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In Search of the Blues

Contributors

By Marybeth Hamilton

Formats and Prices

Price

$21.99

Format

Format:

  1. Trade Paperback $21.99
  2. ebook $9.99

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around June 30, 2009. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton-we are all familiar with the story of the Delta blues. Fierce, raw voices; tormented drifters; deals with the devil at the crossroads at midnight.

In this extraordinary reconstruction of the origins of the Delta blues, historian Marybeth Hamilton demonstrates that the story as we know it is largely a myth. The idea of something called Delta blues only emerged in the mid-twentieth century, the culmination of a longstanding white fascination with the exotic mysteries of black music.

Hamilton shows that the Delta blues was effectively invented by white pilgrims, seekers, and propagandists who headed deep into America’s south in search of an authentic black voice of rage and redemption. In their quest, and in the immense popularity of the music they championed, we confront America’s ongoing love affair with racial difference.

On Sale
Jun 30, 2009
Page Count
320 pages
Publisher
Basic Books
ISBN-13
9780465018123

Marybeth Hamilton

About the Author

Marybeth Hamilton is a professor of American history at Birkbeck College, University of London. The author of When I’m Bad, I’m Better, she is also a writer and presenter of features for BBC radio. She lives in London.

Learn more about this author