SHOPPING CART
SHOPPING CART
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A NOTE FROM LYNN SHERRWhy a biography of a song? Because this one gives us goosebumps. Because this one makes us proud. And because this one is far more than just a song. I can't remember when the hairs on my own neck first started tingling, but I suspect it stems from my days at Wellesley College, where students routinely substituted "sisterhood" for "brotherhood" when singing the chorus. "America the Beautiful" was our song, because the woman who wrote it, the poet Katharine Lee Bates, was a famous Wellesley alumna who had taught English there for decades. But it wasn't until I started poring through the archives—a rich lode of letters, diaries and soaring tributes—that I appreciated Bates's talent and creativity, and saw how her life spanned the great sweep of America's century of progress. Katharine Lee Bates had a childhood memory of Lincoln's assassination and a grownup's awe at the new invention called radio. At 35 she learned to ride a giant tricycle and admitted she was "some scared." At 55 she switched from Republican to Democrat because she believed the League of Nations offered "our one hope of peace on earth." A beloved teacher and respected poet, she published dozens of books and encouraged young talents like Robert Frost and Amy Lowell. As I dug into newspaper and magazine articles of the time, I realized that Bates's trip out West—that momentous summer when she wrote the lines to "America the Beautiful"—was not just a sightseeing jaunt to Niagara Falls and the Chicago World's Fair and Pike's Peak, but a cultural reflection of the emerging power and idealism of a young nation. I also discovered the intriguing drama behind the music—written in a moment of Victorian inspiration by Samuel Augustus Ward and re-interpreted to a new level of glory in our day by Elvis Presley and Ray Charles. I was hooked. When I sat down to write the story, I found myself doing something I'd never done professionally before: I was singing. |
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HARDCOVERISBN 978-1-58648-085-1 Pub date: 09/27/01 Price: $25.00/37.95 Canada 8-1/4 X 8-1/4 128 pages B/w and full-color photographs and illustrations throughout Carton Quantity: 10 Biography, History Selling Territory: WORLD Rights: First Serial, British Commonwealth, Translation, Audio & Electronic Rights: PublicAffairs Performance Rights: International Creative Management
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