“A significant and engaging contribution to understanding the growth of a jazz audience.” — Journal of Southern History

“An excellent synthesis that should be sought out by those seeking an introduction to jazz as a historical.” — Journal of Social History

“Carney’s book illustrates how daringly and successfully black popular artists and writers were able to alter aspects of American culture.” — Reviews in American History

“Carney’s writing is rich with musical detail and historical explanation. Highly recommended. All readers.” — Choice

“Emphasizing the vicissitudes of the white reception of this new music, Carney’s richly contextualized synthesis transforms the familiar story, showing us how the rise of ragtime interlinked with the mass production of pianos, how the development of radio challenged segregated neighborhoods and musicians’ unions, and, above all, how sheer musical power overcame racist resistance and jazz became America’s music.” — Barry Shank, coeditor of The Popular Music Studies Reader

“Takes its place alongside the growing list of works that shed much-needed light on the development of jazz in America—as well as America itself—in the early twentieth century.” — David Ake, author of Jazz Cultures

“With grace and precision, Carney synthesizes two generations of scholarship to tell the story of how jazz became the soundtrack of modern America." — Joel Dinerstein, author of Swinging the Machine: Modernity, Technology, and African-American Culture between the World Wars 

“A fascinating account of how the confluence of media technology, an evolving art culture, and urbanization enabled Americans to recognize their hybrid identity through jazz.” — Bruce Boyd Raeburn, author of New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History 

“A compelling narrative of jazz’s creation, dispersal, and acceptance.” — John Gennari, author of Blowin’ Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics

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