Library of America goes Broadway and more

In an effort to appeal to an ever-widening range of readers, Library of America offers a collection of 16 Broadway classic musicals from 1927-1969. It is much more than a "fake book," with plenty of illustrations and revealing insights into the long running musicals, but I think you have to be a serious fan to shell out 60 bucks for this two-volume set.

It is one of many interesting titles due out in the coming months. A collection of Ring Lardner came out in August, which tempts me a great deal. A set of early Elmore Leonard novels also caught my eye. There's also a new collection of Louisa May Alcott, keeping in their classical vein.

Library of America has grown to over 200 volumes since it was established in 1979, and is making a concerted effort to keep up with the times. It has covered an impressive range of topics over the past 35 years, from the colonial years of America to contemporary journalism, with just about every piece of Americana in between. LOA still provides subscriptions, but you can find their volumes through most book suppliers, although you might not necessarily get the slip case that comes with direct purchases.

Among my personal favorites are the Writings and Drawings of James Thurber and The Oregon Trail, The Conspiracy of Pontiac by Francis Parkman. What are your favorite titles?

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Dylan in America

Whoever it was in 1969 who named the very first Bob Dylan bootleg album “Great White Wonder” may have had a mischievous streak. There are any number of ways you can interpret the title — most boringly, the cover was blank, like the Beatles’ “White Album” — but I like to see a sly allusion to “Moby-Dick.” In the seven years since the release of his first commercial record, Dylan had become the white whale of 20th-century popular song, a wild, unconquerable and often baffling force of musical nature who drove fans and critics Ahab-mad in their efforts to spear him, lash him to the hull and render him merely comprehensible. --- Bruce Handy, NYTimes ____________________________________________ I figured we can start fresh with Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist this photo of him striking a Woody Guthrie pose. Looks like only yesterday. Here is a link to the comments building up to this reading group.

Team of Rivals Reading Group

''Team of Rivals" is also an America ''coming-of-age" saga. Lincoln, Seward, Chase et al. are sketched as being part of a ''restless generation," born when Founding Fathers occupied the White House and the Louisiana Purchase netted nearly 530 million new acres to be explored. The Western Expansion motto of this burgeoning generation, in fact, was cleverly captured in two lines of Stephen Vincent Benet's verse: ''The stream uncrossed, the promise still untried / The metal sleeping in the mountainside." None of the protagonists in ''Team of Rivals" hailed from the Deep South or Great Plains. _______________________________ From a review by Douglas Brinkley, 2005

Dispatches from Vilnius

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