Carl Hiaasen

An illustrious group of women have lived and worked in the jazz world from its beginnings, but learning about them has largely been a matter of searching through footnotes or the memories of other musicians. This book, at once panoramic survey, rich anecdotal history, and musical and cultural analysis, presents for the first time the full spectrum of a century of women's experiences in and contributions to the musical tradition and culture of jazz. It presents a vividly detailed history and portrait of jazz women: women playing jazz, recording it, leading bands, writing, arranging, producing records, managing groups, and concertizing. From singers that are the "blues royalty" (including Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday); to the big-band "canaries" (including Helen Forrest and Peggy Lee); to hundreds of early instrumentalists (including pianists like Mammy Lou, the greatest attraction of a famous New Orleans brothel, and famed trumpeter Valaida Snow); to band performers (such as the swing era Melodears and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm); and hundreds others, including less well-known but talented and active performers. The jazzwomen, the music, and their lives: they're all here, placed in rough chronology divided into stylistic periods spanning ten to fifteen years each. Based on extensive research and interviews, and laced with insightful analyses of such subtle issues as the sexual imagery of certain instruments or the more mundane problem of cleaning an elaborate gown on the road, this book depicts in rich and divers detail the lives and art of these jazzwomen. Along the way it vividly recreates the overall music and culture of jazz itself. Combining his exhaustive research with a respect for and wonder at their accomplishments, an insight into the values, aesthetics, and pressures that shaped their careers, and an understanding and feel for the whole of jazz, this is the definitive work on women in jazz. -- Publisher description.

Activities to teach reading, thinking and writing. Each student packet includes : Masters for : 3 Prereading activities, 1 Study guide, 11 Vocabulary activities, 6 Literary analysis activities, 1 Writing activity, 2 Comprehension quizzes, 1 Novel test, 1 Essay test ; Plus: Detailed answer key. - back cover

Everything changes when sees a strange boy wearing no shoes run passed his bus. Come with Roy, Beatrice, and the strange boy to save the owls from the evil Paula's Pancakes.

Originally drawn to the game by his father, Carl Hiaasen wisely quit golfing in 1973. But some ambitions refuse to die, and as the years--and memories of shanked 7-irons faded, it dawned on Carl that there might be one thing in life he could do better in middle age than he could as a youth. So gradually he ventured back to the dreaded driving range, this time as the father of a five-year-old son--and also as a grandfather. "What possesses a man to return in midlife to a game at which he'd never excelled in his prime, and which in fact had dealt him mostly failure, angst and exasperation? Here's why I did it: I'm one sick bastard." And thus we have Carl's foray into a world of baffling titanium technology, high-priced golf gurus, bizarre infomercial gimmicks and the mind-bending phenomenon of Tiger Woods; a maddening universe of hooks and slices where Carl ultimately--and foolishly--agrees to compete in a country-club tournament against players who can actually hit the ball. "That's the secret of the sport's infernal seduction," he writes. "It surrenders just enough good shots to let you talk yourself out of quitting."Hiaasen's chronicle of his shaky return to this bedeviling pastime and the ensuing demolition of his self-esteem--culminating with the savage 45-hole tournament--will have you rolling with laughter. Yet the bittersweet memories of playing with his own father and the glow he feels when watching his own young son belt the ball down the fairway will also touch your heart. Forget Tiger, Phil and Ernie. If you want to understand the true lure of golf, turn to Carl Hiaasen, who offers an extraordinary audiobook for the ordinary hacker.From the Trade Paperback edition.

A group of most unusual terrorists sets out to purge Florida of greed and corruption by attacking what they consider the root source--tourists.

"Disney is so good at being good that it manifests an evil; so uniformly efficient and courteous, so dependably clean and conscientious, so unfailingly entertaining that it's unreal, and therefore is an agent of pure wickedness. ... Disney isn't in the business of exploiting Nature so much as striving to improve upon it, constantly fine-tuning God's work."--Team rodent.

"A collection of Carl Hiaasen's best columns from the past twelve years, covering topics, like hurricanes, off-shore drilling, voting rights, and political corruption, that have become national issues. Dance of the Reptiles is Carl Hiaasen's third collection of the very best of his columns for the Miami Herald. Covering topics large and small, from local issues like polluted rivers, the criminal justice system, and animal welfare to national stories like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Trayvon Martin case, Bernie Madoff's trial, and, of course, his classic commentary on Florida's presidential election woes"--

A wonderfully creative and whimsical book, the biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel. After spending his youth in the country, Flush was given to the invalid poet Elizabeth Barrett and learned to live a quiet live as her companion. Flush is jealous when Robert Browning captures Miss Barrett's attention, but eventually accepts him and is wildly happy when they all move to Italy. The lives of the poets through a dog's eyes--by Virginia Woolf, of all people! This is proof that she could write a happy book.

Once a hotshot investigative reporter, Jack Tagger now bangs out obituaries for a South Florida daily, "plotting to resurrect my newspaper career by yoking my byline to some famous stiff." Jimmy Stoma, the infamous front man of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, dead in a fishy-smelling scuba "accident," might be the stiff of Jack's dreams--if only he can figure out what happened.Standing in the way are (among others) his ambitious young editor, who hasn't yet fired anyone but plans to "break her cherry" on Jack; the rock star's pop-singer widow, who's using the occasion of her husband's death to re-launch her own career; and the soulless, profit-hungry owner of the newspaper, whom Jack once publicly humiliated at a stockholders' meeting.With clues from the dead rock singer's music, Jack ultimately unravels Jimmy Stoma's strange fate--in a hilariously hard-won triumph for muckraking journalism, and for the death-obsessed obituary writer himself."Always be halfway prepared" is Jack Tagger's motto--and it's more than enough to guarantee a wickedly funny, brilliantly entertaining novel from Carl Hiaasen.

Yes, life is a shit blizzard. No, you're not all doomed. Assuming the worst is the best and most promising course. It will keep despair and disillusionment at bay. It will also free you to be pleasantly startled when you get a boss who's actually good at his or her job, meet a politician who isn't on the take or dine with a twitchy-in-law who doesn't hit you up for money. From bestselling comic-crime-writing genius Carl Hiaasen, this is a hilarious spoof graduation speech to point us all in the right direction. --Cover