Publisher's Synopsis
Bridging the genres of music, art illustration, collectible song sheets, Native American history and American popular culture, this book is definitive in its scope and coverage. It is the first comprehensive guide to American Indian images featured on over 700 colorful song sheet covers. Its preface discusses the art and history of sheet music publishing and gives due recognition to earlier authors and books in the field. The introduction addresses the American public's views of American Indians and the extent to which those views were reflected in popular illustrated sheet music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book presents song sheets in their historical context, incorporating insights of experts on American Indians and sheet music. Many of the song sheet descriptions include commentaries touching on history, American culture and popular illustration. As such, the book will be of interest to sheet music collectors, scholars of Native Americans, art historians, students of American cultural history, musicologists, and fans of illustrative art. It includes a Comprehensive Annotated Bibliography of Sheet Music Books and a Listing of Illustrators of American Indian Song Sheets. Always engaging, informative and clearly presented, readers will find the book a delight to read.
