Playing for Change: Musicians in the Service of Social Movements

Although music is known to be part of the great social movements that have rocked the world, its specific contribution to political struggle has rarely been closely analyzed. Is it truly the lifeblood of movements, as some have declared, or merely the entertainment between the speeches? Drawing on interviews, case studies, and musical and lyrical analysis, Rosenthal and Flacks offer a brilliant analysis and a wide-ranging look at the use of music in movements, in the U.S. and elsewhere, over the past hundred years. From their interviews, the voices of Pete Seeger, Ani DiFranco, Tom Morello, Holly Near, and many others enliven this highly readable book.

Rob Rosenthal is the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology at Wesleyan University. He has written widely on housing and homelessness, including Homeless in Paradise (1994), and on the use of music in social movements. He has played in bands for more than forty years, including The Fuse, which recorded his rock opera Seattle 1919 in 1986. Richard Flacks is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at University of California-Santa Barbara. His work focuses on roots and strategies of social movements and the American left (Making History: The American Left and the American Mind [1988]), the social psychology of political activism (Beyond the Barricades [1989]), and cultural and social movements. He has produced a weekly radio program on music and politics since 1982.