Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That Shaped Our Culture [4 volumes] - Hardcover

Music is an essential component of contemporary American popular culture. This new resource sets out to define and explain this synergistic conjunction and its historic roots. The bulk of the set consists of 500 alphabetically arranged entries devoted to vocalists, songwriters, genres, instruments, and places. These are augmented by a time line of American music, a general bibliography, and a discography of collected works by genre.Opening the set to any page yields an engaging set of subjects. For example, S entries include not only artists Paul Simon and Britney Spears but also the popular children’s writer Shel Silverstein, who wrote “A Boy Named Sue,” popularized by Johnny Cash. These entries are complemented by others on a wide variety of topics, such as Silence in music (largely devoted to John Cage); Siblings in American music (including faux-sibling bands like the Ramones, Doobie Brothers, and White Stripes); Southern rock; Sex and sexuality in the music industry; and Sports and music (with a special emphasis on Super Bowl halftime musical performances). There are black-and-white photographs throughout, and each volume contains the set table of contents, an alphabetical list of entries, a “Guide to Related Topics,” and an index.Those purchasing this book will be pleased to discover the valuable information provided. For example, there is a fine summary of the history of American theater, including Native American music, minstrel shows, and Tin Pan Alley. It is brief but informative and likely a helpful starting point for someone seeking background information. The “Further Reading” list provides a springboard for more research. Librarians will want to hand-sell this set, as many users are more likely to pursue such information on the Internet rather than go through the trouble of seeking out a resource like this one, as helpful as it is. This resource is still entertaining, useful, and recommended particularly for high-school and public libraries.” --Michael Tosko