The books listed in this column address music as it relates to political expression or focus on power relationships between individual musicians or musical communities and a governing authority. Readers are welcome to submit additional titles to musicandpolitics@umich.edu for possible inclusion in the next issue.
Angelina Gibson is a historical musicology PhD student at the University of Michigan with research interests in Orientalism in classical music and ballet, as well as Asian American choreographers, dancers, and musicians. Her work has been presented at the Association for Asian American Studies, Society for Ethnomusicology, American Musicological Society Midwest, International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance, and International Clarinet Association. She has been the Assistant Editor for Music & Politics since 2024 and currently serves as a co-chair of the AMS Music and Dance Study Group.
References
Achondo, Luis. The Sounds of Aguante: Politics of Fandom in South American Football. Wesleyan University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1353/book.134066.https://doi.org/10.1353/book.134066
Alonso, Diego, and Michael Christoforidis, eds. Music, Propaganda, and the Spanish Civil War: International Encounters with a Divided Nation. Oxford University Press, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197760703.001.0001.https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197760703.001.0001
Anderton, Abby. Audible Testimonies: Surviving the Third Reich in Music and Media. Oxford University Press, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197811238.001.0001.https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197811238.001.0001
Ansari, Emily Abrams, Daniel F. Boomhower, and Michael Sy Uy, eds. Music Capital: Sound and Power in Washington, D.C. Harvard University Press, 2026.
Attfield, Nicholas, and Ben Earle, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Music and Fascism. Cambridge University Press, 2026.
Barson, Benjamin. Brassroots Democracy: Maroon Ecologies and the Jazz Commons. Wesleyan University Press, 2026.
Benoit-Otis, Marie-Hélène, and Cécile Quesney. The Mozart Week of the German Reich: Nazi Propaganda and Franco-German Relations in 1941. Translated by Stacey Brown. University of Rochester Press, 2026.
Berish, Andrew S. Hating Jazz: A History of Its Disparagement, Mockery, and Other Forms of Abuse. University of Chicago Press, 2025.
Calori, Anna. Engineering Global Socialism: Ownership, Non-Alignment, and Corporate Culture in a Bosnian Company. Indiana University Press, 2026.
Caplan, Lucy. Dreaming in Ensemble: How Black Artists Transformed American Opera. Harvard University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.21028831.https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.21028831
Downes, Stephen, and Daniel Elphick, eds. Constructing Polish Musical Identities Outside Poland Since 1880. Boydell Press, 2026.
Erman, Uri. Voicing Britannia: Opera, Gender, and Jews, 1760–1830. Oxford University Press, 2026.
Fairchild, Charles. The Capitalist Imaginaries of Popular Music. University of Chicago Press, 2025.
Fossum, Dave. Copyright Consciousness: Musical Creativity and Intellectual Property in Turkey. Wesleyan University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1353/book.125816.https://doi.org/10.1353/book.125816
Gall, Gregor. The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer: Radicalism, Resistance, and Rebellion. Manchester University Press, 2026.
Gennari, John. The Jazz Barn: Music Inn, the Berkshires, and the Place of Jazz in American Life. University of Chicago Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.38778277.https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.38778277
Gregor, Neil. The Symphony Concert in Nazi Germany. University of Chicago Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226839110.001.0001.https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226839110.001.0001
Hambridge, Katherine. Performing Politics: Music and Theater in Berlin Around 1800. University of Chicago Press, 2026.
Hodgson, Thomas. Journeys of Love: Kashmiris, Music, and the Poetics of Migration. University of Chicago Press, 2025.
Hofman, Ana. Socialism Now: Singing Activism After Yugoslavia. Oxford University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197576274.001.0001.https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197576274.001.0001
Inglese, Francesca. Remixing Race After Apartheid: Kaapse Klopse in South Africa. Wesleyan University Press, 2026.
Kapusta, John. Self-Realization Nation: How Artists of the Creative Counterculture Made a New America. University of California Press, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520427303.https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520427303
Kennedy, Laura E. Shostakovich’s Ballets and the Search for Soviet Dance. Oxford University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197698082.001.0001.https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197698082.001.0001
Krukowski, Damon. Why Sound Matters. Yale University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300285949.https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300285949
Kurtz, Esther Viola. A Beautiful Fight: The Racial Politics of Capoeira in Backland Bahia. University of Michigan Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12771665.https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12771665
Llano, Samuel. The Empire of the Ear: Music, Race, and the Sonic Architecture of Colonial Morocco. Oxford University Press, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197628300.001.0001.https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197628300.001.0001
Lorea, Carola E. Communities of Sound: Religion, Displacement, and Caste in the Bay of Bengal. Wesleyan University Press, 2026.
Martinson, Karen Jean. Make the Dream Real: World Building Performance by El Vez, the Mexican Elvis. University of Chicago Press, 2025.
McDonald, David A., Andrew Snyder, and Jeremy Reed, eds. Festival Activism. Indiana University Press, 2025.
Metzer, David. Prison Song: Music and Incarceration in the United States. University of Michigan Press, 2026. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12100134.https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12100134
Morcom, Anna. The Multiplicities of Hindustani Music: Re-envisioning a National Tradition. Oxford University Press, 2026.
Paige, Kristen S. Richard Wagner’s Political Ecology. University of Chicago Press, 2026.
Peck, RaShelle R. Nairobi Hip Hop Flow: Diasporic Blackness and Embodied Performance in the Underground. University of California Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520386495.https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520386495
Pierce, J. Mackenzie. Sounds of Survival: Polish Music and the Holocaust. University of California Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520405936.https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520405936
Pistorius, Juliana M. Postcolonial Opera: William Kentridge and the Unbounded Work of Art. Oxford University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197749203.001.0001.https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197749203.001.0001
Pruitt, Lesley, and Erica Rose Jeffrey. Dancing Through the Dissonance: Creative Movement and Peacebuilding. Manchester University Press, 2025.
Raine, Sarah, Shane Blackman, Robert McPherson, and Iain A. Taylor, eds. Popular Music Ethnographies: Practices, Places, and Identity. Intellect Ltd., 2025.
Ramstedt, Kim, Susanna Välimäki, Sini Mononen, and Kaj Ahlsved, eds. Music, Research, and Activism: Prospects and Projects in Northern Europe. Intellect Ltd., 2025.
Richardson, Elaine B., Gwendolyn D. Pough, and Treva B. Lindsey, eds. Hip Hop Studies and Queer Black Feminism. University of California Press, 2026. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.38720051.https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.38720051
Richerme, Lauren K. Popular Music Will Not Save Us: Capitalism and Music Education. Indiana University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.2979/18757.0.https://doi.org/10.2979/18757.0
Saguar Garcia, Amaranta. Medievalism, Popular Culture, and Politics in Metal Music: The Case of Hispanic Epic Themes. Intellect Ltd., 2026.
Santana, M. Myrta Leslie. Transformismo: Performing Trans/Queer Cuba. University of Michigan Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12410823.https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12410823
Schwenkel, Christina. Sonic Socialism: Crisis and Care in Pandemic Hanoi. University of California Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.249.https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.249
Sharp, Elliott. Feedback: Translations from the IrRational. Wesleyan University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1353/book.134070.https://doi.org/10.1353/book.134070
Shuman, Emily Q. Reflexivity in French Rap: More than a Mirror to the Republic. Oxford University Press, 2026.
Siamdoust, Nahid, and H. E. Chehabi, eds. Iran Amplified: One Hundred Years of Music and Society. Harvard University Press, 2026.
Smólka, Maciej. The Minneapolis Sound: City, Music, Identity. Intellect Ltd., 2026.
Stauff, Derek L. Lutheran Music and the Thirty Years War: Confession, Politics, Devotion. Oxford University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197749456.001.0001.https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197749456.001.0001
The Subcultures Network. Ripped, Torn, and Cut: Pop, Politics, and Punk Fanzines from 1976. Manchester University Press, 2026.
Tomás, Diego Alonso. Hanns Eisler and His Circle in Republican Spain: Music, Antifascism, War. Boydell Press, 2026. https://doi.org/10.7722/TCSZ3883.https://doi.org/10.7722/TCSZ3883
Tomes, Susan. Women and the Piano: A History in 50 Lives. Yale University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.13110761.https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.13110761
Wald, Gayle. This Is Rhythm: Ella Jenkins, Children’s Music, and the Long Civil Rights Movement. University of Chicago Press, 2025.
Werth, Alex. On Loop: Black Sonic Politics in Oakland. University of California Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520416086.https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520416086
Worley, Matthew. No Future: Punk, Politics, and British Youth Culture, 1976–1984. Cambridge University Press, 2026.