My Old Kentucky Home

Download My Old Kentucky Home PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 1985901692
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (859 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis My Old Kentucky Home by : Emily Bingham

Download or read book My Old Kentucky Home written by Emily Bingham and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2024-09-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home." So begins an American standard, first published as a minstrel song, that became dear to the hearts of millions and ultimately was enshrined as the Kentucky Derby's sonic centerpiece—a popular selling point for Kentucky tourism. Emily Bingham's masterful decoding of Stephen Foster's 1853 ballad reveals that the song was always about slavery and how white Americans wanted to remember it. Acknowledging her own entanglement in this legacy, Bingham takes readers on the journey of a melody, from its inception by a white northerner to its enormous success on the blackface circuit, in recordings by Al Jolson and Bing Crosby, on the pages of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, and in countless screen adaptations, including Shirley Temple movies, The Simpsons, and Mad Men. For almost two centuries, "My Old Kentucky Home" has never been just a song—it continues to be a resonant, changing emblem of America's original sin, whose blood-drenched shadow haunts us still. My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song investigates the tune's hidden history, lodged in the nation's cultural DNA, and ends with a startling solution for what to do with this artifact of race and slavery.

The Rowan Story

Download The Rowan Story PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 140 pages
Book Rating : 4.X/5 (1 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Rowan Story by : Randall Capps

Download or read book The Rowan Story written by Randall Capps and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Rowman family lived in Pennsylvania then moved to Kentucky in 1782.

The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster

Download The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442253878
Total Pages : 497 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster by : JoAnne O'Connell

Download or read book The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster written by JoAnne O'Connell and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-09-29 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster offers an engaging reassessment of the life, politics, and legacy of the misunderstood father of American music. Once revered the world over, Foster’s plantation songs, like “Old Folks at Home” and “My Old Kentucky Home,” fell from grace in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement due to their controversial lyrics. Foster embraced the minstrel tradition for a brief time, refining it and infusing his songs with sympathy for slaves, before abandoning the genre for respectable parlor music. The youngest child in a large family, he grew up in the shadows of a successful older brother and his president brother-in-law, James Buchanan, and walked a fine line between the family’s conservative politics and his own pro-Lincoln sentiments. Foster lived most of his life just outside of industrial, smoke-filled Pittsburgh and wrote songs set in a pastoral South—unsullied by the grime of industry but tarnished by the injustice of slavery. Rather than defining Foster by his now-controversial minstrel songs, JoAnne O’Connell reveals a prolific composer who concealed his true feelings in his lyrics and wrote in diverse styles to satisfy the changing tastes of his generation. In a trenchant reevaluation of his NewYork Bowery years, O’Connell illustrates how Foster purposely abandoned the style for which he was famous to write lighthearted songs for newly popular variety stages and music halls. In the last years of his life, Foster’s new direction in songwriting stood in the vanguard of vaudeville and musical comedy to pave the way for the future of American popular music. His stylistic flexibility in the face of evolving audience preferences not only proves his versatility as a composer but also reveals important changes in the American music and publishing industries. An intimate biography of a complex, controversial, and now neglected composer, The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster is an important story about the father of American music. This invaluable portrait of the political, economic, social, racial, and gender issues of antebellum and Civil War America will appeal to history and music lovers of all generations.

Irrepressible

Download Irrepressible PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN 13 : 0374713804
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (747 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Irrepressible by : Emily Bingham

Download or read book Irrepressible written by Emily Bingham and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2015-06-16 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Raised like a princess in one of the most powerful families in the American South, Henrietta Bingham was offered the helm of a publishing empire. Instead, she ripped through the Jazz Age like an F. Scott Fitzgerald character: intoxicating and intoxicated, selfish and shameless, seductive and brilliant, endearing and often terribly troubled. In New York, Louisville, and London, she drove both men and women wild with desire, and her youth blazed with sex. But her love affairs with women made her the subject of derision and caused a doctor to try to cure her queerness. After the speed and pleasure of her early days, the toxicity of judgment from others coupled with her own anxieties resulted in years of addiction and breakdowns. And perhaps most painfully, she became a source of embarrassment for her family-she was labeled "a three-dollar bill." But forebears can become fairy-tale figures, especially when they defy tradition and are spoken of only in whispers. For the biographer and historian Emily Bingham, the secret of who her great-aunt was, and just why her story was concealed for so long, led to Irrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham. Henrietta rode the cultural cusp as a muse to the Bloomsbury Group, the daughter of the ambassador to the United Kingdom during the rise of Nazism, the seductress of royalty and athletic champions, and a pre-Stonewall figure who never buckled to convention. Henrietta's audacious physicality made her unforgettable in her own time, and her ecstatic and harrowing life serves as an astonishing reminder of the stories lying buried in our own families.

My Old Kentucky Home

Download My Old Kentucky Home PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Knopf
ISBN 13 : 0525520791
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis My Old Kentucky Home by : Emily Bingham

Download or read book My Old Kentucky Home written by Emily Bingham and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long journey of an American song, passed down from generation to generation, bridging a nation’s fraught disconnect between history and warped illusion, revealing the country's ever evolving self. MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME, from its enormous success in the early 1850s, written by a white man, considered the father of American music, about a Black man being sold downriver, performed for decades by white men in blackface, and the song, an anthem of longing and pain, turned upside down and, over time, becoming a celebration of happy plantation life. It is the state song of Kentucky, a song that has inhabited hearts and memories, and in perpetual reprise, stands outside time; sung each May, before every Kentucky Derby, since 1930. Written by Stephen Foster nine years before the Civil War, “My Old Kentucky Home” made its way through the wartime years to its decades-long run as a national minstrel sensation for which it was written; from its reference in the pages of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind to being sung on The Simpsons and Mad Men. Originally called “Poor Uncle Tom, Good-Night!” and inspired by America’s most famous abolitionist novel, it was a lament by an enslaved man, sold by his "master," who must say goodbye to his beloved family and birthplace, with hints of the brutality to come: “The head must bow and the back will have to bend / Wherever the darky may go / A few more days, and the trouble all will end / In the field where the sugar-canes grow . . .” In My Old Kentucky Home, Emily Bingham explores the long, strange journey of what has come to be seen by some as an American anthem, an integral part of our folklore, culture, customs, foundation, a living symbol of a “happy past.” But “My Old Kentucky Home” was never just a song. It was always a song about slavery with the real Kentucky home inhabited by the enslaved and shot through with violence, despair, and degradation. Bingham explores the song’s history and permutations from its decades of performances across the continent, entering into the bloodstream of American life, through its twenty-first-century reassessment. It is a song that has been repeated and taught for almost two hundred years, a resonant changing emblem of America's original sin whose blood-drenched shadow hovers and haunts us still.

From My Old Kentucky Home to the White House

Download From My Old Kentucky Home to the White House PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813182832
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis From My Old Kentucky Home to the White House by : Catherine Conner

Download or read book From My Old Kentucky Home to the White House written by Catherine Conner and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This lively memoir recounts the story of a determined woman who led a remarkable life in the highest circles of power in both state and national politics. Catherine Conner spent her formative years on a farm named "Solitude," located outside of Bardstown. Her father, who taught her early to ride and swim, told the young woman, "I can't teach you how to be a lady, but I can teach you how to behave like a gentleman." She was weaned on a secret "early breakfast" of bourbon and milk toddies that her father brought to her every morning. Though she enjoyed privilege, Conner also witnessed the harsher sides of rural life. Those experiences markedly shaped the personality of a woman who would become the youngest National Democratic Committeewoman and would subsequently serve in FDR's inner circle. Conner began her political career in Kentucky under the tutelage of J. Dan Talbott of Bardstown, heading the successful effort to have Federal Hill, better known as "My Old Kentucky Home," preserved as a state park, which has now become one of the most popular in Kentucky. When local leaders proved only mildly supportive of the project, Conner devised a campaign in 1921 that raised $45,000 by having schoolchildren all over the state drop their pennies into a cardboard replica of the famous home. She acted as a special assistant to Harry Hopkins for five years, helping set up departments to carry out New Deal programs and lobbying. She befriended many of the shapers of the 20th Century, including Senator Sam Rayburn, A.B. "Happy" Chandler, and Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia. Throughout her life, Conner witnessed remarkable events. She saw the Hindenburg crash, met Amelia Earhart, and had Cary Grant show her how to gut a Thanksgiving turkey.

My Old Kentucky Home

Download My Old Kentucky Home PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Knopf
ISBN 13 : 0525520805
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis My Old Kentucky Home by : Emily Bingham

Download or read book My Old Kentucky Home written by Emily Bingham and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long journey of an American song, passed down from generation to generation, bridging a nation’s fraught disconnect between history and warped illusion, revealing the country's ever evolving self. MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME, from its enormous success in the early 1850s, written by a white man, considered the father of American music, about a Black man being sold downriver, performed for decades by white men in blackface, and the song, an anthem of longing and pain, turned upside down and, over time, becoming a celebration of happy plantation life. It is the state song of Kentucky, a song that has inhabited hearts and memories, and in perpetual reprise, stands outside time; sung each May, before every Kentucky Derby, since 1930. Written by Stephen Foster nine years before the Civil War, “My Old Kentucky Home” made its way through the wartime years to its decades-long run as a national minstrel sensation for which it was written; from its reference in the pages of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind to being sung on The Simpsons and Mad Men. Originally called “Poor Uncle Tom, Good-Night!” and inspired by America’s most famous abolitionist novel, it was a lament by an enslaved man, sold by his "master," who must say goodbye to his beloved family and birthplace, with hints of the brutality to come: “The head must bow and the back will have to bend / Wherever the darky may go / A few more days, and the trouble all will end / In the field where the sugar-canes grow . . .” In My Old Kentucky Home, Emily Bingham explores the long, strange journey of what has come to be seen by some as an American anthem, an integral part of our folklore, culture, customs, foundation, a living symbol of a “happy past.” But “My Old Kentucky Home” was never just a song. It was always a song about slavery with the real Kentucky home inhabited by the enslaved and shot through with violence, despair, and degradation. Bingham explores the song’s history and permutations from its decades of performances across the continent, entering into the bloodstream of American life, through its twenty-first-century reassessment. It is a song that has been repeated and taught for almost two hundred years, a resonant changing emblem of America's original sin whose blood-drenched shadow hovers and haunts us still.

Old-time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes

Download Old-time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 9780813126227
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (262 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Old-time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes by : Jeff Todd Titon

Download or read book Old-time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes written by Jeff Todd Titon and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The South has always been one of the most distinctive regions of the United States, with its own set of traditions and a turbulent history. Although often associated with cotton, hearty food, and rich dialects, the South is also noted for its strong sense of religion, which has significantly shaped its history. Dramatic political, social, and economic events have often shaped the development of southern religion, making the nuanced dissection of the religious history of the region a difficult undertaking. For instance, segregation and the subsequent civil rights movement profoundly affected churches in the South as they sought to mesh the tenets of their faith with the prevailing culture. Editors Walter H. Conser and Rodger M. Payne and the book’s contributors place their work firmly in the trend of modern studies of southern religion that analyze cultural changes to gain a better understanding of religion’s place in southern culture now and in the future. Southern Crossroads: Perspectives on Religion and Culture takes a broad, interdisciplinary approach that explores the intersection of religion and various aspects of southern life. The volume is organized into three sections, such as “Religious Aspects of Southern Culture,” that deal with a variety of topics, including food, art, literature, violence, ritual, shrines, music, and interactions among religious groups. The authors survey many combinations of religion and culture, with discussions ranging from the effect of Elvis Presley’s music on southern spirituality to yard shrines in Miami to the archaeological record of African American slave religion. The book explores the experiences of immigrant religious groups in the South, also dealing with the reactions of native southerners to the groups arriving in the region. The authors discuss the emergence of religious and cultural acceptance, as well as some of the apparent resistance to this development, as they explore the experiences of Buddhist Americans in the South and Jewish foodways. Southern Crossroads also looks at distinct markers of religious identity and the role they play in gender, politics, ritual, and violence. The authors address issues such as the role of women in Southern Baptist churches and the religious overtones of lynching, with its themes of blood sacrifice and atonement. Southern Crossroads offers valuable insights into how southern religion is studied and how people and congregations evolve and adapt in an age of constant cultural change.

Lexington, Kentucky

Download Lexington, Kentucky PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780738514376
Total Pages : 142 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (143 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Lexington, Kentucky by : Gerald L. Smith

Download or read book Lexington, Kentucky written by Gerald L. Smith and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lexington's African-American community has survived and flourished despite obstacles that may have proven insurmountable to some. A citizenry enriched by diversity and filled with fortitude, they have made their mark on black history as well as the Bluegrass State's heritage. In Black America: Lexington, vintage images from archives and personal collections showcase the people, places, and events at the very heart and soul of the black community. Rare photos of the civil rights demonstrations in the downtown area highlight their contributions to the local movement and to our nation's continued search for equality.

Revolutionary Friends

Download Revolutionary Friends PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Astra Publishing House
ISBN 13 : 1635925088
Total Pages : 42 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (359 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Revolutionary Friends by : Selene Castrovilla

Download or read book Revolutionary Friends written by Selene Castrovilla and published by Astra Publishing House. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Society of School Librarians International Book Award Honor California Reading Association Eureka! Nonfiction Honor Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year Booklist Top Ten Biography for Youth Young fans of the smash Broadway hit "Hamilton" will enjoy this narrative nonfiction picture book story about the important friendship between George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette during the Revolutionary War. Lafayette has come to America to offer his services to the patriotic cause. Inexperienced but dedicated, he is a much-needed ally and not only earns a military position with the Continental Army but also Washington's respect and admiration. This picture book presents the human side of history, revealing the bond between two famous Revolutionary figures. Both the author and illustrator worked with experts and primary sources to represent both patriots and the war accurately and fairly.

Kentucky Country

Download Kentucky Country PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813149606
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Kentucky Country by : Charles K. Wolfe

Download or read book Kentucky Country written by Charles K. Wolfe and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-07-11 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kentucky Country is a lively tour of the state's indigenous music, from the days of string bands through hillbilly, western swing, gospel, bluegrass, and honkey-tonk to through the Nashville Sound and beyond. Through personal interviews with many of the living legends of Kentucky music, Charles K. Wolfe illuminates a fascinating and important area of American culture. The list of country music stars who hail from Kentucky is a long and glittering one. Red Foley, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn, Tom T. Hall, the Judds, Dwight Yaokum, Billy Ray Cyrus, Ricky Skaggs, John Michael Montgomery, and Keith Whitely -- all these and many others have called Kentucky home. Kentucky Country is the story of these stars and dozens more. It is also the story of many Kentucky musicians whose contributions have been little known or appreciated, and of those collectors, promoters, and entrepreneurs who have worked behind the scenes to bring Kentucky music to national attention.

Stephen Foster Song Book

Download Stephen Foster Song Book PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Courier Corporation
ISBN 13 : 0486230481
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (862 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Stephen Foster Song Book by : Stephen Collins Foster

Download or read book Stephen Foster Song Book written by Stephen Collins Foster and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 1974-01-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Old favorites such as Beautiful Dreamer and Oh! Susanna as well as patriotic, plantation, and minstrel songs by the American composer are presented along with reproductions of original covers

That's Enough, Folks

Download That's Enough, Folks PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis That's Enough, Folks by : Henry T. Sampson

Download or read book That's Enough, Folks written by Henry T. Sampson and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative and valuable resource for students and scholars of film animation and African-American history, film buffs, and casual readers. It is the first and only book to detail the history of black images in animated cartoons. Using advertisements, quotes from producers, newspaper reviews, and other sources, Sampson traces stereotypical black images through their transition from the first newspaper comic strips in the late 1890s, to their inclusion in the first silent theatrical cartoons, through the peak of their popularity in 1930s musical cartoons, to their gradual decline in the 1960s. He provides detailed storylines with dialogue, revealing the extensive use of negative caricatures of African Americans. Sampson devotes chapters to cartoon series starring black characters; cartoons burlesquing life on the old slave plantation with "happy" slaves Uncle Tom and Topsy; depictions of the African safari that include the white hunter, his devoted servant, and bloodthirsty black cannibals; and cartoons featuring the music and the widely popular entertainment style of famous 1930s black stars including Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and Fats Waller. That's Enough Folks includes many rare, previously unpublished illustrations and original animation stills and an appendix listing cartoon titles with black characters along with brief descriptions of gags in these cartoons.

Mordecai

Download Mordecai PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 0809027569
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (9 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mordecai by : Emily Bingham

Download or read book Mordecai written by Emily Bingham and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2003 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description

The Service Song Book (Abridged)

Download The Service Song Book (Abridged) PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 102 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Service Song Book (Abridged) by : Young Men's Christian Associations of North America. International Committee

Download or read book The Service Song Book (Abridged) written by Young Men's Christian Associations of North America. International Committee and published by . This book was released on 1918 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Living Fully

Download Living Fully PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Convergent Books
ISBN 13 : 0593238354
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (932 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Living Fully by : Mallory Ervin

Download or read book Living Fully written by Mallory Ervin and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2023-02-07 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An irresistible guide to living without holding back, from the vibrant lifestyle entrepreneur and host of the Living Fully podcast One of Katie Couric Media’s Best New Self Help Books to Read in the New Year • “If you’re ready to up-level your life and create long-lasting change, then this book is for you! Mallory’s resilient path will inspire you to step into your power.”—Gabby Bernstein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Universe Has Your Back Mallory Ervin is known for exuding energy, joy, and laughter. But despite her public accomplishments, Mallory is no stranger to battling unhealthy attachments to performance and success. Now, in her unforgettable debut book, Mallory invites readers to see how her surprising journey—from achievement and accolades to devastating, never-before-shared lows—guided her and led her to a deeply fulfilling life. In Living Fully, Mallory shares her personal story of overcoming the unhealthy and damaging patterns in her life and shows readers how to trade this for something completely new and more rewarding. What she discovered was there had always been a different life available to her, one that she had not yet seen. Now she encourages readers to resist a “just fine” existence and to step into a life they never dared to imagine before. Through inspiring stories and practical advice Mallory offers the motivation to: • stop returning to a “just getting by” mentality • shift perspective so blessings don’t become burdens • remember that life’s curveballs don’t have to knock you off your feet • identify your passions and get back to your truest self • slow down and enjoy the extraordinary in the everyday moments • quiet the voice of fear • get clear on the life you want “I wrote this to be your wake-up call, the thing that turns the lights on in your life and propels you to make real change, once and for all,” Mallory says. “I want you to wake up and stay awake.” For anyone hungry for a richer life, or tired of coasting through life in a “cruise control” mindset, Living Fully is the ultimate invitation to embrace abundance and joy—and not look back!

Dear Ann

Download Dear Ann PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062986678
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (629 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Dear Ann by : Bobbie Ann Mason

Download or read book Dear Ann written by Bobbie Ann Mason and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the acclaimed author of the classics Shiloh and Other Stories and In Country comes a beautifully crafted and profoundly moving novel which follows a woman as she looks back over her life and her first love. Ann Workman is smart but naïve, a misfit who’s traveled from rural Kentucky to graduate school in the transformative years of the late 1960s. While Ann fervently seeks higher learning, she wants what all girls yearn for—a boyfriend. But not any boy. She wants the “Real Thing,” to be in love with someone who loves her equally. Then Jimmy appears as if by magic. Although he comes from a very different place, upper-middle class suburban Chicago, he is a misfit too, a rebel who rejects his upbringing and questions everything. Ann and Jimmy bond through music and literature and their own quirkiness, diving headfirst into what seems to be a perfect relationship. But with the Vietnam War looming and the country in turmoil, their future is uncertain. Many years later, Ann recalls this time of innocence—and her own obsession with Jimmy—as she faces another life crisis. Seeking escape from her problems, she tries to imagine where she might be if she had chosen differently all those years ago. What if she had gone to Stanford University, as her mentor had urged, instead of a small school on the East Coast? Would she have been caught up in the Summer of Love and its subsequent dark turns? Or would her own good sense have saved her from disaster? Beautifully written and expertly told, Dear Ann is the wrenching story of one woman’s life and the choices she has made. Bobbie Ann Mason captures at once the excitement of youth and the nostalgia of age, and how consideration of the road not taken—the interplay of memory and imagination—can illuminate, and perhaps overtake, our present.