The Cambridge History of Music, Part 1: American Music

The aim of this book is to reflect the diversity of American music by
studying it from a multiplicity of viewpoints. Thus no fewer than nineteen
authors ,all experts in their various fields, have contributed
to prepare all twenty chapters. Differing approaches have been adopted, different
writing styles utilized, and diverging views expressed; the overall effect, I
believe, is one of considerable freshness. One consequence of this multi-author
approach is that each chapter is to some extent self-contained,
telling its own story from its own perspective, and having its own bibliography
and references. However, each chapter is also an integral part of the
whole volume: where appropriate, readers are directed to other chapters,
and the bibliography should be understood as a single, multi-section
research tool rather than an assemblage of unrelated lists.