Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Rather than provide my opinion on what is certain to be received differently by different readers I’d rather just say what Songs of America is like with the hopes that this will help guide your purchasing decision. Most of Songs of America is not about the songs themselves. The authors, Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw, believe, along with many others, that America is divided as rarely before. And so they, mostly Meacham, provide a recounting of American history along with reflections on the most popular songs of each era. Most of this history will be familiar to any high school graduate and I wish more attention had been paid to the music itself. But a consistent, although none too original, theme emerges from the history: the founding of America was an incredible moment in the history of humankind. The story of America is largely the bestowal of the human rights the founders claimed for themselves to a wider and wider circle of Americans. While America may have its blemishes, the American project is something all Americans can be immensely proud of. In order to appeal to as many Americans as possible, Meacham and McGraw discuss everything from Native American history and culture, to the legacy of the Confederacy, to the African-American experience to the current Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage. In other words, it’s an effort to be as inoffensive and inclusive as possible. Because of this there is no direct mention of contemporary politics. But the figure of Trump as a divisive figure is not too subtly implicit in the text. So if you are someone whose version of American history is mostly positive with a strong emphasis on American exceptionalism you will probably like this book no matter what part of the Red/Blue spectrum you fall in. If you view that version of America as largely mythological then don’t expect to find this book very interesting because, as I said above, most of it is history and not musicology. While not a serious scholarly effort, I welcome efforts to try to heal America’s divisions, even as sugarcoated as this one is, and so gave the book a favorable rating. Potential buyers though should know what to expect: a patriotic retelling of American history which pays attention to the music most popular in each era. In other words, it is kind of like a patriotic song itself. Not too heavy, not too deep, leaving you with a good feeling about the country most us have been born into.