Popular music may be viewed as primary documents of society, and America's Musical Pulse documents the American experience as recorded in popular sound. Whether jazz, blues, swing, country, or
rock, the music, the impulse behind it, and the reaction to it reveal the attitudes of an era or generation. Always a major preoccupation of students, music is often ignored by teaching
professionals, who might profitably channel this interest to further understandings of American history and society. In this interdisciplinary collection, topics concerning twentieth-century
popular music are related to issues of politics, class, economics, race, gender, and the social context. The focus throughout is to encourage investigation of the complex issues behind the
music.
