An amazing, enlightening, and endlessly entertaining look at how weather has shaped our world.

Throughout history, great leaders have fallen, the outcomes of mighty battles have been determined, and the tides of earth-shattering events have been turned by a powerful, inscrutable force of nature: the weather. In Blame It on the Rain, author Laura Lee explores the amazing and sometimes bizarre ways in which weather has influenced our history and helped to bring about sweeping cultural change. She also delights us with a plethora of fascinating weather-related facts (Did you know that more Britons die of sunburn every year than Australians?), while offering readers a hilarious overview of humankind's many absurd attempts to control the elements.

• If a weather-produced blight hadn't severely damaged French vineyards, there might never have been a California wine industry. . . .

• What weather phenomenon was responsible for the sound of the Stradivarius?

• If there had been a late autumn in Russia, Hitler could have won World War II. . . .

• Did weather play a part in Truman's victory over Dewey?

Eye-opening, edifying, and totally unexpected, Blame It on the Rain is a fascinating appreciation of the destiny-altering vagaries of mother nature—and it's even more fun than watching the Weather Channel!

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The latest volume in Black Dog’s successful book-and-CD series combines the mesmerizing stories of the world’s great ballets with fun facts, dancing how-tos, history, profiles— all accompanied by charming original watercolors.

From Swan Lake and The Nutcracker to Peter and the Wolf and Fancy Free, the of twenty-five of the world’s best-loved ballets are told, accompanied by corresponding tracks on an enclosed CD. These are the charming stories that bring ballet to life on the stage, along with the music that has made them into enduring classics.

Surrounding the stories is a captivating, illustrated history of ballet, each page filled with information, artwork, and profiles of the world’s great dancers, choreographers, and composers. There are even instructions on ballet positions and the key moves that every dancer needs to know.

The musical selections included on the CD are keyed to specific points in the text, making the book uniquely interactive, educational, and fun....

An amazing, enlightening, and endlessly entertaining look at how weather has shaped our world.

Throughout history, great leaders have fallen, the outcomes of mighty battles have been determined, and the tides of earth-shattering events have been turned by a powerful, inscrutable force of nature: the weather. In Blame It on the Rain, author Laura Lee explores the amazing and sometimes bizarre ways in which weather has influenced our history and helped to bring about sweeping cultural change. She also delights us with a plethora of fascinating weather-related facts (Did you know that more Britons die of sunburn every year than Australians?), while offering readers a hilarious overview of humankind's many absurd attempts to control the elements.

• If a weather-produced blight hadn't severely damaged French vineyards, there might never have been a California wine industry. . . .

• What weather phenomenon was responsible for the sound of the Stradivarius?

• If there had been a late autumn in Russia, Hitler could have won World War II. . . .

• Did weather play a part in Truman's victory over Dewey?

Eye-opening, edifying, and totally unexpected, Blame It on the Rain is a fascinating appreciation of the destiny-altering vagaries of mother nature—and it's even more fun than watching the Weather Channel!

...

An entire generation fondly remembers Arlo Guthrie's song “Alice's Restaurant” and director Arthur Penn's film of the same name. In the song's mixture of whimsy and anger, moral outrage and absurdist humor, disaffected and disillusioned young people recognized themselves and their own responses to American life -- Arlo was their collective voice and the church-home of Alice was the setting.

Arlo, Alice, & Anglicans: The Lives of a New England Church is the first book to recount the story of the simple wooden structure that went on to Woodstock-era fame after its deconsecration and what that building meant to the communities it served. On the surface, it may seem that an Episcopalian congregation from turn of the century New England has little in common with the rebellious youths in the movie Alice's Restaurant. Yet there is much they share. Each group had its dream of the future, a dream that, for a time, drew people to this same sacred place. Then, all too suddenly, times changed; the communities disbanded; the building remained an empty shell for a new community to give it a new life.

There are few churches that have so many distinct and fascinating rebirths. Assisted by first-hand accounts from Arlo, Alice, director Arthur Penn, friends, neighbors and former church members, Laura Lee relates the real and poignant story of the church where it all happened and in so doing reveals the complete story behind the song and film "Alice's Restaurant." The book offers Arlo's fans an intimate glimpse of his life and work today, both musically and with the non-profit organization and interfaith spiritual center that are now housed in the famous church that he "had to buy."...