New from Gotham Books: Kristen Laine's American Band: Music, Dreams, and Coming of Age in the Heartland.About the book, from the author's website:
A portrait of life in the nation’s heartland as seen through the lens of a unique American ritual.
Every fall, high school marching bands take to the field. For millions of teenagers, the experience is more than a show. It’s a rite of passage — a first foray into leadership and adult responsibility, and a chance to learn what it means to be part of a community.
Part documentary, part coming-of-age story, American Band describes the lives inside one of the best of those bands. In the final year of a legendary director’s career, amid conflicting notions of greatness, the band marches through a season that starts in hope and promise, progresses through uncertainty and disappointment, and ends, ultimately, in redemption.