Bob Beatty – författare

The origin story of a groundbreaking albumThe 1971 Allman Brothers Band album At Fillmore East was a musical manifesto years in the making. In Play All Night!, Bob Beatty dives deep into the motivations and musical background of band founder Duane Allman to tell the story of what made this album not just a smash hit, but one of the most important live rock albums in history. Featuring insights from bootleg tapes, radio ads, early reviews, never-before-published photos, and the memories of band members, fans, and friends, Beatty chronicles how Allman rejected the traditional route of music business success—hit singles and record sales—and built a band that was at its best jamming live on stage, feeding off the crowd’s energy, and pushing each other to new heights of virtuosic improvisation. Every challenge, from recruiting a group of relatively unknown but established musicians like Jaimoe and Dickey Betts, touring the American South as an interracial band, and the failure of their first two studio albums, sharpened Allman’s determination to pursue the band’s truly unique sound. He made a bold choice—to record their next album live at Bill Graham’s famous concert hall in New York’s Lower East Side, a gamble that launched a new strand of American music to the top of the charts. Four days after the album went gold, Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was 24. This book explores how At Fillmore East cemented Allman’s legacy as a strong-willed, self-taught visionary, giving fans of Southern rock and all readers interested in the role of rock music in American popular culture a new appreciation for this pathbreaking album.

On July 1, 1997, China took control over Hong Kong, where Britain had begun a process of introducing democracy. Beatty examines the process of democratization in Hong Kong, with the argument that democratic development will continue, despite being under Chinese rule. Through a series of 128 interviews with 89 Hong Kong elites from 1997-2002, including legislators and party leaders as well as participant and direct observation of 15 campaigns for the Legislative Council in 1998, Beatty analyzed political leaders beliefs and commitment towards democratic development and institutions and put them into the context of the post-handover environment.Evidence from the interviews is used to test the proposition that adherence to Asian values undermines democracy and Beatty probed Hong Kong elites about their beliefs regarding the rule of law, freedom of the press, civil liberties, and the possible trade-offs between economic development and democratization. A major finding from the in-depth interviews is that while Hong Kong political elites reject the Sinapore model and the Asian Values argument, many do believe in trade-offs between economic development and democratization. Beatty also offers sharp insight into the thinking of Hong Kong political elites and transcends the particular politics of Hong Kong and delves in the broader subject of elite beliefs and attitudes. An important analysis for scholars, students, and other researchers involved with China, Hong Kong, Asian politics and political values, and political development in general.

Zen and the Art of Local History is an engaging, interactive conversation that conveys the exciting nature of local history. Divided into six major themes the book covers the scope and breadth of local history:• Being a Local Historian• Topics and Sources• Staying Relevant• Getting it Right• Writing History• History OrganizationsEach chapter features one of Carol Kammen’s memorable editorials from History News. Her editorial is a “call.” Each is followed by a response from one of more than five dozen prominent players in state and local history. These Respondents include local and public historians, archivists, volunteers, and history professionals across the kaleidoscopic spectrum of local history. Among this group are Katherine Kane, Robert “Bob” Richmond, Charlie Bryan, and Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko. The result is a series of dialogues on important topics in the field of local history. This interactivity of these conversations makes Zen and the Art of Local History a unique offering in the public history field.

Zen and the Art of Local History is an engaging, interactive conversation that conveys the exciting nature of local history. Divided into six major themes the book covers the scope and breadth of local history:• Being a Local Historian• Topics and Sources• Staying Relevant• Getting it Right• Writing History• History OrganizationsEach chapter features one of Carol Kammen’s memorable editorials from History News. Her editorial is a “call.” Each is followed by a response from one of more than five dozen prominent players in state and local history. These Respondents include local and public historians, archivists, volunteers, and history professionals across the kaleidoscopic spectrum of local history. Among this group are Katherine Kane, Robert “Bob” Richmond, Charlie Bryan, and Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko. The result is a series of dialogues on important topics in the field of local history. This interactivity of these conversations makes Zen and the Art of Local History a unique offering in the public history field.

Gain insight into history organizations of all shapes and sizes in this book, which addresses the opportunities and challenges of public historians’ work through the prism of the past, present, and future of our communities and institutions, as well as the public history field itself. Featuring essays from some of the leading thinkers in the profession, this book not only looks at major themes as they relate to historians’ work but also inspires creativity in how they approach their work in an institutional and personal sense.The themes themselves are important, but even more important are the articles (presented here as chapters) that amplify the overarching themes. Chapters discuss in-depth and through real-world examples, the work of history organizations. They specifically focus on the challenges and opportunities that are important to any nonprofit (or small business)—entrepreneurship, change, transformation, possibility/opportunity, partnerships—but also those unique to history organizations, leverage the asset of history to: explore place, commemorate the past (and therefore better understand the present), demonstrate how it is people who make history, and discern how to use the past to chart the future. Together, An American Association for State and Local History Guide to Making Public History provides a roadmap of the national discussions the field of history museums and organizations is having regarding its present and the future.