Gerard O'Neill

Dick Lehr

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss

Whitey

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A hot-rod joy ride through mid-20th-century American history” (The New York Times Book Review), this one-of-a-kind narrative masterfully recreates the rivalry between the two men who innovated the electric guitar’s amplified sound—Leo Fender and Les Paul—and their intense competition to convince rock stars like the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton to play the instruments they built.

In the years after World War II, music was evolving from big-band jazz into rock ’n’ roll—and these louder styles demanded revolutionary instruments. When Leo Fender’s tiny firm marketed the first solid-body electric guitar, the Esquire, musicians immediately saw its appeal. Not to be out-maneuvered, Gibson, the largest guitar manufacturer, raced to build a competitive product. The company designed an “axe” that would make Fender’s Esquire look cheap and convinced Les Paul—whose endorsement Leo Fender had sought—to put his name on it. Thus was born the guitar world’s most heated rivalry: Gibson versus Fender, Les versus Leo.

While Fender was a quiet, half-blind, self-taught radio repairman, Paul was a brilliant but headstrong pop star and guitarist who spent years toying with new musical technologies. Their contest turned into an arms race as the most inventive musicians of the 1950s and 1960s—including bluesman Muddy Waters, rocker Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton—adopted one maker’s guitar or another. By 1969 it was clear that these new electric instruments had launched music into a radical new age, empowering artists with a vibrancy and volume never before attainable.

In “an excellent dual portrait” (The Wall Street Journal), Ian S. Port tells the full story in The Birth of Loud, offering “spot-on human characterizations, and erotic paeans to the bodies of guitars” (The Atlantic). “The story of these instruments is the story of America in the postwar era: loud, cocky, brash, aggressively new” (The Washington Post).

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Texas

From the bestselling authors of "Black Mass," the definitive biography of the most brutal and sadistic crime boss since Al Capone. "Whitey" will dig deep into the mind of the crime boss and killer who brought the FBI to its knees--a psychopath who fostered a following with a frightening mix of fear, deadly intimidation, and the deft touch of a politician.

Category - Non Fiction / History

Format - Hardcover

Condition - Good

Listed - 16 days ago

Est. Publication Date - Apr 2013

Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss

ISBN: 9780307986535

Publisher Description

Whitey

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$15.00

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Category - Non Fiction / History

Format - Hardcover

Condition - Good

Listed - 16 days ago

Est. Publication Date - Apr 2013

Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss

ISBN: 9780307986535

Publisher Description

Whitey

By: ,

$15.00

Meet the seller

Discover more

Whitey

By: Gerard O'Neill

Pango Buyer Protection

More from this seller

Additional titles by Gerard O'Neill

'Whitey' readers also enjoyed:

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