On the Record
Music that Changed America
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Mar 24, 2026
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- $23.99
Publisher Description
The surprising story of how iconic works of music sparked debate and action in the halls of Congress.
From "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing" to Rhapsody in Blue and Hamilton, the story of America is written not only in its laws and speeches but also in its music. In On the Record: Music That Changed America, award-winning scholar and storyteller Anna Harwell Celenza reveals how certain songs and compositions didn’t just mirror history—they made it.
Across two centuries of American life, Celenza traces the extraordinary moments when music moved Congress, challenged power, and united people around shared ideals. Billie Holiday’s haunting performance of "Strange Fruit" brought the horror of racial violence into public view. Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring offered hope in an age of fear and suspicion. Nina Simone’s "Mississippi Goddam" gave voice to a new generation demanding justice, while Paul Simon’s Graceland reshaped global diplomacy.
Through vivid storytelling and rich historical insight, On the Record reveals how the interplay between art and politics has defined the American experiment. Each chapter connects a groundbreaking musical work to the social and legislative changes it inspired—from civil rights to women’s liberation; environmental protection to digital freedom.
This is not just a history of music—it’s a history of America heard through the songs and compositions that changed its course. Provocative, moving, and deeply original, On the Record reminds us that music doesn’t just reflect who we are. It helps us decide who we want to be.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Johns Hopkins musicology professor Celenza (Jazz Italian Style) offers an engrossing history of how music has intersected with American politics, policy, and culture. She covers how the law has shaped the musical landscape, citing the 1991 U.S. district court ruling that unauthorized sampling constituted copyright infringement—undercutting "the communicative power of rap," a genre reliant on layering different sounds—and the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which led to the deregulation of radio station ownership, privileging "nationally syndicated content" over "local voices and music styles." On the flip side, music also furthered broader political efforts by both the government—one 1950s State Department project sent "jazz ambassadors" like Dizzy Gillespie abroad to win over "the hearts and minds" of countries believed vulnerable to communist doctrine—and the American people, with songs by Nina Simone and Bob Dylan, among others, spreading the message of the civil rights movement. Celenza also unpacks the complicated roots of classic American music and plays, noting how Martha Graham and Aaron Copland's ballet Appalachian Spring, which was originally set during the Civil War and featured an escaped slave, had become by the time it premiered in 1944 a "mythical narrative of the nation's founding and pioneering spirit." Using such examples, Celenza explains with nuance and care how the history of American music reveals as much about the foundational stories "we choose to protect" as those "we're willing to forget." This hits all the right notes.
