From baby boomers to millennials, attending a big music festival has basically become a cultural rite of passage in America. In Half a Million Strong, music writer and scholar Gina Arnold explores the history of large music festivals in America and examines their impact on American culture. Studying literature, films, journalism, and other archival detritus of the countercultural era, Arnold looks closely at a number of large and well-known festivals, including the Newport Folk Festival, Woodstock, Altamont, Wattstax, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and others to map their cultural significance in the American experience. She finds that—far from being the utopian and communal spaces of spiritual regeneration that they claim for themselves— these large music festivals serve mostly to display the free market to consumers in its very best light.

Don't let a business or idea failure get you down! As long as you keep your head down and plow forward, success will eventually come to you; you create your own success. I have started several companies, each building on the last. These companies have progressively grown in size, resulting in the last one grossing half a million dollars. I do not consider myself successful though, and I know the next venture will be even bigger and better yet. This book outlines lessons I learned through experience; lessons that are critical to success. If you are a perspective or new entrepreneur, have started a business and are burning out, or have started and failed in your first, second, or tenth venture, this book shows you are not alone and will surely help get you back on track toward success.

The inspirational bestseller that ignited a movement and asked us to find our WHY Discover the book that is captivating millions on TikTok and that served as the basis for one of the most popular TED Talks of all time—with more than 56 million views and counting. Over a decade ago, Simon Sinek started a movement that inspired millions to demand purpose at work, to ask what was the WHY of their organization. Since then, millions have been touched by the power of his ideas, and these ideas remain as relevant and timely as ever. START WITH WHY asks (and answers) the questions: why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over? People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with WHY. They realized that people won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it. START WITH WHY shows that the leaders who have had the greatest influence in the world all think, act and communicate the same way—and it's the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

When World War II broke out, some were trapped in Berlin, among them many foreigners, such as the author of this book. Her stay until almost the end of the war in Berlin drove her into situation and actions she would have never dreamt of. Spies, poets, radio commentators, and political intrigues were the order of the day. Somehow, she had to survive, which is what she recollects in this book.