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Ricky: The Autobiography
by Ricky TomlinsonI know that I'm going to get stick over this book, but there you go - it can't be helped. And some readers might think I'm a terrible liar when they read what follows, but everything in this book is true. Enough lies have been told about me, without me adding to them.' Famous as the lovable couch potato Jim Royle of The Royle Family, Ricky Tomlinson has entertained millions without ever leaving his armchair. Now, in his long-awaited autobiography, he surprises yet again with a remarkable story of love, hardship, humour, injustice and triumph. His mother used to tell him that he had lived three lives, but even she miscounted. He has been a plasterer, banjo player, stand-up comic, union agitator, political activist, film extra, award-winning actor and unwilling guest of Her Majesty's prison service. Renowned and respected for his honesty, wit and integrity, Ricky brings all of these qualities to his extraordinary, moving and inspiring story.
Ricochet: Two war reporters and a friendship under fire
by Mary Jo McConahayA stunning memoir by California Book Award winner Mary Jo McConahay, from her years reporting for national magazines from Central America. When three colleagues die violently during a single wartime election day in Central America, two female journalists, best friends, are hurled into a torrent of change in their personal and professional lives and in their relationship with each other. The author, bedeviled by stress and feelings of abandonment, hangs on by her fingernails to reporting while her dear friend &“just can&’t take another picture of a dead body&” and throws herself into teaching photography to children who live in a garbage dump. Big questions quietly roil their lives—What is our responsibility to history? To individuals?—until unexpectedly, they approach an answer together, when a child from the dump goes missing.
Ricos y famosos: Un fascinante recorrido por la vida pública y privada de personajes influyentes
by BioLos amores, los desamores, los celos, los escándalos sexuales, el alcohol, la cárcel, las drogas, las luces y las sombras de los famosos más seguidos del momento, contadas en exclusiva por BIO, el canal especializado en el mundo de las celebrities. George Clooney Penélope Cruz Chris Martin Giorgio Armani Angelina Jolie Mark Zuckerberg Michael Jackson Lance Armstrong Leonardo DiCaprio Whitney Houston Carolina Herrera Amy Winehouse Larry Page y Sergei Brin Tiger Woods Amancio Ortega Sean Penn Britney Spears Ray Crock Rafael Nadal Steve Jobs Un fascinante recorrido por la vida pública y privada de los personajes más influyentes. Provenientes del mundo del cine, la música, el deporte, la moda y los negocios, estas veinte personalidades del panorama internacional han luchado por llegar a lo más alto.Pero el camino hacia el éxito no siempre ha sido fácil y, para algunos de ellos, ha supuesto una caída posterior en las drogas, la enfermedad, la depresión e, incluso, la muerte. Contratos millonarios, éxitos sin precedentes, historias de superación personal, problemas con la justicia, romances e infidelidades... todo tiene cabida en un libro lleno de información exclusiva sobre las luces y las sombras de la fama internacional. Reunidos por BIO, el canal especializado en la crónica de vidas extraordinarias, Ricos y famosos recrea los aspectos menos conocidos de las vidas de un selecto elenco de personajes que se han convertido en hitos de nuestro tiempo.
Ride Free: A Memoir
by Willie G. DavidsonWillie G. Davidson likes to say that he was born with gasoline in his veins and a crayon in each hand. A designer at heart, Davidson combined his passions for art and motorcycles to extend a multi-generational unbroken thread from Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company&’s birth in a wooden shed in the early twentieth century to today. The grandson of one of the company&’s founders and the son of one of its longtime presidents, Davidson created a series of iconic designs that defined Harley-Davidson &“factory custom&” bikes and cemented its standing as the premier motorcycle company in the world. Davidson was instrumental in saving the company from bankruptcy and then helping it explode into a global phenomenon. For more than five decades, Davidson was more than a namesake of the founders; he was the heart and soul of Harley-Davidson and a personal connection to millions of riders around the world who knew him simply as "Willie G." Throughout his life Davidson has embodied a close-to-the-customer relationship, by attending motorcycle rallies, rides, and races with his late wife, Nancy, the &“First Lady of Motorcycling,&” and son and daughter Bill and Karen Davidson who recently joined their famous parents by being inducted into the Sturgis Motorcycle Hall of Fame and play key roles in the Motor Company today. In Ride Free, Davidson recounts his memories of family, relationships, and events that defined his extraordinary life and legacy of power, passion, and purpose. Davidson gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the planning, design, and conception of legendary bikes that inspired millions of riders over the past half-century; stories of his unforgettable rides around the world; the people he encountered while navigating thousands of miles on the roads; and the legacy that he and his family have created which will carry on the most famous name in motorcycles.
Ride Like Hell and You'll Get There: Detours into mayhem
by Paul CarterATTEMPTING 300KPH on an untested experimental motorcycle could be considered a perfect way to kill yourself, but Paul Carter is still, well, PAUL CARTER and danger at high speed is his second name. Whether discovering that being dyslexic means delivering your lines to camera back to front in the midst of filming a TV series, or starting a new business and travelling the world, or dealing with life's more sober moments like the birth of a son or the loss of a father, Paul Carter is still the funniest man in the bar and the nicest 'alpha male' you'll ever meet as he risks all for the sake of a cracking yarn. SO STRAP YOURSELF IN and HOLD ON TIGHT for his FOURTH BOOK - we just have to hope that he won't be institutionalised before completing his fifth!
Ride a White Swan: The Lives and Death of Marc Bolan
by Lesley-Ann Jones*** By the Sunday Times bestselling author of BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY ***From mod folk artist to flower power pixie elfin to the king of glam rockers, Marc Bolan was the ultimate chameleon. His far-reaching musical and stylistic influence is more relevant today than ever with hits such as 'Ride A White Swan', 'Children Of The Revolution', 'Get It On' and 'Hot Love' as fresh and exhilarating as when first released. At the peak of his popularity during his lifetime Bolan was outselling Jimi Hendrix and The Who, and yet relatively little is really known about the hypnotic, enigmatic 20th century boy turned 21st century icon. At last, in the 35th anniversary year of his tragic death, Marc Bolan represents the definite biography. Here rock biographer, Lesley-Ann Jones, paints a meticulous portrait of the T-Rex front man. From his childhood growing up in Hackney to his untimely death at the age of 29, Bolan's life was one of relentless experimentation and metamorphoses. Hallucinogenic drugs, wizardry and levitation, alcoholism, tax evasion and a spectacular fall from grace were to punctuate his short life, as he continued to strive to reinvent himself and his music over and over again. Lesley-Ann has been granted access to those who knew Bolan best, including his partner and the mother of his only son, Gloria Jones and his brother, Harry Feld.
Ride or Die: Loving Through Tragedy, A Husband's Memoir
by Jarie BolanderModern society has a warped sense of the partner-caregiver role, especially for men. Too often, men are ill equipped to handle switching from provider to caregiver, and the &“just suck it up&” advice so many offer up falls as flat as the Kansas prairie in the face of the reality of life and death.Ride or Die takes its audience through the intimate conversations and thoughts of a Gen-X latchkey-generation husband—a man who has always had to fend for himself and believed that it&’s up to him to solve his own problems—as and after his wife, Jane, succumbs to a terminal disease.Jarie Bolander wrote this raw, heartfelt tribute to Jane and her handling of her illness to help men and the people who love them through the experience of loss and grief. A frank chronicle of how an intimate relationship can change and grow—even when the people involved feel there is nothing left to give—Ride or Die offers a detailed exploration of the male experience of grief, in the hopes that others suffering through it will not feel so alone.
Ride the Devil's Herd: Wyatt Earp's Epic Battle Against the West's Biggest Outlaw Gang
by John BoesseneckerThe story of how a young Wyatt Earp and his brothers defeated the Old West’s biggest outlaw gang, by the New York Times–bestselling author of Texas Ranger.Wyatt Earp is regarded as the most famous lawman of the Old West, best known for his role in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. But the story of his two-year war with a band of outlaws known as the Cowboys has never been told in full.The Cowboys were the largest outlaw gang in the history of the American West. After battles with the law in Texas and New Mexico, they shifted their operations to Arizona. There, led by Curly Bill Brocius, they ruled the border, robbing, rustling, smuggling and killing with impunity until they made the fatal mistake of tangling with the Earp brothers.Drawing on groundbreaking research into territorial and federal government records, John Boessenecker’s Ride the Devil’s Herd reveals a time and place in which homicide rates were fifty times higher than those today. The story still bears surprising relevance for contemporary America, involving hot-button issues such as gang violence, border security, unlawful immigration, the dangers of political propagandists parading as journalists, and the prosecution of police officers for carrying out their official duties. Wyatt Earp saw it all in Tombstone.Praise for Ride the Devil’s HerdA Pim County Public Library Southwest Books of the Year 2021A True West Reader’s Choice for Best 2020 Western NonfictionWinner of the Best Book Award by the Wild West History Association“A marvelous book. By means of meticulous research and splendid writing John Boessenecker has managed to do something never before attempted or accomplished, tying together the many violent clashes between lawmen and outlaws in the American southwest of the 1870-1890 period and showing how depredations by loosely organized gangs of outlaws actually threatened “Manifest Destiny” and the successful taming of the Wild West.” —Robert K. DeArment, author and historian“A ripsnortin’ ramble across the bloodstained Arizona desert with Wyatt Earp and company. . . . Boessenecker displays a fine eye for period detail. . . . A pleasure for thoughtful fans of Old West history, revisionist without being iconoclastic.” —Kirkus Reviews
Ride the Wind: The Story of Cynthia Ann Parker and the Last Days of the Comanche
by Lucia St RobsonIn 1836, when she was nine years old, Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by Comanche Indians. This is the story of how she grew up with them, mastered their ways, married one of their leaders, and became, in every way, a Comanche woman. It is also the story of a proud and innocent people whose lives pulsed with the very heartbeat of the land. It is the story of a way of life that is gone forever.
Riders West
by Ernest HaycoxA MAN ON THE PROD—A RANGE AT WARNeel St. Could, forced by his vendetta with Dan Bellew, had a plan to turn the peaceful valley into an outlaw strip ruled by flaming guns.First he put his own crooked sheriff into office. Then he imported an army of gunslicks, took over Trail City and burned out the nesters. With the remaining spreads isolated, St. Cloud made his move.And on a storm-lashed night a hundred guns fought it out—with St. Cloud and Dan Bellew clashing head-on in their own personal battle.“Fast and Breathless”—New York Times
Riding (Practices)
by Pardis MahdaviIn Riding, Pardis Mahdavi meditates on the lessons learned over a lifetime of horseback riding and the falling, failing, and joy it brings. At once a history of Caspian horses, an exploration of Mahdavi’s Iranian-American identity and family history, and a consideration of the capacity for self-reflection and self-compassion through human-animal relationships, Riding offers a roadmap for learning to live in harmony with the self and the environment around us. Mahdavi shows how her relationship with horses gives her insights into intergenerational strength and tools for healing intergenerational trauma. Riding from the mountains of Iran to the beaches of California, Mahdavi shares her love affair with horses, rediscovers a homeland she longs for, and ultimately finds her strength.
Riding Fury Home: A Memoir
by Chana WilsonIn 1958, when Chana Wilson was seven, her mother held a rifle to her head and pulled the trigger. The gun jammed and she was taken away to a mental hospital. On her return, Chana became the caretaker of her heavily medicated, suicidal mother. It would be many years before she learned the secret of her mother’s anguish: her love affair with another married woman, and the psychiatric treatment aimed at curing her of her lesbianism. Riding Fury Homespans forty years of the intense, complex relationship between Chana and her mother-the trauma of their early years together, the transformation and joy they found when they both came out in the 1970s, and the deep bond that grew between them. From the intolerance of the '50s to the exhilaration of the women’s movement of the '70s and beyond, the book traces the profound ways in which their two lives were impacted by the social landscape of their time. Exquisitely written and devastatingly honest,Riding Fury Homeis a shattering account of one family’s struggle against homophobia and mental illness-and a powerful story of healing, forgiveness, and redemption.
Riding High: How I Kissed SoulCycle Goodbye, Co-Founded Flywheel, and Built the Life I Always Wanted
by Ruth ZukermanFrom the co-founder of Flywheel and SoulCycle comes Riding High, a story of perseverance and success.“Ruth Zukerman is an inspiration. She somehow had a keen sense that indoor cycling was going to be a huge trend and she wasted no time turning it into a lucrative business. I'm among the legions of Flywheel fans who make Ruth's class part of our regular routine. Her energy, enthusiasm and great playlist keeps us spinning and coming back for more." —KATIE COURICRuth Zukerman is the Queen of Spinning: she put the Soul in SoulCycle and the Fly in Flywheel.Recounting the pivotal moments that helped launch Zukerman as the breakout star of the boutique fitness world, Riding High is a reminder that the greatest success stories often start in the unlikeliest of places.Ruth Zukerman used her heartache–at the death of her father, the end of her marriage, and the dissolution of her first business partnership with SoulCycle, as the inspiration to reinvent herself. At 51, she co-founded a new business, the highly successful Flywheel, and built the life she’d always dreamed of. And she did it all while navigating through single motherhood and a business world that is often unkind to women, especially those who wear their hearts on their sleeves. Riding High is a prescriptive, warts-and-all journey through Ruth’s evolution, offering fresh, unexpected business and life lessons to help readers recognize their own potential and channel their passion into success. Part confidante, part mentor, Ruth pulls no punches and holds nothing back.
Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb
by Iris Jamahl DunkleThis saga of a writer done dirty resurrects the silenced voice of Sanora Babb, peerless author of midcentury American literature. In 1939, when John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was published, it became an instant bestseller and a prevailing narrative in the nation's collective imagination of the era. But it also stopped the publication of another important novel, silencing a gifted writer who was more intimately connected to the true experiences of Dust Bowl migrants. In Riding Like the Wind, renowned biographer Iris Jamahl Dunkle revives the groundbreaking voice of Sanora Babb. Dunkle follows Babb from her impoverished childhood in eastern Colorado to California. There, she befriended the era's literati, including Ray Bradbury and Ralph Ellison; entered into an illegal marriage; and was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. It was Babb's field notes and oral histories of migrant farmworkers that Steinbeck relied on to write his novel. But this is not merely a saga of literary usurping; on her own merits, Babb's impact was profound. Her life and work feature heavily in Ken Burns's award-winning documentary The Dust Bowl and inspired Kristin Hannah in her bestseller The Four Winds. Riding Like the Wind reminds us with fresh awareness that the stories we know—and who tells them—can change the way we remember history.
Riding Out: A Journey of Love, Loss and New Beginnings
by Simon Parker"A truly inspiring journey that celebrates the healing power of adventure. A must-read." - Levison WoodThe remarkable and inspirational true story of how one man battled grief and anxiety, one pedal stroke at a time, on a 3,500-mile adventure around BritainIn March 2020, as Britain entered its first lockdown, Simon Parker's life fell apart; his travel journalism career vanished overnight and shortly afterwards he received the tragic news that a close friend had died. With a long-suppressed anxiety disorder starting to rear its head, he turned to the only therapies he knew and trusted: travel and exercise.Setting off on his bike from the northernmost point of Shetland with only a sleeping bag and a camping stove, Simon would end up cycling 3,427 miles around Britain. En route, he would meet hundreds of resilient Britons, who were all, in their own way, riding out the storm just like he was. Even in his gloomiest moments he began to see that a chink of light was never too far away.Riding Out is a story of optimism and hope, and a ground-level portrait of Britain as it transforms from a country in crisis to a nation on the mend. From Shetland to the Scillies, Dover to Durness, Simon learns that life's sharpest corners are best navigated at the gentle pace of a bicycle.
Riding Outside the Lines: International Incidents and Other Misadventures with the Metal Cowboy
by Joe KurmaskieLike a modern-day Don Quixote, Joe Kurmaskie--bike adventurer, writer, and twelve-year-old boy trapped in a man's body--wanders the world on two wheels, often with hilarious results, in Riding Outside the Lines. A jaunt through such far-flung locations as Ireland, Australia, Mexico, South America, and beyond, here is a collection of tales woven together with one central theme: the world is a much smaller place when you view it from the seat of a bicycle. Whether he's weekending in the buff after accidentally stumbling into a nudist colony wedding, knocking back red wine in tin cans with a gun-toting ex-bounty hunter, combing the countryside in a quest to find the all-girl bagpipe squad he met in his dreams, or playing a rousing game of ice golf on the frozen tundra, Joe Kurmaskie writes of his gonzo global trek in a spirit infused with insight, good humor, and optimism. Riding Outside the Lines encourages travel buffs and armchair explorers alike to get on your bike and see the beauty of our planet and the colorful souls who populate it.
Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut
by Mike MullaneOn February 1, 1978, the first group of space shuttle astronauts, twenty-nine men and six women, were introduced to the world. Among them would be history makers, including the first American woman and the first African American in space. This assembly of astronauts would carry NASA through the most tumultuous years of the space shuttle program. Four would die on Challenger. USAF Colonel Mike Mullane was a member of this astronaut class, and Riding Rockets is his story -- told with a candor never before seen in an astronaut's memoir. Mullane strips the heroic veneer from the astronaut corps and paints them as they are -- human. His tales of arrested development among military flyboys working with feminist pioneers and post-doc scientists are sometimes bawdy, often hilarious, and always entertaining. Mullane vividly portrays every aspect of the astronaut experience -- from telling a female technician which urine-collection condom size is a fit; to walking along a Florida beach in a last, tearful goodbye with a spouse; to a wild, intoxicating, terrifying ride into space; to hearing "Taps" played over a friend's grave. Mullane is brutally honest in his criticism of a NASA leadership whose bungling would precipitate the Challenger disaster. Riding Rockets is a story of life in all its fateful uncertainty, of the impact of a family tragedy on a nine-year-old boy, of the revelatory effect of a machine called Sputnik, and of the life-steering powers of lust, love, and marriage. It is a story of the human experience that will resonate long after the call of "Wheel stop."
Riding Sky High: A Bicycle Adventure Around the World
by Pierre-Yves Tremblay Bernard VoyerMany dream of dropping everything and just traveling around the world. It's a common dream, but few imagine embarking on that journey by bicycle. Exposed to the elements, legs burning, all your possessions strapped to you and your bicycle--it doesn't paint a relaxing picture, but this is just what Pierre-Yves Tremblay did.Leaving his hometown of Chicoutimi, Quebec, in July 1994, Tremblay took a flight to Europe, and from Paris hopped on his bike and went for a long ride around the world that lasted all of 836 days. He traveled through Europe, past the deserts of the Middle East, then braved the Himalayas, and rode through Southeast Asia and the wilds of Australia, before finishing his journey biking across the United States and arriving back home in Canada.Besides the sheer physical effort, this epic adventure is about a person confronting himself, alone, with his bike, encountering life, its possibilities and limits, dealing with emotions and everything that compels him to keep going and persevere. It means exchanging greetings and sharing moments with people from many different cultures. It means overcoming hundreds of pitfalls only to keep on going.Fifteen and a half thousand miles later, this modern-day Ulysses invites us to read the precious journals he kept on his odyssey. Here you'll find out what really pushes great achievers to their limits.
Riding Through The Storm: My Fight Back To Fitness On The Tour De France
by Geoff ThomasGeoff Thomas's heroic battle to overcome leukaemia, and then take on the toughest sporting challenge: to ride the Tour de FranceWhen Geoff Thomas struggled to play a friendly game of tennis while on holiday in Mallorca in May 2003, he thought little of it. Recently retired as a footballer, he believed it was a sign of ageing and perhaps a pulled muscle. But when the pain wouldn't go away, his wife Julie persuaded him to go to a doctor. He was diagnosed as having leukaemia.RIDING THROUGH THE STORM focuses on his journey round the Tour de France in the summer of 2005, riding the 2,240-mile course in the 21 days it takes Lance Armstrong and all the top cyclists, despite never having cycled much before. Despite the odds against him achieving it, he rode the course and raised nearly £200,000 for charity. As he rides, he looks back on his successful career as a footballer, and the bone-marrow transplant that saved his life. This is a powerful, moving and inspirational story of extraordinary achievement.
Riding Through The Storm: My Fight Back to Fitness on the Tour de France
by Geoff ThomasGeoff Thomas's heroic battle to overcome leukaemia, and then take on the toughest sporting challenge: to ride the Tour de FranceWhen Geoff Thomas struggled to play a friendly game of tennis while on holiday in Mallorca in May 2003, he thought little of it. Recently retired as a footballer, he believed it was a sign of ageing and perhaps a pulled muscle. But when the pain wouldn't go away, his wife Julie persuaded him to go to a doctor. He was diagnosed as having leukaemia.RIDING THROUGH THE STORM focuses on his journey round the Tour de France in the summer of 2005, riding the 2,240-mile course in the 21 days it takes Lance Armstrong and all the top cyclists, despite never having cycled much before. Despite the odds against him achieving it, he rode the course and raised nearly £200,000 for charity. As he rides, he looks back on his successful career as a footballer, and the bone-marrow transplant that saved his life. This is a powerful, moving and inspirational story of extraordinary achievement.
Riding With Reagan: From The White House to the Ranch
by John Barletta[From the inside book flap:] It is an image etched in the minds of a generation: Ronald Reagan perched atop his horse, riding the dusty trails through the canyons of his California ranch with his beloved wife, Nancy, at his side. But what most of us did not see was the man who always rode just a few steps away. John Barletta was an army veteran and Secret Service agent who spent over a decade with the Reagans, poised to give his own life at any moment to save the 40th president of the United States. His superior riding skills made Barletta the perfect choice to protect Reagan during his frequent visits to the ranch. Over time, he got to know Reagan as few others did. But what did these two men talk about during their long solitary hours on horseback--and how did they become the unlikeliest of friends and confidants? In Riding with Reagan, John Barletta shares his one-of-a-kind memories of the president, painting a picture of a relaxed Reagan at his very best. Through his eyes, we see a rugged man who thrived outdoors, deeply loved his wife and children, and was a prankster at heart. Barletta recalls watching Reagan take pleasure in clearing the brush from the grounds, spending quiet time with Nancy, and entertaining world figures like Mikhail Gorbachev and Queen Elizabeth, both of whom were surprised by the spare simplicity of the Reagan ranch. Barletta also recalls the sad times: watching a once-robust Reagan fade into the dark shadows of Alzheimer's disease, and the painful moment when he had to tell the former president that his days of horseback riding had come to an end. Poignant and candid, Riding with Reagan is an intimate portrait of the man who remains one of the most popular presidents in our nation's history. A stirring ode to friendship, brotherhood, and the great outdoors, it celebrates a true hero whose life and spirit are the embodiment of what it means to be an American.
Riding in Cars with Boys
by Beverly DonofrioTrouble began in 1963. I'm not blaming it on President Kennedy's assassination or its being the beginning of the sixties or the Vietnam War or The Beatles. . . The trouble I'm talking about was my first real trouble, the age-old trouble. The getting in trouble as in ' Is she in trouble?' trouble. As in pregnant. As in the girl who got pregnant in high school. ' Beverly Ann Donofrio wasn't bad because she hung out with hoods - she was bad because she was a hood. Unable to attend college, she lost interest in everything but riding around in cars, drinking, smoking, and rebelling against authority. After her teenage marriage failed, Bev found herself at an elite New England university, books in one arm, child on the other. Then, furnished with ambition, dreams and five hundred dollars, she took herself and her son to New York to begin a career and a life. An outrageous and touching memoir, this is the story of a teenage mother who, as her son grows up, becomes an adult herself.
Riding in Cars with Boys: Confessions of a Bad Girl Who Makes Good
by Beverly DonofrioWritten with irreverent humor, this memoir recounts the author's experiences growing up in a working-class neighborhood in Connecticut and becoming a teenage mother. Bright and endlessly rebellious, she marries her baby's father, struggles to help him kick heroin addiction, and eventually winds up as a single mother on welfare. Through sheer determination and the help of good friends and social programs, she finally fulfills her dream of attending an elite college and becoming a writer. Donofrio writes honestly about her relationship with her son Jason, and shows that each helped the other grow up.
Riding in the Shadows of Saints: A Woman’s Story of Motorcycling the Mormon Trail
by Jana RichmanRichman retraced on motorcycle the trail seven of her eight ancestors had traveled 150 earlier from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City as part of the migration of the Latter Day Saints, or Mormons. Along the way, she sought out graveyards and practicing Mormons, and steeped herself in the rituals of the faith to confront her own long-held prejudices about the Mormon Church. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Riding on Duke's Train
by Mick Carlon"Duke used to say that the individual sound of a musician revealed his soul. Mick Carlon is a 'soul' storyteller."--Nat Hentoff, author of Jazz Country "A ripping good yarn. . . . Plunges the reader into the world of Duke Ellington and the America of 1939."--Brian Morton, author of The Penguin Guide to Jazz "Wonderfully convincing and authentic characterizations. . . . A thoroughly enjoyable read."--Dan Morgenstern, author of Living with Jazz "We encounter not only Duke's genius, but his character and humanity. This is one train you won't want to get off!"--Dick Golden, radio host "When this marvelously evocative novel finds a home in the school curriculum, kids across America will be downloading Duke."--Jack Bradley "Excellent command of voice, period, and ethnic dialect . . . clear love and in-depth knowledge of Ellington and his band."--Alexandria LaFaye, author of The Keening Nine-year-old Danny stows away on Duke Ellington's train one Georgia night. Through Danny's eyes, we meet some of America's finest musicians as he accompanies them on their 1939 European tour, when the train was briefly held in Germany. Says Nat Hentoff, "I knew Duke Ellington for twenty-five years. The Ellington in this book is the man I knew." Mick Carlon is a twenty-seven-year veteran English/journalism high- and middle-school teacher. A lifelong jazz fan, he regularly plays jazz in his classroom and has turned hundreds of students into jazz fans. He says, "If young people are simply exposed to the music and stories of these American artists, they will make a friend for life."