Music Is History combines Questlove’s deep musical expertise with his curiosity about history, examining America over the past fifty years.

Discusses topics ranging from prehistoric instruments to modern-day pop to explain how respective musical innovations were inspired by original forces that reflected common human themes.

"Some pieces of music survive; most fall into oblivion. What gives the ten masterpieces selected for this book their extraordinary vitality? In this magisterial volume, Harvey Sachs, author of the highly acclaimed biography Toscanini, takes readers into the heart of ten great works of classical music--works that have endured because they were created by composers who had a genius for drawing music out of their deepest wellsprings. These masters--Mozart...

Describes the origins of thirty-one famous Christmas songs, including "Jingle Bells," "O Holy Night," and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and provides the lyrics to each.

"A definitive look at the outlaw country music movement, TO BEAT THE DEVIL follows the stories of three legendary icons - Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson - as they redefined country music in the late '60s and early '70s, set in the rich backdrop of Nashville"--Provided by publisher.

Presents a history of humor, from fart jokes on clay Sumerian tablets all the way up to the latest Twitter memes, that tells the story of how comedy came to rule the modern world.

Surveys the history and components of music, concentrating on Western musical traditions.

A personal exploration of what singing means and how it works, Voices is a book about our deepest, most telling relationships with music. Nick Coleman examines the act of singing not as a performance, but as a close, difficult moment of hopeful connection. What does it do to us, emotionally and psychologically, to listen hard and habitually to somebody else's singing? Why is human song so essential to our lives? The book asks many other questions,...

"Ward covers the first half of the history of rock & roll in this ... narrative--from the 1920s, when the music of rambling medicine shows mingled with the songs of vaudeville and minstrel acts to create the very early sounds of country and rhythm and blues, to the rise of the first independent record labels post-World War II, and concluding in December 1963, just as an immense change in the airwaves took hold and the Beatles prepared for their first...

"Which case of demonic possession inspired The Exorcist? What horrifying front-page story generated the idea for A Nightmare on Elm Street? Which film was based on the infamous skin-wearing murderer Ed Gein? Unearth the terrifying and true tales behind some of the scariest Horror movies to ever haunt our screens, including the Enfield poltergeist case that was retold in The Conjuring 2 and the serial killers who inspired Hannibal Lecter in The Silence...