Taking a linear functional approach, Professor Gauldin uses clear explanations and outstanding musical examples to show students how individual chords function in the overall structure of a piece, explaining how both harmonic and melodic forces contribute to the development of musical ideas.For the Second Edition, Professor Gauldin has undertaken a comprehensive revision that responds directly to the suggestions of instructors. The new text emphasizes fundamental concepts, using a more effective organization and simpler, more accessible language to bring the most important ideas and information to the foreground.
This book is thorough and really quite excellent, but it has some negatives as well.
First off it is NOT designed to be a solo undertaking. If you want to understand tonal theory and buy a textbook and go through it on your own, this is not the one for that...it really requires a teacher to go through it with you as well as the associated workbook.
Secondly it is not always laid out in the clearest manner. This book is not a tome of encyclopedic information, instead it is an intellectual journey that is meant to be read from beginning to end.