The B.B. King Treasures: Photos, Mementos & Music from B.B. King's Collection

While true blues lovers may scoff at the opulence of such a coffee-table volume, they may change their minds when they discover the treat this work has tucked under its front cover: an hour-long audio CD of conversations with the "Chairman of the Board" of blues, B.B. King (b. 1925). The book itself is a stylishly packaged retelling of King's life from Mississippi sharecropping cabin dweller to White House honoree, with King's reminiscences intercut with comments from his friends. In addition to pages of gorgeously reproduced photos, eight parchment sleeves hold facsimiles of King memorabilia: first, his sharecropping account from 1940, and then mostly tickets, programs and posters for his shows. Still, the real "treasure" is the CD: 16 tracks of King talking about how and why he makes music, sometimes accompanied by riffs on Lucille (his guitar), plus two previously unreleased recordings. King gives a bluesman's take on race relations in the 20th century: how white radio stations started playing black music and how British stars (the Beatles, the Stones, Clapton, etc.) revived the careers of black bluesmen and then how white "folkies" picked up on the music, too. This will be a tasty gift for any blues fan. 116 illus. (Sept. 16)

Correction: The agent for Robert Oxnam's A Fractured Mind (Reviews, Aug. 8) is Wendy Strothman.