In the most inspiring speech of his career, Ted Kennedy oncevowed: "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the workgoes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dreamshall never die." Unlike his martyred brothers, John and Robert, whose lives werecut off before the promise of a better future could be realized,Ted lived long enough to make many promises come true. During acareer that spanned an astonishing half-century, he put his imprinton every major piece of progressive legislation–from health careand education to civil rights.
The first complete, unvarnished history of Southern rock’slegendary and most popular band, from its members’ hardscrabbleboyhoods in Jacksonville, Florida and their rise to worldwide fameto the tragic plane crash that killed the founder and the band’srise again from the ashes. In the summer of 1964 Jacksonville, Florida teenager Ronnie VanZant and some of his friends hatched the idea of forming a band toplay covers of the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Yardbirds and thecountry and blues-rock music they had grown to love. Naming theirband after Leonard Skinner, the gym teacher at Robert E. Lee SeniorHigh School who constantly badgered the long-haired aspiringmusicians to get haircuts, they were soon playing gigs at parties,and bars throughout the South. During the next decade LynyrdSkynyrd grew into the most critically acclaimed and commerciallysuccessful of the rock bands to emerge from the South since theAllman Brothers. Their hits “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama”became classics. The
Katherine was a beautiful, perfect baby for the first year ofher life. Then, without warning, she changed forever. She startedcrossing her eyes. She cried at night for hours at a time and couldnot be soothed. She stopped saying words, stopped crawling, andbegan what would become a lifelong habit of wringing her hands.Hospital visits and consultations with doctors offered no answersto the mystery. Soon Katherine slipped away to a place her motherand father could never reach. In Keeping Katherine, Susan Zimmermann tells the story of herlife with her daughter Katherine, who has Rett syndrome, adevastating neurological disorder. Writing with honesty and candor,Zimmermann chronicles her personal journey to accept the changeddynamic of her family; the strain of caring for a special needschild and the pressure it placed on her marriage, career, andrelationship with her parents; the dilemma of whether Kat would bebetter cared for in a group home; and most important, the alteredreality of her daughter’s
A spirited and intimate look at American icon and activistPete Seeger, and his life and his accomplishments. Pete Seeger transformed a classic American musical style into aform of peaceful protest against war, segregation, and nuclearweapons. Drawing on his extensive talks with Seeger, Alec Wilkinsondelivers a first hand look at Seeger's unique blend of independenceand commitment, charm, courage, energy, and belief in humanequality and American democracy. We see Seeger, the child,instilled with a love of music by his parents; Seeger, theteenager, hearing real folk music for the first time; Seeger, theyoung adult, singing with Woody Guthrie. And finally, Seeger theman marching with the Rev. Martin Luther King in Selma, standing upto McCarthyism, and fighting for his beloved Hudson River. Thegigantic life captured in this slender volume is truly an Americananthem.