Great Art

The History of Gangster Rap is a deep dive into one of the most fascinating subgenres of any music category to date. Sixteen detailed chapters, organized chronologically, examine the evolution of gangster rap, its main players, and the culture that created this revolutionary music. From still-swirling conspiracy theories about the murders of Biggie and Tupac to the release of the 2015 film Straight Outta Compton, the era of gangster rap is one that fascinates music junkies and remains at the forefront of pop culture.

Dickens the Enchanter takes us deep into an imagination whose power and originality struck some contemporaries as godlike while others thought it demonic. If you already love Dickens, it will renew your understanding of him; if you have yet to experience him, it will lure you into his astonishing, alarming, enchanted world.

Principal among the Tridevi or three fundamental Goddesses of Hinduism, Lakshmi is the benevolent and gracious Mother Goddess of wealth, power, beauty, fertility, good fortune, fame, abundance, and prosperity. We examine the spiritual and theological essence of Lakshmi, lessons from her mythology. We also attempt to understand her attributes, disposition, purpose, and character, and how best to recognize Her living manifest nature while worshiping and communing with Her through mantras, meditation, contemplation, occult practices, and rituals.

In Bogie & Bacall, William Mann offers a deep and comprehensive look at Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, and the unlikely love they shared. Mann details their early years—Bogart’s effete upbringing in New York City; Bacall’s rise as a model and actress. He paints a vivid portrait of their courtship and twelve-year marriage: the fights, the reconciliations, the children, the affairs, Bogie’s illness and Bacall’s steadfastness until his death. He offers a sympathetic yet clear-eyed portrait of Bacall’s life after Bogie.

In The Butchering Art, historian Lindsey Fitzharris re-creates a critical turning point in the history of medicine, when Joseph Lister transformed surgery from a brutal, harrowing practice to the safe, vaunted profession we know today.

Victorian operating theatres were known as 'gateways of death', Fitzharris reminds us, since half of those who underwent surgery didn't survive the experience. This was an era when a broken leg could lead to amputation, and surgeons were still known to ransack cemeteries to find cadavers.

Make Noise brings all the wisdom, advice, practical information, and big-picture thinking that any individual or business needs to make a successful podcast. He identifies core principles - such as create empathetically, i.e., think like the audience listens, and stay focused on what’s unique to you and what you have to say. He helps listeners come up with a “Ten Word Description” that will guide them throughout the creative process and then gets into how-tos - how to develop character, story, voice, and more.

Since its publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby has become one of the world's best-loved books, delighting audiences across the world. Careless People tells the true story behind F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, exploring in newly rich detail the relation of Fitzgerald's classic to the chaotic world he in which he lived. Fitzgerald set his novel in 1922, and Careless People carefully reconstructs the crucial months during which Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald returned to New York in the autumn of 1922.

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo adored adventure. In November, 1930, she was thrilled to realize her dream of traveling to the United States to live in San Francisco, Detroit, and New York. Still, leaving her family and her country for the first time was monumental. Only 23 and newly married to the already world-famous 43-year-old Diego Rivera, she was at a crossroads in her life and this new place, one filled with magnificent beauty, horrific poverty, racial tension, anti-Semitism, ethnic diversity, bland Midwestern food, and a thriving music scene, pushed Frida in unexpected directions.

Each week millions of Christians around the world use hymns composed by believers from every era and branch of Christianity to join voices in praise—singing psalms and hymns, making melody in their hearts to praise the Lord. Pastor Robert Morgan’s goal is to keep these traditional hymns vital and meaningful to all generations. Then Sings My Soul: Book 2 will help listeners reacquaint themselves with 150 additional beloved hymns of the faithful. These devotional-style stories show the emotion and drama behind the hymns of faith that have changed many lives throughout history.

The battle of good against evil intensifies in the darkness of an EMP devastated America. The electromagnetic pulses that wiped out the country's entire electrical grid have reduced people to an almost animal existence. While those with good hearts pull together to help each other, those inclined to evil find free reign for the rage that Satan and his minions are stirring up in their hearts.

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is the master key to power and victory and is the most important book ever written on overcoming obstacles and defeating your foes. All of the book’s millennia-old wisdom can be yours in a single sitting. Discover today why The Art of War has guided soldiers, generals, martial artists, and seekers throughout the ages.

Step into the rich tapestry of open flame gastronomy with "Flame and Flavor," a book that sets ablaze your culinary passions and teaches you the secrets of outdoor gourmet cooking. Imagine the sizzle of fresh ingredients as they kiss the fire, the aroma of wood-infused smoke weaving through the air, embarking you on a journey that tantalizes your taste buds and awakens your outdoor spirit. Begin your odyssey with the Essentials of Outdoor Gourmet Cooking, where you unravel the mysteries of open flame mastery, curating the perfect outdoor kitchen set to elevate your craft. Feel the heat as ...

Yes, this book is designed entirely to share those secrets that will inspire you to write that great song that you know you can! And once the creativity really starts flowing, we'll create great habits and write even more, each and every day. Get down to writing the music and the lyrics you know that you can because writer's block is a fantasy. You just need inspiration.

From Berlin to the Congo, from Moscow to the back streets of London, these are the stories of the agents on the front lines of British intelligence. And the truth is often more remarkable than fiction.

MI6 has been cloaked in secrecy and shrouded in myth since it was created a hundred years ago. Our understanding of what it is to be a spy has been largely defined by the fictional worlds of Ian Fleming and John le Carré. Gordon Corera provides a unique and unprecedented insight into this secret world and the reality that lies behind the fiction.

A world poised at the brink of a disastrous war is unaware of the evil forces that will stop at nothing to achieve their arms. But in the midst of turmoil an impending doom, some of the Father's most valiant servants are in place — sons and daughters who may have the power to change the course of history.

In a secret meeting in 1981, a master thief named Louis Royce gave career gangster Ralph Rossetti the tip of a lifetime. As a kid, Royce had visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and made a habit of sneaking in at night to find a good place to sleep. He knew the Museum's security was lax, and he gave this information to a boss of the Boston criminal underworld. It took years before the Museum was hit. But when it finally happened, it quickly became one of the most infamous art heists in history.

This lesson is broken into several chapters. The first part focuses on interval identification exercises, starting with grouped intervals and ending with all intervals mixed up. The second part of the book focuses on extremely valuable exercises with the help of fifths. The third part is a simple yet powerful exercise that allows you to manifest the sound of each interval even more.

The story of Miles' career is the story of the golden age of jazz. It is the story of the transition from big bands to small ensembles. It is the story of developing and exploring improvised music in small combos: trios, quartets, quintets, and sextets. Miles was at the forefront of every major style and genre of jazz that took place over a rapidly maturing arc from just after World War II through the sixties. This period was twenty-five years of explosive creativity and accelerated musical development. The breadth and depth of Miles’ impact, influence, and creative output are staggering....

Meryl Streep, Marlon Brando, Anthony Hopkins, Carey Mulligan. When we watch these remarkable actors in a performance, we see only Sophie, Stanley Kowalski, Hannibal Lecter, or Cassie from Promising Young Woman. How are they able to transform our world in this way? How and why do they do what they do? In Acting Naturally, David Thomson sheds light on the actors who have shaped the film industry. He shrewdly analyzes these stars, revealing how a sly smile, an extra-long pause, even a small gesture of the hand can draw in an audience.

Eric Edson has developed a new tool for bringing depth and passion to any screenplay or novel - the 23 Actions All Great Heroes Must Take. It's an easy-to-understand paradigm that provides writers and filmmakers the interconnecting, powerful storytelling elements they need. With true insight, this accomplished screenwriter and university professor pinpoints the story structure reasons most new spec scripts don't sell.