Showing titles in History & Criticism

This program is read by the author. "Indispensable [reading] about the feminine journey through a man's world" —USA Today An intimate look at the lives of our most celebrated female musicians—and their challenges with fame—from a legendary music journalist Over four decades, Lisa Robinson...

A unique, moving and dazzlingly researched exploration of the places, people, musicians, writers and filmmakers that inspired David Jones to become David Bowie, what we can learn from his life’s work and journey, and why he will always matter. When David Bowie died on 10th January 2016, it...

The rich and colorful story of America's most popular music and the singers and songwriters who captivated, entertained, and consoled listeners throughout the twentieth century--based on the upcoming eight-part film series to air on PBS in September 2019 This deeply researched and hugely...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A celebration of American history through the music that helped to shape a nation, by Pulitzer Prize winner Jon Meacham and music superstar Tim McGraw “Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw form an irresistible duo—connecting us to music as an unsung force in our nation's...

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST A sweeping, genre-bending “masterpiece” (Minneapolis Star Tribune) exploring Black art, music, and culture in all their glory and complexity—from Soul Train, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Whitney Houston, and Beyoncé ONE...

The author of the national bestseller Love is a Mix Tape returns, with a different-but equally personal and equally universal- pin on music as memory."No rock critic-living or dead, American or otherwise-has ever written about pop music with the evocative, hyperpoetic perfectitude of Rob...

"Nolan Gasser is brilliant at explaining the beautiful machinery behind your favorite songs without taking away any of the magic." —Conan O'Brien This program is read by the author. From the chief architect of the Pandora Radio’s Music Genome Project comes a definitive and groundbreaking...

A one-of-a kind survey of rap and hip hop history from 1973 to today by Chuck D, arguably the most influential rapper in the world. In the more than 40 years since the days of DJ Kool Herc and "Rapper's Delight," hip hop and rap have become a billion-dollar worldwide phenomenon. Yet there is no...

One of America’s finest historians shows us how Bob Dylan, one of the country’s greatest and most enduring artists, still surprises and moves us after all these years. Growing up in Greenwich Village, Sean Wilentz discov­ered the music of Bob Dylan as a young teenager; almost half a century...

“All men become brothers . . . Be embraced, ye millions!” The Ninth Symphony, a symbol of freedom and joy, was Beethoven’s mightiest attempt to help humanity find its way from darkness to light, from chaos to peace. Yet the work was born in a repressive era, with terrified Bourbons...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A “humorous, heartbreaking, and heroic” (Entertainment Weekly) memoir of one man’s passionate relationship with an unforgettable woman, from their first meeting to her untimely death, told through the songs on fifteen mix tapes “The happiest, saddest...

does eminem matter? On assignment for his first cover story for Rolling Stone, the very first national cover story on Eminem, Anthony Bozza met a young blond kid, a rapper who would soon take the country by storm. But back in 1999, Eminem was just beginning to make waves among suburban white...

The author of The New York Times bestseller This is Your Brain on Music reveals music’s role in the evolution of human culture and “will leave you awestruck.” (The New York Times) Daniel J. Levitin’s astounding debut bestseller, This is Your Brain on Music, enthralled and delighted...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER PENDERYN MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR The revelatory account of the pre-fame Beatles—the first volume in a groundbreaking trilogy about the band that revolutionized music “An epic unprecedented in rock ’n’ roll biography . . . And it’s a great read...

One of The Telegraph's Best Music Books 2011 Alex Ross's award-winning international bestseller, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, has become a contemporary classic, establishing Ross as one of our most popular and acclaimed cultural historians. Listen to This, which takes...

Hailed for its astounding portrait of Jimi Hendrix, Philip Norman’s Wild Thing has become the definitive biography of rock’s most outrageous—and tragic—genius. Today, Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) is celebrated as the greatest rock guitarist of all time. But before he was setting guitars...

Bloomsbury presents The Musical Human by Michael Spitzer, read by Daniel Levitin. "Michael Spitzer has pulled off the impossible: a Guns, Germs and Steel for music." —Daniel Levitin A colossal history spanning cultures, time, and space to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the...

An acclaimed, career-spanning collection from a fiercely feminist and revered contemporary rock critic, reissued with new material Throughout her career, spanning more than two decades, Jessica Hopper, a revered and pioneering music critic, has examined women recording and producing music, in...

One of Oprah Daily's 20 Favorite Books of 2021 Selected as one of Pitchfork's Best Music Books of the Year “One of the best books of its kind in decades.” —The Wall Street Journal An epic achievement and a huge delight, the entire history of popular music over the past fifty years...

The author of the New York Times bestseller This Is Your Brain on Music reveals music’s role in the evolution of human culture in this thought-provoking book that “will leave you awestruck” (The New York Times). Daniel J. Levitin's astounding debut bestseller, This Is Your Brain on Music...