Esther Murphy was a brilliant New York intellectual who dazzled friends and strangers with an unstoppable flow of conversation. But she never finished the books she was contracted to write―a painful failure and yet a kind of achievement.The quintessential fan, Mercedes de Acosta had intimate friendships with the legendary actresses and dancers of the twentieth century. Her ephemeral legacy lies in the thousands of objects she collected to preserve the memory of those performers and to honor the feelings they inspired.An icon of haute couture and a fashion editor of British Vogue, Madge Garland held bracing views on dress that drew on her feminism, her ideas about modernity, and her love of women. Existing both vividly and invisibly at the center of cultural life, she―like Murphy and de Acosta―is now almost completely forgotten.In All We Know, Lisa Cohen describes these women's glamorous choices, complicated failures, and controversial personal lives with lyricism and empathy. At once a series of intimate portraits and a startling investigation into style, celebrity, sexuality, and the genre of biography itself, All We Know explores a hidden history of modernism and pays tribute to three compelling lives. All We Know is one of Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Best Books of 2012

A poetic celebration relates the true story of a boy who lost his sight shortly after birth, grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and became one of the twentieth century's most creative and influential musicians--an instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, musical innovator, and cultural activist. Includes a CD of two Stevie Wonder hit songs.

It is the first year that Toby is old enough to attend the Ring Shout, a celebration when the hard work of harvest is done, but he cannot find an object that makes a noise which will speak from his heart to God's ears.

A Newbery Honor author tells about the blues while profiling ten of the most celebrated blues singers of last century, including Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, and James Brown, in a boldly illustrated picture book. 15,000 first printing. (view table of contents)

Lil's Uncle Sudi Man hocks his saxophone so that the family will have the money to pay for medicine for Lil's sick mother, but after she is well, Lil devises a plan to once again reunite her Uncle Sudi Man with his beloved sax.