Summary

An Atlantic Best Book of the Year selection

A Library Journal Best Book of the Year

From the dawn of civilization to the modern-day music scene, this breathtaking global history reveals how songs have shifted societies and sparked revolutions.

Histories of music overwhelmingly suppress stories of the outsiders and rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate the mainstream assimilators who borrowed innovations, diluted their impact, and disguised their sources. In Music: A Subversive History, historian Ted Gioia reclaims the story of music for the riffraff, insurgents, and provocateurs.

Gioia tells a four-thousand-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval. He shows how social outcasts have repeatedly become trailblazers of musical expression: slaves and their descendants, for instance, have repeatedly reinvented music, from ancient times all the way to the jazz, reggae, and hip-hop sounds of the current day.

Music: A Subversive History is essential reading for anyone interested in the meaning of music, from Sappho to the Sex Pistols to Spotify.

Editorial Reviews

"[A] sweeping study…[that] aims to subvert our ideas about music history…characteriz[ing] music history as a cyclical power struggle with shifting battle lines.” — Wall Street Journal

“A dauntingly ambitious, obsessively researched labor of cultural provocation.” — Los Angeles Times

“I can’t speak highly enough about Music: A Subversive History…[Gioia] is always fun to read.” —Washington Post

“Feistily and authoritatively, Gioia draws out cross-cultural axioms to rewire the reader’s ear. Music’s ability to heal gets dissected in scientific, sociological, and even supernatural terms, but so does its link with violence—a link that might explain why new sounds have been so often met with fear.” —The Atlantic magazine

“Gioia’s sprawling and deeply interesting history of music defies all stereotypes.” —Samuel Mehr, director, the Music Lab, Harvard University

Gioia draws on social science research into the past and present to forge a sweeping and enthralling account of music as an agency of human change. —Booklist, starred review

In this excellent history, music critic Gioia (How to Listen to Jazz) dazzles with tales of how music grew out of violence, sex, and rebellion... Gioia's richly told narrative provides fresh insights into the history of music. —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Gioia's argument is persuasive and offers a wealth of possibilities for further exploration. This fascinating recontextualization will appeal to anyone who ever wondered why "Hound Dog" became a hit only when Elvis Presley covered it. —Library Journal

“A revisionist history…Gioia examines changes and innovation in music, arguing vigorously that the music produced by ‘peasants and plebeians, slaves and bohemians, renegades and outcasts’" reflected and influenced social, cultural, and political life..A bold, fresh, and informative chronicle of music’s evolution and cultural meaning.” —Kirkus Reviews

As a fan of 'big histories' that sweep through space and time, I gobbled this one like candy as I found myself astounded by some idea, some fact, some source, some dots connected into a fast-reading big picture that takes in Roman pantomime riots, Occitan troubadours, churchbells, blues, Afrofuturism, surveillance capitalism, and much more. A must for music heads. —Ned Sublette, author of Cuba and Its Music and The World That Made New Orleans

In this meticulously-researched yet thoroughly page-turning book, Gioia argues for the universality of music from all cultures and eras. Subversives from Sappho to Mozart and Charlie Parker are given new perspective -- as is the role of the church and other arts-shaping institutions. Music of emotion is looked at alongside the music of political power in a fascinating way by a master writer and critical thinker. This is a must-read for those of us for whom music has a central role in our daily lives. —Fred Hersch, pianist and composer, and author of Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz

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Author Bio: Ted Gioia

Ted Gioia is a music historian and the author of eleven books, including How to Listen to Jazz. His three previous books on the social history of music—Work Songs, Healing Songs, and Love Songs—have all been honored with ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards. His wide-ranging activities as a critic, scholar, performer, and educator have established him as a leading global guide to music past, present, and future.

Titles by Author

Details

Format:	Retail CD	Format:	Library CD
Available Formats :	Retail CD, Library CD
Category:	Nonfiction/Music
Publisher:	Basic Books	Publisher:	Basic Books
CDs:	14	CDs:	14
Runtime:	17.93
ISBN:	9781549154935	ISBN:	9781549154911
Audience:	Adult
Language:	English

Music: A Subversive History

Summary

Summary

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

Reviews