American Song and Struggle from Columbus to World War 2
A Cultural History

A groundbreaking work of historical recovery which tells the story of the American people who sang their way through struggle.

Will Kaufman (Author)

9781316514337, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 August 2022

530 pages
23.5 x 16 x 3.6 cm, 0.9 kg

'Will Kaufman has uncovered a massive hidden history, one that none of us can ignore. Get the book, be in the know.' Chuck D

Long before anyone ever heard of 'protest music', people in America were singing about their struggles. They sang for justice and fairness, food and shelter, and equality and freedom; they sang to be acknowledged. Sometimes they also sang to oppress. This book uncovers the history of these people and their songs, from the moment Columbus made fateful landfall to the start of the Second World War, when 'protest music' emerged as an identifiable brand. Cutting across musical genres, Will Kaufman recovers the passionate voices of America itself. We encounter songs of the mainland and the conquered territories of Hawai'i, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines; we hear Indigenous songs, immigrant songs and Klan songs, minstrel songs and symphonies, songs of the heard and the unheard, songs of the celebrated and the anonymous, of the righteous and the despicable. This magisterial book shows that all these songs are woven into the very fabric of American history.

Introduction: the work of recovery
1. Broken spears and songs of sorrow
2. Good newes from Virginia
3. A capital chop
4. If I had but a small loaf of bread
5. Where today are the Pequot?
6. There is a fountain filled with blood
7. A tragedy that beggared the Greek
8. Muscle, blood, and steel
9. Rule Anglo-Saxia
10. The hand that feeds you
11. We are many
12. 100% American
13. We're up against it now
14. The panic is on
15. To thee we sing
Conclusion: whose land?

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK], Music [AV]