally came via "Respect" and a rapidfire string of hits. She has evolved ever since, amidst personal tragedy, surprise Grammy performances, and career reinventions. Again and again, Aretha stubbornly finds a way to triumph over troubles, even as they continue to build. Her hold on the crown is tenacious, and in Respect, David Ritz gives us the definitive life of one of the greatest talents in all American culture. "Comprehensive and illuminating." --USA Today

Jet

Download Jet PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 64 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jet by :

Download or read book Jet written by and published by . This book was released on 1967-08-03 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The weekly source of African American political and entertainment news.

Fun with Oldies

Download Fun with Oldies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Lulu.com
ISBN 13 : 0615153747
Total Pages : 150 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (151 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Fun with Oldies by : Scott Alan Murphy

Download or read book Fun with Oldies written by Scott Alan Murphy and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2007-07-11 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Must Have for DJs & Oldies Music Lovers Everywhere! "FUN with Oldies" is a Book of Lists of 50's, 60's, 70's Plus Oldies & Classic Rock & Roll Songs categorized by idea, genre or theme. It started as a feature on My Radio Show when "Gearhead Ed" asked for some CARtoons for "Classic Car Week" like Little Deuce Coupe-Beach Boys, GTO-Ronnie & The Daytonas, or Mustang Sally-Wilson Pickett. You get the idea. Then I started doing three song sets on a variety of different themes calling it "Fun with Oldies". The popularity grew until my loyal listeners requested my music sets! COOL! "Fun with Oldies" The Book was born. Over 180 categories including CARtoons, Susie Songs, Slow Jams, Candy Songs, One Hit Wonders, Girl Groups, Teen Idols, Angels & Devils, Happy Songs, Crying Tunes, Jungle Fever, Jailbird, Wild Wild West, & A Day The Music Died Feature. A Special Addition to Any Oldies Library!!! Buy it, & you'll soon be having your own "FUN with Oldies"! Share the Lunacy! You'll Love it!

Higher Ground

Download Higher Ground PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Crown Archetype
ISBN 13 : 0307420876
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (74 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Higher Ground by : Craig Werner

Download or read book Higher Ground written by Craig Werner and published by Crown Archetype. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insightful music writer brilliantly reinterprets the lives of three pop geniuses and the soul revolution they launched. Soul music is one of America's greatest cultural achievements, and Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Curtis Mayfield are three of its most inspired practitioners. In midcentury America it was soul music—particularly the dazzling stream of recordings made by these three stars—that helped bring the gospel vision of the black church into the mainstream, energizing the era’s social movements and defining a new American gospel where the sacred and the secular met. What made this gospel all the more amazing was that its most influential articulators were the sons and daughters of sharecroppers, storefront preachers, and single parents in the projects, whose genius gave voice to a new vision of American possibility. Higher Ground seamlessly weaves the specific and intensely personal narratives of Stevie, Aretha, and Curtis’s lives into the historical fabric of their times. The three shared many similarities: They were all children of the great migration and of the black church. But Werner goes further and ties them together with a provocative thesis about American history and culture that compels us to reconsider both the music and the times. And aside from the personalities and the history, he writes beautifully about music itself, the nuts and bolts of its creation and performance, in a way that brings a new awareness and understanding to the most familiar music, forcing you to listen to songs you've heard a thousand times with fresh ears. In Higher Ground, Werner illuminates the lives of three unparalleled American artists, reminding us why their music mattered then and still resonates with us today.

Teenage Pregnancy

Download Teenage Pregnancy PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134895933
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (348 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Teenage Pregnancy by : Anne L Dean

Download or read book Teenage Pregnancy written by Anne L Dean and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unwed teenage pregnancy is a national problem - and a puzzle for clinicians and social psychologists. For how are we to understand a pattern of behavior that is strongly motivated and yet likely to end in unfortunate outcomes? Moreover, why does the pattern of unwed teenage pregnancy repeat in successivegenerations in some families, despite education and previous experience, whereas in other families the pattern is broken? Reporting on intensive social and psychological research in a rural African American community in Louisiana, Anne Dean offers a compelling view of this phenomenon that integrates historical and economic analysis with a sensitive psychological inquiry into the minds of mothers and daughters and the patterns of communication between them. Teenage Pregnancy: The Interaction of Psyche and Culture transcends earlier investigations by going beyond conventional research strategies to test psychodynamic theories about the formation of internal worlds. Drawing on the work of Erik Erikson and Hans Loewald, Dean not only finds empirical justification for psychodynamic theories of psychic structure, but also extends the scope and methodology of attachment research in an exciting new direction. Specifically, her analysis reveals how different kinds of attachment relationships between mothers and daughters manifest themselves in adolescence as internal working models that become the templates for interpreting, and acting upon, contradictory economic, social, and familial expectations. In demonstrating how social factors and cultural schemas interact with psychodynamic motives and structures, Teenage Pregnancy has widespread applicability to social science research in general. And it offers psychodynamically oriented clinicians working with adolescents the opportunity to become better acquainted with the ways in which mother-daughter relationships gain expression in the identity choices of teenage girls.

Jet

Download Jet PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 64 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jet by :

Download or read book Jet written by and published by . This book was released on 1969-04-03 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The weekly source of African American political and entertainment news.

The Rest of You

Download The Rest of You PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : CMC Verve
ISBN 13 : 0857308807
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (573 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Rest of You by : Maame Blue

Download or read book The Rest of You written by Maame Blue and published by CMC Verve. This book was released on 2024-10-08 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An emotionally wrenching novel, set in today’s London and 90s Ghana, exploring generational trauma and what it means to be Black British, surviving between the gaps of knowledge around familial migrant journeys. On the cusp of thirty, Ghanaian Londoner Whitney Appiah was born with a special gift. The massage therapist can physically sense where her clients' trauma lies and heal them. But Whitney has no idea that she too is suffering. Tragic events from her youth have left a terrible, unseen mark. When a dangerous encounter with the man she's dating triggers a wave of fragmented recollections, Whitney embarks on a journey to reclaim her memories and the truth that is buried deep in her early years growing up in Kumasi. Spanning three decades, told through the viewpoints of Whitney, her aunts, Gloria and Aretha, and their house help, Maame Serwaa, The Rest of You explores what happens when we try to resolve the mysteries of our past. Perfect for fans of Candace Carty Williams’ Queenie, Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half and Anna Hope's Expectation. 'A novel that doesn't shy away from the modern issues of being Black and female. At times heartbreaking, this portrait of a family coming to terms with a tragic past is vivid and tender' - Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City 'A beautiful, compelling exploration of familial bonds, trauma and the secrets of the past. Maame Blue's tender, emotionally rich portrait of diasporic Black lives is a novel to return to. Highly recommended' - Irenosen Okojie, author of Hag 'Maame Blue places vulnerability and emotional truth at the heart of this novel, interwoven between place, time and character... The Rest is You is surprising and tender, precise and free-ranging. A novel of layers, heartfelt meaning, and revelation' - Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time 'A story of friendship, loss, trauma and hope, that explores multi-generational pain and the secrets and silences that families can fall into in a bid to move forward. The Rest of You is a quintessential immigrant story with a particular Black British twist' - Nii Ayikwei Parkes, author of Azúcar 'The Rest of You is sharply written and is a compelling read. In this book, Maame Blue is incisive in her exploration of friendship and family' - Peace A. Medie, author of Nightbloom 'Maame Blue's skill at crafting characters that take bits of your heart with them as you read the final pages is a true gift... A wonderful book!' - Kelechi Okafor, author of Edge of Here 'Gripping - you wonder what isn't being said, but you feel it anyway' - Gabriel Gbadamosi 'Evocative prose and keen insights make for a compelling read, inviting reflection on the nature of trauma and the quest for identity. This powerful story affirms Blue's place as a significant voice in contemporary literature' - Booklist This novel contains depictions of violence and sexual assault.

Aretha Franklin

Download Aretha Franklin PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1510745084
Total Pages : 595 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Aretha Franklin by : Mark Bego

Download or read book Aretha Franklin written by Mark Bego and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 595 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A frank examination of Aretha Franklin, Mark Bego's definitive biography traces her career accomplishments from her beginnings as a twelve-year-old member of a church choir in the early 1950s, to recording her first album at the age of fourteen and signing a major recording contract at eighteen, right up through untimely passing in 2018. Originally positioned to become a gospel star in her father's Detroit church, Aretha had a privileged urban upbringing; ;stars such as Mahalia Jackson, Dinah Washington, and Sam Cooke regularly visited her father, Rev. C. L. Franklin. It wasn't long before she was creating a string of hits, from "Respect" to "Freeway of Love"; and becoming one of the most beloved singers of the twentieth century. This New York Times bestselling author's detailed research includes in-person interviews with record producers Jerry Wexler, Clyde Otis, and Clive Davis, Aretha's first husband, several of her singing star contemporaries, and a rare one-on-one session with Aretha herself. Every album, every accolade, and every heart-breaking personal drama is examined with clarity and neutrality, allowing Franklin's colorful story to unfold on its own. With two teenage pregnancies and an abusive first marriage, drinking problems, battles with her weight, the murder of her father, and tabloid wars, Aretha's life was a roller coaster. This freshly updated and expanded biography will give readers a clear understanding of what made Aretha Franklin the "Queen of Soul."

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Download I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1466862785
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You by : Matt Dobkin

Download or read book I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You written by Matt Dobkin and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You: Aretha Franklin, Respect, and the Making of a Soul Music Masterpiece presents the remarkable story of how The Queen of Soul created what Rolling Stone called “the greatest soul album ever made.” The album she recorded that earned soul legend Aretha Franklin her first major hits after eleven previous efforts, I Never Loved A Man the Way I Loved You was a pop and soul music milestone. Apart from its status as a #1 hit record, the album also had a much wider cultural impact. By early 1967, when the album was released, the Civil Rights Movement was well underway; Aretha’s music gave it its theme song. And the #1 Billboard pop chart single “Respect”—written by Otis Redding—not only won two Grammys for best R&B recording and best R&B solo female vocal performance, it became a passionate call to arms for the burgeoning feminist movement. Matt Dobkin has unearthed a wonderful story of the creation of an album that goes far beyond anything that’s been written about Aretha before. With scores of interviews—including ones with Atlantic Records’ famed producer Jerry Wexler, and the Muscle Shoals session musicians who recorded with Aretha—I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You is the story of a great artistic achievement. It’s also the story of a star who is both more complex and determined than her modern image as a diva indicates.

The Fan Who Knew Too Much

Download The Fan Who Knew Too Much PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Knopf
ISBN 13 : 0307958477
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (79 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Fan Who Knew Too Much by : Anthony Heilbut

Download or read book The Fan Who Knew Too Much written by Anthony Heilbut and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2012-06-19 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dazzling exploration of American culture—from high pop to highbrow—by acclaimed music authority, cultural historian, and biographer Anthony Heilbut, author of the now classic The Gospel Sound (“Definitive” —Rolling Stone), Exiled in Paradise, and Thomas Mann (“Electric”—Harold Brodkey). In The Fan Who Knew Too Much, Heilbut writes about art and obsession, from country blues singers and male sopranos to European intellectuals and the originators of radio soap opera—figures transfixed and transformed who helped to change the American cultural landscape. Heilbut writes about Aretha Franklin, the longest-lasting female star of our time, who changed performing for women of all races. He writes about Aretha’s evolution as a singer and performer (she came out of the tradition of Mahalia Jackson); before Aretha, there were only two blues-singing gospel women—Dinah Washington, who told it like it was, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who specialized, like Aretha, in ambivalence, erotic gospel, and holy blues. We see the influence of Aretha’s father, C. L. Franklin, famous pastor of Detroit’s New Bethel Baptist Church. Franklin’s albums preached a theology of liberation and racial pride that sold millions and helped prepare the way for Martin Luther King Jr. Reverend Franklin was considered royalty and, Heilbut writes, it was inevitable that his daughter would become the Queen of Soul. In “The Children and Their Secret Closet,” Heilbut writes about gays in the Pentecostal church, the black church’s rock and shield for more than a hundred years, its true heroes, and among its most faithful members and vivid celebrants. And he explores, as well, the influential role of gays in the white Pentecostal church. In “Somebody Else’s Paradise,” Heilbut writes about the German exiles who fled Hitler—Einstein, Hannah Arendt, Marlene Dietrich, and others—and their long reach into the world of American science, art, politics, and literature. He contemplates the continued relevance of the émigré Joseph Roth, a Galician Jew, who died an impoverished alcoholic and is now considered the peer of Kafka and Thomas Mann. And in “Brave Tomorrows for Bachelor’s Children,” Heilbut explores the evolution of the soap opera. He writes about the form itself and how it catered to social outcasts and have-nots; the writers insisting its values were traditional, conservative; their critics seeing soap operas as the secret saboteurs of traditional marriage—the women as castrating wives; their husbands as emasculated men. Heilbut writes that soaps went beyond melodrama, deep into the perverse and the surreal, domesticating Freud and making sibling rivalry, transference, and Oedipal and Electra complexes the stuff of daily life. And he writes of the “daytime serial’s unwed mother,” Irna Phillips, a Chicago wannabe actress (a Margaret Hamilton of the shtetl) who created radio’s most seminal soap operas—Today’s Children, The Road of Life among them—and for television, As the World Turns, Guiding Light, etc., and who became known as the “queen of the soaps.” Hers, Heilbut writes, was the proud perspective of someone who didn’t fit anywhere, the stray no one loved. The Fan Who Knew Too Much is a revelatory look at some of our American icons and iconic institutions, high, low, and exalted.

Baby Elvis

Download Baby Elvis PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Running Press Kids
ISBN 13 : 076246979X
Total Pages : 24 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (624 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Baby Elvis by : Running Press

Download or read book Baby Elvis written by Running Press and published by Running Press Kids. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get out your blue suede shoes. It's time to rock n' roll! Smooth hair. Rough sideburns. Long jumpsuit. Short lei. Celebrate the King of Rock n' Roll with little ones in this vibrant, playful, and fun board book.

Jet

Download Jet PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 64 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jet by :

Download or read book Jet written by and published by . This book was released on 1967-08-24 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The weekly source of African American political and entertainment news.

Big Bang, Baby

Download Big Bang, Baby PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Dundurn
ISBN 13 : 1459718909
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (597 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Big Bang, Baby by : Richard Crouse

Download or read book Big Bang, Baby written by Richard Crouse and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2000-04-26 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the middle of the conservative 1950s, rock and roll hit popular culture like an explosion a Big Bang, Baby! And the fallout from that explosion is still electrifying music fans today. Popular music expert Richard Crouse has ventured deep into the far reaches of rock history to bring together this dynamic collection of facts and oddities. Big Bang, Baby will entertain and enlighten music fans of all eras and will challenge even experienced rock trivia junkies.

Families

Download Families PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351321064
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (513 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Families by : Jane Howard

Download or read book Families written by Jane Howard and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-01-27 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 'Families' Jane Howard informally visits many dozens of families and tries to discover what makes the best ones work so well. Families are not dying, she finds, although they are evolving in various ways. From the tightest-knit nuclear family or extended clan to the most fragile new commune, the family in one guise or another remains everybody's most basic hold on reality. We may run away from our families as many do, but no sooner do we escape than we find another one, often very much like it. Sympathetically, with immense thrust, she crosses the continent to discover families' myths, jokes, and rituals. She leafs through their scrapbooks, sits on their porches, and takes part, when she can, in their feasts and celebrations. She talks to a father of eighteen, several double first cousins, stepchildren, multiple godmothers, an honorary relative of an Indian tribe, and a nine-year-old boy who has no family but his mother. She sits with a matriarch on the front stoop of a ghetto house, goes camping with a family in Mexico, has Thanksgiving with another in Iowa, and orders pizza with a Greek clan in Massachusetts. Howard reports on visits to conventional Southern and Jewish households and to innovative ones whose members, lacking a common history, plan on building common futures as if water were after all as thick as blood. She examines the notion that "there are ways and ways of achieving kinship, of which birth and marriage are only the most obvious." Millions of clans and families all over the United States continue to celebrate, quarrel, disband, reunite, and endure. Jane Howard makes us realize how our lives are interwoven both with the families we are born into and with those we invent as we go through life. 'Families' is compassionate, provocative, and profound. The paperback edition of this important work will be essential reading for all those with an interest in the study of familial bonds, particularly sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists.