Mcfarland Company Inc Publishers: 2371 books

Georges Simenon’s 75 novels and 28 short stories that feature Chief Inspector Jules Maigret provide us with a great deal of information about the French police detective—but only in small, episodic doses. As readers become acquainted with Maigret one detail at a time, he slowly takes on a flesh-and-bone...

The lens of dance can provide a multifaceted view of the present-day Cuban experience. Cuban contemporary dance, or técnica cubana as it is known throughout Latin America, is a highly evolved hybrid of ballet, North American modern dance, Afro-Cuban tradition, flamenco and Cuban nightclub cabaret....

Doris Day, once called an Actors Studio unto herself, was one of the twentieth century’s greatest entertainers, with a career spanning 39 films, more than 150 television shows, and more than 500 recordings. This work covers the life and career of the singer and star of such films as Pillow Talk,...

Introduced in the Pacific Northwest in 1883, professional wrestling has a long and storied history in the region and has contributed significantly to Northwest culture. This entertaining account of the wrestling industry in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia provides a detailed look at more...

The lives and careers of Warner Brothers’ screen legends Joan Blondell, Nancy Coleman, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Glenda Farrell, Kay Francis, Ruby Keeler, Andrea King, Priscilla Lane, Joan Leslie, Ida Lupino, Eleanor Parker, Ann Sheridan, Alexis Smith, and Jane Wyman are the topic of this...

The history of women in the opera is a grand story. Women were singers and patrons, of course, but from opera’s beginnings in Renaissance Italy, they were also opera composers and librettists. At first it was exclusively for the nobility. In the 19th century, with the emergence of the middle class...

The films of the New French Extremity have been reviled by critics but adored by fans and filmmakers. Known for graphically brutal depictions of sex and violence, the subgenre emerged from the French art-house scene in the late 1990s and became a cult phenomenon, eventually merging into the horror...

“What audacity!” exclaimed actor Robert Wagner when he heard about the authors’ adolescent exploits in nabbing interviews with Hollywood celebrities. In 1978, Fantle and Johnson, St. Paul teenagers, boarded a plane to meet with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. They had written the stars requesting...

As an artist, David Bowie was widely considered a “chameleon,” shedding one persona to create another and thus staying popular, relevant and compelling. In reality, Bowie was able to work with the resources around him to create something new, causing many to see him as a sort of lone artist rather...

As technology advances, society retains its mythical roots—a tendency evident in rock music and its enduring relationship with myth and science fiction. This study explores the mythical and fantastic themes of artists from the late 1960s to the mid–1980s, including David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Jefferson...

The chautauqua movement was a truly American phenomenon, providing education and entertainment for millions of people and employing thousands of musicians in the process. While scholars have previously explored various facets of the chautauqua movement, this is the first book to trace the place of...

The contributions of this late pioneering jazz vibraphonist—composer, arranger and band leader Cal Tjader have largely been undervalued. This book is a major corrective. The greater part covers the Grammy winner’s 40-year professional life, and his explorations of both Latin and jazz music. His...

In this candid retrospective of the disco era, 40 men and women who reigned over the dance music industry of the 1970s and 1980s recall their lives and careers before, during and after the genre’s explosion. Artists interviewed include Alfa Anderson, formerly of Chic (“Good Times”); Ed Cermanski...

Dance music has seen an unprecedented explosion in the 21st century as a stampede of subgenres, such as dance pop and EDM (electronic dance music), have come to define the pop music scene worldwide. In this collection of original interviews, 33 hitmakers from 11 countries discuss their lives and careers...