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Can You Hear Me?: An NHS Paramedic's Encounters with Life and Death
by Jake JonesA young man has stopped breathing in a supermarket toilet. A pedestrian with a nasty head injury won't let the crew near him on a busy road. A newborn baby is worryingly silent. An addict urinates on the ambulance floor when denied a fix. This is the life of an ambulance paramedic.Jake Jones has worked in the UK ambulance service for ten years: every day, he sees a dozen of the scenes we hope to see only once in a lifetime. Can You Hear Me? - the first thing he says when he arrives on the scene - is a memoir of the chaos, intensity and occasional beauty of life on the front-lines of medicine in the UK. As well as a look into dozens of extraordinary scenes - the hoarder who won't move his collection to let his ailing father leave the house, the blood-soaked man who tries to escape from the ambulance, the life saved by a lucky crew who had been called to see someone else entirely - Can You Hear Me? is an honest examination of the strains and challenges of one of the most demanding and important jobs anyone can do.(P)2020 Quercus Editions Limited
Can You Keep A Secret?
by J. M. DoeWith no solace or alternative in sight, Leah makes the only choice she can: to return to the faraway country that now holds her daughter. The mystical fairy-tale land that once upon a time brought love and happiness has disappeared. Will Leah be prepared for what happens next? In her midtwenties, Leah Jones has moved to California to continue her education in advanced nursing. Upon completion of her studies, she comes across a newspaper ad that reads, "Nurses Wanted in Saudi Arabia." It sounds like a perfect match for her spirit of adventure and her love of travel. In sharp contrast to her conservative life spent in Kansas, this foreign land beckons her; and don't they always say that when you are least expecting it, love will find its way? In this bizarre land, Leah finally meets her prince, the man of her dreams, Abdul. Love blossoms. Abdul is not your typical Saudi man, and when he proposes Leah readily accepts. They marry in Cyprus, honeymoon around the world, and travel to California to set up their first home together. Back in the United States, their beautiful daughter, Aisha, is born, but Leah's blissful marriage soon unravels. Then her worst nightmare becomes a reality: Aisha does not return from her visit to Disneyland with her father. The man who had promised on the Quran that he would never take their child from her mother has abducted Aisha and taken her to Saudi Arabia. With no solace or alternative in sight, Leah makes the only choice she can: to return to the faraway country that now holds her daughter. The mystical fairy-tale land that once upon a time brought love and happiness has disappeared. Will Leah be prepared for what happens next?
Can You Make This Thing Go Faster?
by Jeremy ClarksonThe hilarious new collection of stories and observations from Jeremy Clarkson - setting our off-kilter world to rights with thigh-slapping wit once again.Who is that tractor-driving Gentleman Farmer?Has Jeremy turned into a horny-handed son of the soil?These and other perplexing questions may or may not be answered in the latest volume of Clarkson's utterly unbiased musings on life, the universe and everything in between (except cars - this isn't one of his four-wheel drive books).Inside you'll also discover why:· Bathing in crude oil isn't for everyone· People who go fishing hate their kids· Noise-cancelling headphones will never silence James May· The rambler who stole his marrow is in for itFull of fact-checked opinions and ideas so good they're no longer following the science but chasing it up a tree, Can You Make This Thing Go Faster? is one hundred per cent guaranteed Clarkson . . .Praise for Clarkson:'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph'Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches' Time Out'Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube' Evening Standard
Can You Open My Eyes?
by Qusay Hussein Monica UrsoQusay Hussein was just seventeen years old when a car bomber changed his life and he lost his vision. That was the beginning of a journey from Iraq, to Jordan, and across the world to the United States. That one moment caused Qusay to leave Iraq and his family, and start a solo adventure in a new country learning English. Despite incredible challenges and physical trauma that resulted in more than 70 reconstructive surgeries, Qusay shares his story with unforgettable positivity, strength, humor, and courage. He makes life in Iraq and the United States come alive for us and we see new things through his eyes. You will never forget this incredible testament to human resilience and determination.
Can You Tolerate This?: Essays
by Ashleigh YoungA dazzling - and already prizewinning - collection of essays on youth and aging, ambition and disappointment, Katherine Mansfield tourism and New Zealand punk rock, and the limitations of the body. Youth and frailty, ambition and anxiety, the limitations of the body and the challenges of personal transformation: these are the undercurrents that animate acclaimed poet Ashleigh Young's first collection of essays. In Can You Tolerate This?--the title comes from the question chiropractors ask to test a patient's pain threshold--Young ushers us into her early years in the faraway yet familiar landscape of New Zealand: fantasizing about Paul McCartney, cheering on her older brother's fledging music career, and yearning for a larger and more creative life. As Young's perspective expands, a series of historical portraits--a boy who grew new bone wherever he was injured, an early French postman who built a stone fortress by hand, a generation of Japanese shut-ins--strike unexpected personal harmonies, as an unselfconscious childhood gives way to painful shyness in adolescence. As we watch Young fall in and out of love, undertake an intense yoga practice that masks an eating disorder, and gradually find herself through her writing, a highly particular psyche comes into view: curious, tender, and exacting in her observations of herself and the world around her. Can You Tolerate This? presents a vivid self-portrait of an introspective yet widely curious young woman, the colorful, isolated community in which she comes of age, and the uneasy tensions--between safety and risk, love and solitude, the catharsis of grief and the ecstasy of creation--that define our lives.
Can You Top This?
by Senator Ed Ford Harry Hirschfield Joe Laurie Jr.You know this trio of gagsters. They’re heard twice weekly, over the NBC national hookup on Fridays, and over station WOR every Wednesday night.Here, sifted from thousands of their best, is the very cream of their jets. Most of these stories broke the Laughmeter as studio audiences howled with delight. Even if you’ve heard some of them before, you’ll love the new twist these experts have given them.Just to add to the general hilarity of the book, thumbnose sketches of each other have been written by those versatile gentlemen, and a further attraction, they have thrown in cartoons too.One word of warning before you open CAN YOU TOP THIS? Don’t blame us if you laugh yourself sick.
Can a Coal Scuttle Fly
by Tom Miller Camay Calloway MurphyTom Miller tells us about his journey to becoming an artist.
Can a Skeptic Believe in God?: My Story
by James PolsonThe author was a skeptic by nature and a research scientist by training. Could such a person ever believe in God? This book recounts the skeptical author’s quest to discover whether anything can be proven about the existence of God, the existence of heaven and hell, and whether there is anything a person can do to change his eternal destiny. His search led to some vital truths that he and others can believe in.
Can't Be Satisfied: The Life And Times Of Muddy Waters
by Robert GordonThe definitive biography of the most influential blues musician of them all. In a nutshell: no Muddy Waters, no Rolling Stones. ‘Can’t Be Satisfied is that rare thing in musical biographies: a book that maps out not just a single, extraordinary life but the cultural forces that shaped it.
Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters
by Robert GordonMuddy Waters invented electric blues and created the template for the rock and roll band and its wild lifestyle. Gordon excavates Muddy's mysterious past and early career, taking us from Mississippi fields to postwar Chicago street corners.
Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America
by Jonathan GouldNearly twenty years in the making, Can't Buy Me Love is a masterful work of group biography, cultural history, and musical criticism. That the Beatles were an unprecedented phenomenon is a given. In Can't Buy Me Love, Jonathan Gould seeks to explain why, placing the Fab Four in the broad and tumultuous panorama of their time and place, rooting their story in the social context that girded both their rise and their demise. Beginning with their adolescence in Liverpool, Gould describes the seminal influences--from Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry to The Goon Show and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland--that shaped the Beatles both as individuals and as a group. In addition to chronicling their growth as singers, songwriters, and instrumentalists, he highlights the advances in recording technology that made their sound both possible and unique, as well as the developments in television and radio that lent an explosive force to their popular success. With a musician's ear, Gould sensitively evokes the timeless appeal of the Lennon-McCartney collaboration and their emergence as one of the most creative and significant songwriting teams in history. And he sheds new light on the significance of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as rock's first concept album, down to its memorable cover art. Behind the scenes Gould explores the pivotal roles played by manager Brian Epstein and producer George Martin, credits the influence on the Beatles' music of contemporaries like Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, and Ravi Shankar, and traces the gradual escalation of the fractious internal rivalries that led to the group's breakup after their final masterpiece, Abbey Road. Most significantly, by chronicling their revolutionary impact on popular culture during the 1960s, Can't Buy Me Love illuminates the Beatles as a charismatic phenomenon of international proportions, whose anarchic energy and unexpected import was derived from the historic shifts in fortune that transformed the relationship between Britain and America in the decades after World War II. From the Beats in America and the Angry Young Men in England to the shadow of the Profumo Affair and JFK's assassination, Gould captures the pulse of a time that made the Beatles possible--and even necessary. As seen through the prism of the Beatles and their music, an entire generation's experience comes astonishingly to life. Beautifully written, consistently insightful, and utterly original, Can't Buy Me Love is a landmark work about the Beatles, Britain, and America. From the Hardcover edition.
Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America
by Jonathan GouldJonathan Gould's Can't Buy Me Love is more than just a book on the Beatles; it's a stunning recreation of the 1960s in England and America through the prism of the world's most iconic band. The Beatles, perhaps more than any act before or since, were a quintessential product of their time, and Gould brilliantly blends cultural history, musical analysis and group biography to show the unique part they played in the shaping of post-war Britain and America. Gould examines the influence of R&B, rockabilly, skiffle and Motown as the Fab Four forged a sound of their own; he illuminates the mercurial relationship the most productive and lucrative in recording music history between John Lennon and Paul McCartney; he critiques the songs they played and the movies they made, and their impact on competing bands and musicians, as well as on fashion, hairstyles, and humour; and he shows how events on both sides of the Atlantic created exactly the right cultural climate for the biggest music phenomenon of 20th century. Beautifully written, insightful, and wonderfully evocative, this is a magisterial biography by a popular historian of the very first rank.
Can't Forgive: My 20-Year Battle with O.J. Simpson
by Kim GoldmanDon't tell her she needs to find closure. Don't ask her to forgive and forget. When Kim Goldman was just 22, her older brother, Ron, was brutally killed by O.J. Simpson—a horrifying event that led to one of the most public trials in American history. Ron and Kim were very close, and her devastation was compounded by the shocking not-guilty verdict that allowed a smirking Simpson to leave as a free man. Not only did Kim have to live with the painful knowledge that her brother's killer walked free, but she also struggled to keep her grief private from the media frenzy and outpouring of public opinion. Counseled by friends, strangers, and even Oprah to "find closure," Kim chose a different route. She chose to fight—not just for her brother and her family, but for others, as she found her calling working with victims' families in pursuit of justice and peace. From her parents' devastating divorce and a life-changing car accident to living life as one of America's most famous victims and dating as a single mother, Can't Forgive tells of an ordinary person thrown into extraordinary circumstances at a very young age who had the courage—despite the discouragement of so many—to ignore conventional wisdom and never give up her fight for justice.
Can't Help Myself: Lessons & Confessions from a Modern Advice Columnist
by Meredith GoldsteinA disarmingly honest memoir about giving advice when you're not sure what you're doing yourself, by the woman behind The Boston Globe's Love Letters column. <P><P>Every day, Boston Globe advice columnist Meredith Goldstein takes on the relationship problems of thousands of dedicated readers. They look to her for wisdom on all matters of the heart- how to cope with dating fatigue and infidelity, work romances, tired marriages, true love, and true loss. In her column, she has it all figured out, but in her real life she is a lot less certain.<P> Whether it's her own reservations about the traditional path of marriage and family, her difficulty finding someone she truly connects with, or the evolution of her friendships as her friends start to have their own families, Meredith finds herself looking for insight, just like her readers. As she searches for responses to their concerns, she's surprised to discover answers to her own. But it's after her mother is diagnosed with cancer that she truly realizes how special her Love Letters community is, how this column has enriched her life as much, if not more than, it has for its readers. <P>CAN'T HELP MYSELF is the extraordinary (and often hilarious) story of a single woman navigating her mercurial love life, and a moving and poignant portrait of an amazing community of big-hearted, love-seeking allies.
Can't Help Singing: The Life of Eileen Farrell
by Eileen Farrell Brian KellowEileen Farrell is blessed with two voices. A classically-trained dramatic soprano who also loves to belt pop songs and torch the blues, she successfully conquered the worlds of opera and popular music over the course of her whirlwind career. Now, Farrell shares reminiscences about her remarkable professional and personal life. With candor, humor, and affection, she recalls her New England childhood, her overnight success at age twenty as star of her own CBS radio show, her big break dubbing vocals for Eleanor Parker in the MGM movie Interrupted Melody, and her many guest appearances on television shows. Farrell discusses her rise to fame as an opera star, from her highly acclaimed performance in Medea in 1955, to her historic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Alceste in 1960. She also fondly recollects her marriage of forty years to New York police officer Robert Reagan and her life outside the limelight, including her frustrating tenure as a faculty member at Indiana University. Farrell speaks frankly about her tumultuous years at the Met, where her head-to-head confrontations with Sir Rudolph Bing brought her promising operatic career to an abrupt close after five seasons. While she loved singing the music of Verdi, Mascagni, and Giordano, Farrell reveals that she never reconciled herself to the life of a diva, preferring the friendliness of show business to the aloofness of the opera world. Populated with such figures as Leonard Bernstein, Arturo Toscanini, Maria Callas, Ethel Merman, Mabel Mercer, and Carol Burnett, this engaging memoir takes the reader from backstage at the Met to behind-the-scenes of the Ed Sullivan Show, providing a fascinating view of opera and the entertainment industry. Eileen Farrell's legion of fans will delight in her inviting story of a career that was like no other singer's.
Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
by David GogginsFor David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare - poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a US Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him The Fittest (Real) Man in America. <P><P>In Can't Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.
Can't Is Not an Option: My American Story
by Nikki HaleyA rising star in the Republican Party shares her inspirational memoir of family, hope, and the power of the American Dream. Decades before their daughter surprised the nation by becoming governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley's parents had a dream. Ajit and Raj Randhawa were well-educated, well-off Sikhs in the Punjab region of India. But despite their high social status, the Randhawas wanted more for their family-the opportunities that only America could offer. So they left behind all they had known and settled in Bamberg, South Carolina (population: 2,500). As the first Indian family in a small Southern town in the early 1970s, the Randhawas faced ignorance, prejudice, and sometimes blatant hostility. Nikki remembers stopping at a roadside produce stand with her father, who always wore his traditional Sikh turban. Within minutes, two police cars pulled to make sure they weren't thieves. But the Randhawas taught their children that they should never think of themselves as victims. They stressed that if you work hard and stay true to yourself, you can overcome any obstacle. The key is believing that can't is not an option. The family struggled to make ends meet while starting a clothing business in their living room, eventually growing it into a multimillion- dollar success. At age twelve, Nikki started to do the bookkeeping and taxes after school. After graduating from college and entering the business world, she watched business owners like her parents battle government bureaucracy and overregulation. Her frustration inspired her to get into politics and run for the state legislature. That first campaign, against an entrenched incumbent, led to racial and religious slurs and threats-but Haley, like her parents, refused to back down. She won on a promise to fight for reform, lean budgets, and government accountability, which is exactly what she did-much to the dismay of South Carolina's old guard politicians. Soon she had a reputation as a conservative leader who could get things done. In the same state where her family was once ridiculed, she inspired a diverse grassroots following. In November 2010 she was elected South Carolina's first female governor and first nonwhite governor, and only the second Indian American governor in the country. Haley's story, as told firsthand in this inspiring memoir, is a testament to the power of determination, faith, and family. And it's proof that the American Dream is still strong and true in the twenty- first century. .
Can't Knock the Hustle: Inside the Season of Protest, Pandemic, and Progress with the Brooklyn Nets' Superstars of Tomorrow
by Matt Sullivan“Brilliantly audacious…written with the profundity of a sage baller and the acuity of a seasoned journalist.”—Kiese Laymon, New York Times bestselling author of Heavy An award-winning journalist's behind-the-scenes account from the epicenter of sports, social justice, and coronavirus, Can't Knock the Hustle is a lasting chronicle of the historic 2019-2020 NBA season, by way of the notorious Brooklyn Nets and basketball's renaissance as a cultural force beyond the game.The Nets were already the most intriguing startup in the NBA: a team of influencers, entrepreneurs and activists, starring the controversial Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. But this dynasty-in-the-making got disrupted by the unforeseen. One tweet launched an international scandal, pitting the team's Chinese owner and the league's commissioner against its players and LeBron James. The sudden death of Kobe Bryant, after making his final public appearance in Brooklyn, sent shockwaves through a turbulent season.Then came the unimaginable. A global pandemic and a new civil-rights movement put basketball's trend-setting status to the ultimate test, as business and culture followed the lead of the NBA and its empowered stars. No team intersected with the extremes of 2020 quite like the Brooklyn Nets, and Matt Sullivan had a courtside view.Can't Knock the Hustle crosses from on the court, where underdogs confront A-listers like Jay-Z and James Harden, to off the court, as players march through the streets of Brooklyn, provoke Donald Trump at the White House, and boycott the NBA's bubble experiment in Disney World. Hundreds of interviews—with Hall-of-Famers, All-Stars, executives, coaches and power-brokers across the world—provide a backdrop of the NBA's impact on social media, race, politics, health, fashion, fame and fandom, for a portrait of a time when sports brought us back together again, like never before.
Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year
by Michaelangelo MatosThe definitive account of pop music in the mid-eighties, from Prince and Madonna to the underground hip-hop, indie rock, and club scenesEverybody knows the hits of 1984 - pop music's greatest year. From "Thriller" to "Purple Rain," "Hello" to "Against All Odds," "What's Love Got to Do with It" to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," these iconic songs continue to dominate advertising, karaoke nights, and the soundtracks for film classics (Boogie Nights) and TV hits (Stranger Things). But the story of that thrilling, turbulent time, an era when Top 40 radio was both the leading edge of popular culture and a moral battleground, has never been told with the full detail it deserves - until now. Can't Slow Down is the definitive portrait of the exploding world of mid-eighties pop and the time it defined, from Cold War anxiety to the home-computer revolution. Big acts like Michael Jackson (Thriller), Prince (Purple Rain), Madonna (Like a Virgin), Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A.), and George Michael (Wham!'s Make It Big) rubbed shoulders with the stars of the fermenting scenes of hip-hop, indie rock, and club music. Rigorously researched, mapping the entire terrain of American pop, with crucial side trips to the UK and Jamaica, from the biz to the stars to the upstarts and beyond, Can't Slow Down is a vivid journey to the very moment when pop was remaking itself, and the culture at large - one hit at a time.
Can't Stand Up For Sitting Down
by Jo BrandThe Stand-Up while Sitting Down Years...Jo Brand is one of our best-loved comedians, according to a quote she made up. This memoir is full of hard-won wisdom, hilarity and her views on life, laughs, friendships and all the good and bad things in the world. If she was Prime Minister, the country would be in even more of a mess than it is.
Can't Stand Up For Sitting Down
by Jo BrandThe Stand-Up while Sitting Down Years...Jo Brand tells the story of how she crawled to fame and fortune, managed to persuade someone to marry her and had some children at an age when she should have been in a bath chair on the seafront. In this second volume of her memoirs, Jo recounts wild times on the comedy circuit, the attempts to tart her up for the TV screen, running the marathon, rally driving, her numerous, occasionally extremely inebriated, Edinburgh festival appearances, her 'acting' career, and much, much more.Jo Brand is one of our best-loved comedians, according to a quote she made up. This memoir is full of hard-won wisdom, hilarity and her views on life, laughs, friendships and all the good and bad things in the world. If she was Prime Minister, the country would be in even more of a mess than it is.(P)2010 Headline Digital
Can't Stop Won't Stop (Young Adult Edition): A Hip-Hop History
by Jeff Chang Dave CookThe American Book Award winner, now completely adapted for a young adult audience! From award-winning author Jeff Chang, Can't Stop Won't Stop is the story of hip-hop, a generation-defining movement and the music that transformed American politics and culture forever. Hip hop is one of the most dominant and influential cultures in America, giving new voice to the younger generation. It defines a generation's worldview. Exploring hip hop's beginnings up to the present day, Jeff Chang and Dave "Davey D" Cook provide a provocative look into the new world that the hip hop generation has created. Based on original interviews with DJs, b-boys, rappers, activists, and gang members, with unforgettable portraits of many of hip hop's forebears, founders, mavericks, and present day icons, this book chronicles the epic events, ideas and the music that marked the hip hop generation's rise.
Can't Think Straight: A Memoir of Mixed-Up Love
by Rosalind Noonan Janna Mcmahan Kiri BlakeleySo that was it. You send your fiancé to the dry cleaners one day and he comes back gay. When Kiri Blakeley realizes her ten-year relationship was built on lies, she screams. Then drinks. And spends the ensuing months in a foggy, new world of sexual encounters. This is her story of learning to love (whatever that means) again."A page-turner. . .you'll never look at your significant other quite the same again." --Jonathan Alpert, Metro's "No More Drama" columnist "A journey from devastation to renewal." --Alisa Bowman, author Project: Happily Ever After "Brutally honest, self-deprecating, emotionally-wrenching, and somehow still laugh-out-loud funny." --Kimberly Dawn Neumann, author of The Real Reasons Men Commit"A book you and your friends will be quoting, pondering, and rehashing." --Hannah Seligson, author of New Girl on the Job "Erica Jong meets Tucker Max. . .wickedly funny." --Judy Dutton, author of Secrets from the Sex LabFor ten years Kiri Blakeley was a writer for Forbes magazine, where she covered entertainment, fashion, lifestyle, technology, travel, wealthy people, and entrepreneurs. She graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She lives in Brooklyn.
Can't We Be Friends: A Novel of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe
by Eliza Knight Denny S. BryceAward-winning author Denny S. Bryce and USA Today bestselling author Eliza Knight collaborate on a brilliant novel that uncovers the boundary-breaking, genuine friendship between Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, and iconic movie star Marilyn Monroe. One woman was recognized as the premiere singer of her era with perfect pitch and tireless ambition.One woman was the most glamorous star in Hollywood, a sex symbol who took the world by storm.And their friendship was fast and firm…1952: Ella Fitzgerald is a renowned jazz singer whose only roadblock to longevity is society’s attitude toward women and race. Marilyn Monroe’s star is rising despite ongoing battles with movie studio bigwigs and boyfriends. When she needs help with her singing, she wants only the best—and the best is the brilliant Ella Fitzgerald. But Ella isn’t a singing teacher and declines—then the two women meet, and to everyone’s surprise but their own, they become fast friends. On the surface, what could they have in common? Yet each was underestimated by the men in their lives—husbands, managers, hangers-on. And both were determined to gain. Each fought for professional independence and personal agency in a time when women were expected to surrender control to those same men. This novel reveals and celebrates their surprising bond over a decade and serves as a poignant reminder of how true friendship can cross differences to bolster and sustain us through haunting heartbreak and wild success.
Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life Of Bill Monroe, Father Of Bluegrass
by Richard A. SmithFrom the book jacket: Elvis Presley chose one of his songs, "Blue Moon of Kentucky," for his first single. A young Jerry Garcia traveled crosscountry to audition for his band. Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, and even Frank Sinatra were fans. Considering the range of stars and styles that claim him as an influence, no single artist has had as broad an impact on American popular music as Bill Monroe. Born in 1911 in rural Kentucky, Monroe melded the fiddle tunes, ballads, and blues of his youth into the "high lonesome" sound known today as bluegrass, making him perhaps the only performer to create an entire musical genre. His distinctive bluegrass style profoundly influenced country, early rock 'n' roll, and the folk revival of the 1960s. A Grand Ole Opry star for almost sixty years, Monroe was a searing mandolinist who redefined the instrument, a haunting high-range vocalist, and a godlike figure to generations of admirers who became famous in their own right. When Monroe died in 1996, he was universally acclaimed as "the Father of Bluegrass," but the personal life of this taciturn figure remained largely unknown. His childhood feelings of isolation and abandonment- "lonesomeness" he called it-fueled his reckless womanizing in adulthood and inspired his most powerful compositions. From his professional breakthrough in the Monroe Brothers duet act to his bitter rivalry with former sidemen Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs to his final days as a revered elder statesman of bluegrass, Monroe's career was filled with trials and triumphs. Now, veteran bluegrass journalist Richard D. Smith has interviewed a multitude of Monroe's surviving friends, lovers, colleagues, and contemporaries to create a three-dimensional portrait of this brilliant, complex, and contradictory man. Compel lingly narrated and thoroughly researched, Can't You Hear Me Callin' is the definitive biography of a true giant of American music. RICHARD D. SMITH is a journalist whose work has appeared in a number of national publications, including the NewYork Times, Bloomberg magazine, and the Journal of Country Music. The author of Bluegrass: An Informal Guide, he is also a reviewer for Bluegrass Unlimited magazine and plays mandolin and guitar. He lives in Rocky Hill, New Jersey.