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On the Record: Music that Changed America
The surprising story of how iconic works of music sparked debate and action in the halls of Congress.
In On the Music That Changed America, Anna Harwell Celenza uncovers the sometimes–surprising influence of music on American politics and culture. From “The Star–Spangled Banner” and Billie Holiday’s haunting “Strange Fruit” to Paul Simon’s Graceland and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking Hamilton, Celenza explores moments where music wound its way through the halls of Congress, influencing decisions and reshaping culture. Each chapter highlights an iconic musical work, tracing its backstory, uncovering its connection to political debates and legislative actions, and in the process revealing it in a new light. In an engaging and insightful narrative Celenza shows how music has sparked change and left an enduring mark on American society.
In On the Music That Changed America, Anna Harwell Celenza uncovers the sometimes–surprising influence of music on American politics and culture. From “The Star–Spangled Banner” and Billie Holiday’s haunting “Strange Fruit” to Paul Simon’s Graceland and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking Hamilton, Celenza explores moments where music wound its way through the halls of Congress, influencing decisions and reshaping culture. Each chapter highlights an iconic musical work, tracing its backstory, uncovering its connection to political debates and legislative actions, and in the process revealing it in a new light. In an engaging and insightful narrative Celenza shows how music has sparked change and left an enduring mark on American society.
- GenresHistoryNonfictionMusic
352 pages, Hardcover
Published March 24, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Anna Harwell Celenza's "On the Record" does a fantastic job exploring some of the key moments in music history that have changed America in both perception and legislation.
While the initial chapters felt slightly unbalanced and underdeveloped, Celenza is able to find her footing a few chapters in the text. After the rocky beginning, I only had minor criticisms for the rest of the book. The major one is that I wish there were a clearer direction within each chapter, so readers could better understand the information being presented throughout the entire chapter, rather than just at the end. Some additional editing to provide more expansive background information or context would have solved this issue in the majority of cases.
However, I still really enjoyed this book! I think Celenza really does grasp the symbiotic nature of music and culture and is able to showcase that within her work. Chapters 5, 7, 8, and 11 were my favourite out of the bunch as I found that Celenza's passion for the topic came through beautifully within them. The final chapter of the text was also the perfect example to unite the themes and ideas presented throughout the work.
All in all, I was impressed by the amount of information presented in this book and how accessible the majority of it was to a reader with only a limited amount of background knowledge before reading. I would definitely recommend this title to anyone who calls themselves a music lover, or anyone who has ever claimed that music is not political, because it is.
Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the ARC.
While the initial chapters felt slightly unbalanced and underdeveloped, Celenza is able to find her footing a few chapters in the text. After the rocky beginning, I only had minor criticisms for the rest of the book. The major one is that I wish there were a clearer direction within each chapter, so readers could better understand the information being presented throughout the entire chapter, rather than just at the end. Some additional editing to provide more expansive background information or context would have solved this issue in the majority of cases.
However, I still really enjoyed this book! I think Celenza really does grasp the symbiotic nature of music and culture and is able to showcase that within her work. Chapters 5, 7, 8, and 11 were my favourite out of the bunch as I found that Celenza's passion for the topic came through beautifully within them. The final chapter of the text was also the perfect example to unite the themes and ideas presented throughout the work.
All in all, I was impressed by the amount of information presented in this book and how accessible the majority of it was to a reader with only a limited amount of background knowledge before reading. I would definitely recommend this title to anyone who calls themselves a music lover, or anyone who has ever claimed that music is not political, because it is.
Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4 stars
This is an incredibly well researched and fascinating study of the influence of specific pieces of music on American politics and culture. Some of these instances and choices will not surprise readers who have some familiarity with the subject matter. Others may bring totally new information. I learned much more than I anticipated and enjoyed myself along the way!
This should go without saying, but for the good of prospective readers everywhere, this is definitely an academic text. It's not full of jargon or anything close, but this is not a fluffy pop culture exploration that'll be highlighting pictures and quotes from all of your favorite icons. This is definitely going to appeal more to the nerd within (or the nerd within and without, in my case) than the partier who wants to know a little more about their favorite jams.
I appreciate how thoughtfully this is organized and how comprehensively - from my perspective as a scholar who is outside of this field - this is. I suspect this will be a fun resource for folks pursuing further academic study and those who want to get a little more serious in their day-to-day, too.
*Special thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
This is an incredibly well researched and fascinating study of the influence of specific pieces of music on American politics and culture. Some of these instances and choices will not surprise readers who have some familiarity with the subject matter. Others may bring totally new information. I learned much more than I anticipated and enjoyed myself along the way!
This should go without saying, but for the good of prospective readers everywhere, this is definitely an academic text. It's not full of jargon or anything close, but this is not a fluffy pop culture exploration that'll be highlighting pictures and quotes from all of your favorite icons. This is definitely going to appeal more to the nerd within (or the nerd within and without, in my case) than the partier who wants to know a little more about their favorite jams.
I appreciate how thoughtfully this is organized and how comprehensively - from my perspective as a scholar who is outside of this field - this is. I suspect this will be a fun resource for folks pursuing further academic study and those who want to get a little more serious in their day-to-day, too.
*Special thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
May 1, 2026
I found it to be a nice music history book, focusing on specific songs and composers in the United States. At times it was dull, and as someone who already has above-average interest and knowledge in music’s role in American history, I didn’t learn as much as I expected and I found the subtitle to be completely false. I didn’t find that the author showed a single instance of the songs she documented changing anything. She even writes in one chapter about how protest music didn’t actually change anything—but that was true of every chapter in this book.
Given that the other reviewers enjoyed the book more than I did, and were more convinced by its stated premise, I’m guessing this is a better read for people who are new to U.S. music history or historical U.S. music.
For me, specific deep-dives were interesting, such as hearing the author’s vivid descriptions of how Gershwin intended Rhapsody in Blue to sound versus the recording we are all familiar with that changed the instruments, or Paul Simon’s trip to South Africa to work with and support black artists under apartheid which resulted in the album Graceland.
Given that the other reviewers enjoyed the book more than I did, and were more convinced by its stated premise, I’m guessing this is a better read for people who are new to U.S. music history or historical U.S. music.
For me, specific deep-dives were interesting, such as hearing the author’s vivid descriptions of how Gershwin intended Rhapsody in Blue to sound versus the recording we are all familiar with that changed the instruments, or Paul Simon’s trip to South Africa to work with and support black artists under apartheid which resulted in the album Graceland.
June 23, 2026
Later chapters are better
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews