A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2021

A provocative interpretation of why classical music in America "stayed white"—how it got to be that way and what can be done about it.

In 1893 the composer Antonín Dvorák prophesied a “great and noble school” of American classical music based on the “negro melodies” he had excitedly discovered since arriving in the United States a year before. But while Black music would foster popular genres known the world over, it never gained a foothold in ...