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Sound Targets American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq WarJonathan Pieslak |
Also available as an e-book on the IUPO site. Click here
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The soundtrack of war in the iPod era "Sound Targets reveals just how pervasively popular music has shaped contemporary U.S. military culture. . . . This thoughtful and provocative study will certainly attract a wide audience concerned with music's roles in the time of war." —W. Anthony Sheppard, author of Revealing Masks: Exotic Influences and Ritualized Performance in Modernist Music Theater
"I highly recommend this book for all those interested in relationships between artistic expression and politics, war, militarism, and psychology. Its writing style is both accessible and sophisticated, making it appropriate for use in either undergraduate or graduate courses." —Lisa Gilman, University of Oregon, Journal of Folklore Research , October, 2009
"Pieslak's Sound Targets offers a serious and insightful examination of how music was used by American soldiers in the Iraq War." —Times Higher Education , November 2009 Though a part of American soldiers' lives since the Revolutionary War, by World War II music could be broadcast to the front. Today it accompanies soldiers from the recruiting office to the battlefield. For this book, Jonathan Pieslak interviewed returning veterans to learn about the place of music in the Iraq War and in contemporary American military culture in general. Pieslak describes how American soldiers hear, share, use, and produce music both on and off duty. He studies the role of music from recruitment campaigns and basic training to its use "in country" before and during missions. Pieslak explores themes of power, chaos, violence, and survival in the metal and hip-hop music so popular among the troops, and offers insight into the daily lives of American soldiers in the Middle East.
Visit the accompanying website for the book for videos and interviews
Jonathan Pieslak is Associate Professor of Music at the City College and Graduate Center, CUNY. He lives in New York City.
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Distribution: World Publication date: 9/21/2009 |
