A tribute to more than two dozen legendary music artists who significantly influenced the landscape of music for generations to come, from Ray Charles and Bob Dylan to Chuck Berry and Johnny Cash.

An award-winning actor on screen and stage ( The Defiant Ones , The African Queen , The Sound of Music , My Fair Lady , Fiddler on the Roof ), an activist for civil rights and progressive causes worldwide, and a singer whose voice has won him great applause, Theodore Bikel here tells his own compelling life story. Born in Austria, raised in Palestine, educated in England, and with a stellar career in the United States and around the world, Bikel offers a personal history parallel to momentous events of the twentieth century. In an eloquent, fiercely committed voice, he writes of the Third Reich, the birth of the State of Israel, the McCarthy witch hunts of the 1950s, and the tumultuous 1960s in America. In a new postscript to this paperback edition, he looks at recent events in the Middle East and takes both sides to task for their excesses.

Elkie Brooks is a genuine national treasure. Blessed with one of the richest and most distinctive voices in showbusiness, she has been entertaining people around the world for the last five decades. Her professional debut at age 15 began a career that has spanned most musical genres and collaborations with some of the finest musicians of their generation, making her a household name. Along the way she has recorded some of the most iconic songs in rock history, including Lilac Wine, Sunshine After the Rain, Fool (If You Think It's Over) and her signature tune Pearl's A Singer. But the road to stardom was never an easy journey. Along the way she has experienced hardships that would have daunted most, and dealt with them with the same spirit, grit and determination that colours the extraordinary emotional power of her singing.