The Hot Country

A US war correspondent is plunged into the Mexican civil war in “a whip-smart tale of intrigue and espionage” by the Pulitzer Prize winner (CNN.com). Undaunted by enemy territory and sweltering heat, American journalist Christopher “Kit” Marlowe Cobb has arrived in Mexico in the spring of 1914. The country is rocked by civil war, the American invasion of Vera Cruz, and the controversial presidency of Victoriano Huerta, El Chacal (The Jackal). Marlowe thinks he’s found his first big headline in the attempted assassination of a priest—the bullet miraculously rebounding off the holy man’s cross. Employing a young pickpocket to help him identify the sniper, Cobb is soon led into a far more dangerous story: German officials, with ammunition ships docked in the port, are showing up in the city. When Cobb falls for a young Mexican laundress, he believes he’s found a soft respite from hard news. If only she were as innocent as she seems. A sweeping saga of espionage, action, and romance set at the dawn of World War I, Robert Olen Butler kick-starts his rousing series with “a thinking person’s thriller, the kind of exotic adventure that, in better days, would have been filmed by Sam Peckinpah” (TheWashington Post). “Pancho Villa, fiery senoritas, and Germans up to no good—Robert Olen Butler is having fun . . . and readers will too.” —Joseph Kanon, New York Times–bestselling author of The Good German “[A] high-spirited adventure.” —The New York Times Book Review “Going off to war with Kit Cobb is as bracing and fun as it used to be in George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman books, or in Perez-Reverte’s Captain Alatriste novels.” —Dan Fesperman, Hammett Prize–winning author of The Double Game

Back when Poke Rafferty first arrived in Bangkok to write a travel guide, some of the old-timers in the Expat Bar on Patpong Road helped him make sense of the city. Now these men—many of whom have been living in Southeast Asia since the Vietnam War—have grown old and, in some cases, frail. When a talkative stranger named Arthur Varney turns up at the Expat Bar, they accept him without suspicion, failing to see that he’s actually using them to get to Poke. Varney wants two things: money Poke doesn’t have and a person Poke is unwilling to hand over. It quickly becomes apparent that there’s nothing Varney won’t do to secure his goals. As his actions threaten the foundation of Poke’s life in Thailand, the aging men of the Expat Bar discover that they might still be a force to reckon with. From the Hardcover edition.

"Covers the entire history of Billboard magazine's Country "Records"/"Singles"/"Songs" charts from 1944-2012, listing nearly 20,000 charted hits and nearly 2,600 artists."--P. 7.

(Book). An all-encompassing, artist-by-artist listing of every artist and song that's made Billboard 's "Hot Country Songs" charts. Over 2,400 country artists and over 19,000 songs represent 64 years of country chart hits! Complete chart data shows peak position and total chart weeks. Indicates awards that the song won, as well as a bio on every artist listed. A special section includes an alphabetical song title section and handy list of Top Artists, Top Hits and Record Breakers.

In Old Town Road, Chris Molanphy considers Lil Nas X’s debut single as pop artifact, chart phenomenon, and cultural watershed. “Old Town Road” was more than a massive hit, with the most weeks at No. 1 in Billboard Hot 100 history. It is also a prism through which to track the evolution of popular music consumption and the ways race influences how the music industry categorizes songs and artists. By both lionizing and satirizing genre tropes—it’s a country song built from an alternative rock sample, a hip-hop song in which nobody raps, a comical song that transcends novelty, and a queer anthem—Lil Nas X troubles the very idea of genre. Ultimately, Molanphy shows how “Old Town Road” channeled decades of Americana to point the way toward our cultural future.

Principles of Tzeltal Plant Classification: An Introduction to the Botanical Ethnography of a Mayan-Speaking People of Highland Chiapas covers the underlying classificatory principles used by the Tzeltal to order the vast array of organisms of the plant world. The book describes the setting of the research, both from a botanical and ethnographic view; the general outline of Tzeltal plant classification and nomenclature; and the methods used to collect data. The text also discusses the rich ethnolinguistic terminology used by the Tzeltal in describing and discussing the structure of plants, referred to as ethnophytography; and the cultural significance of plants to the Tzeltal in agriculture, food types, house building, and other areas of material culture where plants and plant products are of major importance. The individual description of all known Tzeltal plant classes is also encompassed in detail. Botanists and ethnobotanists will find the book invaluable.

A No Depression Most Memorable Music Book of 2022 The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. Christopher M. Reali's in-depth look at the fabled musical hotbed examines the events and factors that gave the Muscle Shoals sound such a potent cultural power. Many artists trekked to FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound in search of the sound of authentic southern Black music—and at times expressed shock at the mostly white studio musicians waiting to play it for them. Others hoped to draw on the hitmaking production process that defined the scene. Reali also chronicles the overlooked history of Muscle Shoals's impact on country music and describes the region's recent transformation into a tourism destination. Multifaceted and informed, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals reveals the people, place, and events behind one of the most legendary recording scenes in American history.