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A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song
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A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song Paperback - 2001

by Jeffrey Melnick

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Reader reviews for A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song

From the publisher

All too often an incident or accident, such as the eruption in Crown Heights with its legacy of bitterness and recrimination, thrusts Black-Jewish relations into the news. A volley of discussion follows, but little in the way of progress or enlightenment results--and this is how things will remain until we radically revise the way we think about the complex interactions between African Americans and Jews. A Right to Sing the Blues offers just such a revision.

"Black-Jewish relations," Jeffrey Melnick argues, has mostly been a way for American Jews to talk about their ambivalent racial status, a narrative collectively constructed at critical moments, when particular conflicts demand an explanation. Remarkably flexible, this narrative can organize diffuse materials into a coherent story that has a powerful hold on our imagination. Melnick elaborates this idea through an in-depth look at Jewish songwriters, composers, and performers who made "Black" music in the first few decades of this century. He shows how Jews such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Al Jolson, and others were able to portray their "natural" affinity for producing "Black" music as a product of their Jewishness while simultaneously depicting Jewishness as a stable white identity. Melnick also contends that this cultural activity competed directly with Harlem Renaissance attempts to define Blackness.

Moving beyond the narrow focus of advocacy group politics, this book complicates and enriches our understanding of the cultural terrain shared by African Americans and Jews.

Details

  • Title A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song
  • Author Jeffrey Melnick
  • Binding Paperback
  • Pages 288
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Harvard University Press, Cumbreland, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 2001-03-16
  • Features Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780674005662 / 067400566X
  • Weight 0.91 lbs (0.41 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.21 x 6.14 x 0.61 in (23.39 x 15.60 x 1.55 cm)
  • Themes
    • Ethnic Orientation: African American
    • Ethnic Orientation: Jewish
  • Category Music/Songbooks
  • Library of Congress subjects Popular music - United States - History and, African Americans - History and criticism
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 98033877
  • Dewey Decimal Code 781.640

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A Right to Sing the Blues. African Americans, Jews, and American Poular Song
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A Right to Sing the Blues. African Americans, Jews, and American Poular Song

by Melnick, Jeffrey

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Cambridge: Harvard Univ Press, 2001. 277pp. Photos on request.. Paperback. New. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
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Right to Sing the Blues : African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song
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Right to Sing the Blues : African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song

by Melnick, Jeffrey

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Harvard University Press. Used - Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
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A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song
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A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song

by Melnick, Jeffrey

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Harvard University Press, 2001-03-16. paperback. New. 6.13x0.72x9.25. Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.
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A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song
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A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song

by Jeffrey Melnick

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Harvard University Press, 2001. Paperback. New. 288 pages. 9.25x6.25x1.00 inches.
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A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song
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A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song

by Melnick, Jeffrey

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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paperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
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A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song
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A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song

by Melnick, Jeffrey

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  • Paperback
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New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780674005662 / 067400566X
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Harvard University Press, 2001-03-16. Paperback. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title!
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A$129.11
A$8.53 Delivery to USA