Books by Ray Pratt

This important new study of the political uses of popular music, from the era of slavery to the present traces the search for individual identity, freedom, and dignity as it has been expressed in popular music.

The ghostly presence stands in for numerous other ""voices"" in a range of American films. In this synthesis of film and politics, Ray Pratt aims to show how such movies are deeply rooted in post-war American culture and continue to exert an enormous influence on the national imagination.