Awesome Americana Album and Music Offers

Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell -- widely hailed for her inimitable stories on public radio's This American Life -- ponders a number of curious questions: Why is she happiest when visiting the sites of bloody struggles like Salem or Gettysburg? Why do people always inappropriately compare themselves to Rosa Parks? Why is a bad life in sunny California so much worse than a bad life anywhere else? What is it about the Zen of foul shots? And, in the title piece, why must doubt and internal arguments haunt the sleepless nights of the true patriot?

Her essays confront a wide range of subjects, themes, icons, and historical moments: Ike, Teddy Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton; Canadian Mounties and German filmmakers; Tom Cruise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address, the State of the Union, and George W. Bush's inauguration.

The result is a teeming and engrossing book, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary..
Price: $7.39 [Notify me when price goes down.]

George R. Stewart’s classic study of place-naming in the United States was written during World War II as a tribute to the varied heritage of the nation’s peoples More than half a century later, Names on the Land remains the authoritative source on its subject, while Stewart’s intimate knowledge of America and love of anecdote make his book a unique and delightful window on American history and social life.

Names on the Land is a fascinating and fantastically detailed panorama of language in action. Stewart opens with the first European names in what would later be the United States—Ponce de León’s flowery Florída, Cortés’s semi-mythical isle of California, and the red Rio Colorado—before going on to explore New England, New Amsterdam, and New Sweden, the French and the Russian legacies, and the unlikely contributions of everybody from border ruffians to Boston Brahmins. These lively pages examine where and why Indian names were likely to be retained; nineteenth-century fads that gave rise to dozens of Troys and Athens and to suburban Parksides, Brookmonts, and Woodcrest Manors; and deep and enduring mysteries such as why “Arkansas” is Arkansaw, except of course when it isn’t.

Names on the Land will engage anyone who has ever wondered at the curious names scattered across the American map. Stewart’s answer is always a story—one of the countless stories that lie behind the rich and strange diversity of the USA..
Price: $11.37 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Even now that we're all grown up, we can't help but look back on our childhood holidays and hope to recapture that elusive spirit of joyful anticipation Celebrating Christmas is so often about nostalgia With a nod and a wink to the days of Christmas past, It's a Wonderful Christmas presents classic images of the Yuletide icons of mid-20th-century America.

Bubbler lights and glow-in-the-dark icicles. Catalogues crammed with toys. Norad bulletins tracking Rudolph's red nose through the nighttime sky. Along with hundreds of such quintessentially American illustrations, author Susan Waggoner stocking-stuffs her lively text with fascinating bits of information, lore, and lists. Wonder what the all-time most popular Christmas song is? How the tradition of the department store Santa got started? The answers are here. Loaded with images of vintage Christmas cards, wrapping paper, magazine ads, Lionel toy trains, and more, all in full color, this charming book will appeal to anyone who associates Christmas with home movies, "The Chipmunk Song," and Santa relaxing with an ice-cold bottle of Coca-Cola. AUTHOR BIO: SUSAN WAGGONER is the author of several illustrated books, including Vintage Cocktails (STC). A native of Minnesota, she currently lives in New York City..
Price: $8.89 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"Girls, Gags & Giggles" - this was publisher Robert Harrison's recipe for dishing up the American pin-up to the U.S. male. In the 1950s, his girlie magazines sold by the millions, before becoming icons of pulp and trash culture These skilfully illustrated girls with their curvaceous forms and inviting lingerie soon overtook America's national dessert, in terms of popularity, and even developed considerable potential as a cultural export during the 1940s. 'Never show everything,' was always the motto. Smiling prettily at the camera, the models exuded just the right amount of sex appeal without seeming too sophisticated or artful. They were the 'girls next door' whose wholesome attraction soon made one forget the magazines' deliberately trashy presentation. Their rosy complexions and innocent allures still titillate even in an age when far more graphic material is the norm. This is for everyone who enjoys pin-ups, push-ups and pulp style!.
Price: $10.19 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Filled with more than 100 illustrations—nostalgic art, vintage photographs, and evocative advertisements

When? Can’t I open just one? Please? The minutes, the hours, the eons of waiting—and wondering What’s underneath the shiny silver paper? Behind the enormous red bow? Under the tree?

Who doesn’t remember what it was like to be a kid at Christmas? And who hasn’t yearned to go back in time to recapture that special feeling? Well, we can’t turn back the clock, but we can do the next best thing. We can bring a bit of the past into the present. In Under the Tree, Susan Waggoner, author of Stewart, Tabori and Chang’s It’s a Wonderful Christmas, takes a loving, nostalgic look at the toys and gifts that made the postwar American Christmas the big deal it was.

Under the Tree revisits gifts both large and small, from Mr. Machine and the Kenner Easy-Bake Oven to Moon Rocks, Silly Putty, Sea Monkeys, and other delights that stuffed our stockings. In addition to the fascinating stories behind each toy, the book is bursting with cultural history, quotes, and lore—all wrapped up with more than 100 full-color vintage illustrations. For anyone who’s ever been a kid at Christmas, Under the Tree will be as irresistible as a kiss under the mistletoe..
Price: $10.58 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Their childhoods were so laden with Americana that Norman Rockwell could have painted them. Their heritage was so auspicious and the future so promising that it’s startling now to realize all that befell the kids from four families whose backyards and fortunes came together at a crossroads of their country’s history.

Here is a remarkably personal account of coming of age during the cultural earthquake that toppled America’s leaders and opened deep cracks nationwide, even on Kingman Boulevard.

This ode to life’s first friendships springs from the ranks of the biggest generation in history and glimpses America’s greatest public health crisis from the perspective of one alternately blessed and cursed neighborhood in the heart of the country..
Price: $13.45 [Notify me when price goes down.]

For more than a dozen years, an unassuming, quiet-spoken woman dominated Disney design. The stylishness and vibrant color of Disney films in the early 1940s through mid-1950s came primarily from artist Mary Blair. In her prime, she was an amazingly prolific American artist who enlivened and influenced the not-so-small worlds of film, print, theme parks, architectural decor, and advertising. At its core, her art represented joyful creativity and communicated pure pleasure to the viewer. Her exuberant fantasies brimmed with beauty, charm, and wit, melding a child's fresh eye with adult experience. Blair's personal flair comprised the imagery that flowed effortlessly and continually for more than a half a century from her brush. Emulated by many, she remains inimitable: a dazzling sorceress of design and color..
Price: $24.64 [Notify me when price goes down.]