Serious Music
2 March 2027 · United States
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Why it is on our radar
Everett follows James with another historical novel concerned with race and authorship. Music supplies a new route through questions of power and ownership.
About the book
In 1918, a clash with a teacher sends Black music student Arthur Champion from Oberlin into the US Army. His subsequent travels connect the battlefields of the Somme, Harlem’s jazz scene and the political world surrounding Woodrow Wilson, tracing who gets to claim art and opportunity.
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