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White] [Hitchhiking] [Global
Minstrels] [Beatles/Pop book] [The Dozens] [ Elijah Wald Bio] [African Guitar CDs] [Blues CDs] [ My CD, and other album projects] [Joseph
Spence DVD]
I have been a writer, mostly on music, for almost thirty years, publishing eleven
books and something over a thousand articles in the Boston
Globe, the Los Angeles Times and various other newspapers and magazines (many of which can be read in my articles
archive), as well as album notes
for various CD projects (which are listed on the music and albums page), and a few political commentaries.
My books, in reverse chronological
order (with some collaborative projects at the bottom), are: |
Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night that Split the Sixties
(Dey St., 2015)
Dylan book page
|
In French:
Bob Dylan Electrique |
Italian:
Il giorno che Bob Dylan prese la chitarra elettrica
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The Dozens: A History of Rap's Mama
(Oxford, 2012)
Dozens book page |
Paperback:
Talking 'Bout Your Mama:
The Dozens, Snaps, and
the Deep Roots of Rap |
|
The Blues: A Very Short Introduction
(Oxford, 2010)
Blues Intro page |
In Italian:
Blues: Una Breve
Introduzione |
In Czech:
Co je blues? |
In German:
Der Blues: Eine kleine Einführung
|
How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll:
An Alternative History of American Popular Music
(Oxford, 2009)
Beatles/Pop page
|
In Russian:
Как Тhe Beatles уничтожили рок-н-ролл – Альтернативная история популярной музыки |
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Global Minstrels: Voices of World Music
(Routledge, 2006)
Global Minstrels page
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Riding with
Strangers: A Hitchhiker's Journey
(Chicago Review Press, 2006)
Hitchhiking
page |
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The
Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir
By
Dave Van Ronk with Elijah Wald
(Da Capo, 2013 -identical to the 2005 edition)
Dave
Van Ronk page
|
In French:
Manhattan Folk Story |
In Italian:
Manhattan Folk Story |
In Japanese |
In German |
Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues
(Amistad/HarperCollins, 2004)
Robert Johnson page |
In Croatian:
Bijeg iz Delte - Robert Johnson i povijest bluesa |
In German:
Vom Mississippi zum Mainstream: Robert Johnson und die Erfindung des Blues |
Narcocorrido:
A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns and Guerrillas
(Rayo/HarperCollins, 2001)
Narcocorrido
page
|
In Spanish:
Narcocorridos: La música de los capos, guerrilleros y el México profundo de las drogas |
In Croatian:
Narcocorrido - Putovanje u glazbu oružja, droge i gerile |
Josh
White: Society Blues
(University of Massachusetts Press, 2000)
Society
Blues page |
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American Epic: The Companion Book to the PBS Series
(Simon & Schuster, 2017, with Bernard MacMahon and Allison McCourty)
A journey through the early wave of American rural field recordings, focusing on a dozen key artists: The Memphis Jug Band, The Carter Family, Elder J. E. Burch, Dick Justice and the Williamson Brothers, Charley Patton, the Hopi Indian Chanters, Joseph Kekuku, Lydia Mendoza, the Breaux Family, and Mississippi John Hurt. Bernard and Allison traveled across the United States, seeking out family and acquaintances of the original recording artists and assembling a unique collection of interviews, images, and ephemera. The main project was a multi-hour film that aired on PBS, but there is also a terrific box set of recordings and this book, which I pulled together from their materials. |
River
of Song: A Musical Journey Down the Mississippi
(St. Martins Press, 1998, with John Junkerman)
This is the book version of a four-part PBS TV series sponsored
by the Smithsonian, in which we traveled the length of the
Mississippi, visiting musicians who seemed representative
of each region, from gospel choirs to blues singers, German
polka to riot grrl punk bands to Spanish ballad singers. The
book is full of photographs and interview segments, designed
to introduce the regions and musical styles, but, above all,
the musicians themselves. There a lot more information on River
of Song’s website, and you might also want to check
out the companion CD on the Music and Albums page. This book
is widely available (sometimes as a low-priced cut-out so shop around). |
Exploding the Gene Myth
(Beacon Press, 1993, 1997, 1999, with Ruth Hubbard)
This is an exploration of the complexities, misinformation
and dangers of the new genetics technologies. The primary
author is my mother, Ruth Hubbard, a biochemist who taught
for many years at Harvard University. My job was to make it
all easily readable by laypeople like myself. It is meant
as a guide to the pitfalls of all the new genetic breakthroughs
being ballyhooed in the popular and scientific press, dealing
with questions like who really gains from genetic testing
and how genuine are the "discoveries" of genes for
this or that condition. It has been regularly updated with
prefaces and epilogues, and is also available in Spanish,
Japanese, and Korean. |
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