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Instrument of war

Name: Instrument of war
Author: David Suisman

David Suisman

26 November 2024

Hardback

€40.60

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Book Synopsis

An original history of music in the lives of American soldiers. Since the Civil War, music has coursed through the United States military. Soldiers have sung while marching, listened to records and armed forces radio, and packed the seats at large-scale USO shows. The bugle call "reveille" has roused soldiers in the morning, and "taps" has marked the end of a long day. Whether the sounds come from brass instruments, weary and homesick singers, or a pair of heavily used earbuds, where there has been war, there has been music, too. Instrument of War is a first-of-its-kind study of music in the lives of American soldiers. Although musical activity has been part of war since time immemorial, the significance of the U.S. military as a musical institution has generally gone unnoticed. Historian David Suisman traces how the U.S. military has used-and continues to use-music to train soldiers and regulate military life, and how soldiers themselves have turned to music to cope with war's emotional and psychological realities. Opening our ears to these practices, Suisman reveals how music has enabled more than a century and a half of American war-making. Instrument of War unsettles assumptions about music as a force of uplift and beauty, demonstrating how it has also been entangled in large-scale state violence. From chanting "Sound off!" in basic training to switching on a phonograph or radio or cueing up an iPod playlist during a patrol, the sound of music has long resonated in soldiers' wartime experiences. Now we all can finally hear it.

About The Author

David Suisman is associate professor of history at the University of Delaware. He is the author of Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music, winner of numerous awards and honors, and coeditor of Capitalism and the Senses and Sound in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.

Product Details

ISBN: 9780226822921
Format: Hardback
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press, (26 November 2024)
Number of Pages: 358
Weight: 626 grams
Language: English
Dimensions: 229 x 152 x 30 mm
Categories:: History