American Song and Struggle from World War II to MAGA

'It didn't begin with Bob Dylan or even his inspiration, the great Woody Guthrie. As Will Kaufman's previous volume makes clear, song and struggle in America can be traced as far back as the Indigenous people resisting the European conquest. But his second volume beautifully demonstrates how a good tune and a strong message can still move us, make us ponder or think again, reassure us, and let us know that we belong to the human race in commonality. The song brings us the news that we are not alone out there. So if singing is sometimes all we can do in the face of overwhelming greed and the abuse of power, then let us sing and know that we are not alone out there.' Ralph McTell
'This second installment of the American Song and Struggle series secures Will Kaufman's rightful place among the great music historians who over generations have reminded us that music has and always will play a vital role in the shaping of who we are as a nation, and as human beings with a heart that beats. Astounding and comprehensive, this book should be read by anyone who has ever been awestruck or inspired or haunted by the power of a single song. Only a writer of Kaufman's caliber, sharp wit, and research prowess can pull off a book like this - at a time like this - and make it a vibrant and compelling read.' Tim Z. Hernandez, author of All They Will Call You and They Call You Back
'Along with his previous volume covering settlement to the Great Depression, Will Kaufman has written what will surely be the canonical history of American protest music for many years to come. With his encyclopedic knowledge of music history, alongside a passionate sense of present-day political urgency, he builds the most inclusive narrative of the topic to have ever been constructed, one that integrates union ballads, art song, Indigenous modernisms, corridos from la frontera, hip-hop screeds, and much more. It's not many pages into this book that one realizes they are actually reading a history of America itself.' Gustavus Stadler, author of Woody Guthrie: An Intimate Life
'Will Kaufman understands that a song is at once an investigation and a confession. His book shows that song is perhaps the most honest and penetrating way to examine the amazing experiment that is America.' Chuck Cooper, Tony-winning actor and singer (The Life, Chicago, Amazing Grace, Trouble in Mind)
'Will Kaufman brings to bear in this book his encyclopedic knowledge of American protest songs, but he extends this analysis to address ways in which classical music, opera, and musical theatre have also impacted significantly upon public culture in the United States, from the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt to the era of Donald Trump. This is a broad-ranging and highly engaging cultural history, one that illuminates how art and politics are interwoven in complex and often unexpected ways.' Paul Giles, author of Virtual Americas and Atlantic Republic
'Bob Dylan once wrote that 'behind every beautiful thing, there's been some kind of pain.' In American Song and Struggle from World War II to MAGA, Will Kaufman takes us on a decades-long journey to show how the best music of those years came forward amid adversity and mighty conflict. This is an indispensable resource for anyone wanting to understand the cultural touchstones of our conflicted past, and the gifts passed on to us, as we confront our fraught present.' Aaron J. Leonard, author of The Folk Singers and the Bureau and Whole World in an Uproar
'I am an opera singer, and have many times performed works composed by musicians exiled by their own governments. As artists, we take a stand: we write, we sing, we perform. We never stay silent. That is why song is such a powerful weapon. It is why governments in the past and the present have tried to censor and silence us. Will Kaufman's book stokes the fires of the fight that we all still have to fight.' Paula Sides, lyric soprano (Scottish Opera, English Touring Opera)
'The resounding brilliance of the first volume of American Song and Struggle - detailing musical resistance from colonization to World War II - has been outdone by its sequel, which takes us from 1945 to MAGA. Kaufman's reach is encyclopedic: the subversive queer undertones of the musical Hair; the juxtaposition of satirical anti-Vietnam war songs and heartfelt pacifist ballads; the journey of the controlled anger of Billie Holiday's 'Strange Fruit' to the explicit rage of NWA. And there are some surprises - the appropriation of Indigenous identity by performers who eclipsed actual Native performers; the triumph of 88-year-old folk legend Tom Paxton's attack on Donald Trump and Elon Musk in his 'I Bought Me a President,' co-written with Cathy Fink. This is not just a chronicle of American music, but a vital documentation of the ongoing tapestry - the pain, tragedy, and resistance of the American project.' Michael Bronski, author of A Queer History of the United States
'This compelling book is a vital counter to revisionist ideologies and fascist agendas intent on silencing marginalized voices. Will Kaufman not only preserves our collective memory but also ignites a call to action to resist the erasure of truth.' Michelle Rios, actor and singer (In the Heights, Giant, Frontera)
'Will Kaufman offers here a sweeping, captivating legacy of American song as an undying delivery system of social message. He shifts through all genres and generations with a historian's eye for relevant detail, opening with the argument that in the age of MAGA there stands an obligation to know and preserve this part of our heritage, and to truly understand the 'why' of music-making. Now, more than ever, this is some tough medicine to swallow. It's something which we cannot, and must not, take for granted. The freedom to sing of social ills and to describe in song what a better society looks like, is as precious as music itself. As Kaufman rightly foretells, 'The liars will be named, and the truth will be sung.'' Ashley Kahn, author of A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album
'Will Kaufman's continuing journey to connect American song to social and political events since World War II proves that protest music did not die after the 1960s. His beautifully written book is an eye-opener as to how the unquenchable power of song continues even in the face of tyrannical attempts to hush it up. This fascinating documentary has taught me things I thought I knew about but obviously didn't know enough.' Andy Irvine, Planxty, Sweeney's Men, Patrick Street
'Artists have always sung out against injustice, and Will Kaufman's book shines a light on the music that has helped to change the hearts and minds of Americans since the Second World War. The story of postwar American protest music and the musicians who made it makes for compelling reading that is still relevant in today's troubled and turbulent times.' Yolande Bavan, jazz singer (Lambert, Hendricks, and Bavan; The Real Ambassadors)
'Like the subjects of his work, Will Kaufman brings wit, passion, and inspiration. Sometimes music is accommodation. But sometimes it is resistance. And often it can be uplift. Onwards and upwards!' Scott Lucas, editor of EA Worldview and author of Beyond Dissent