Ragtime, the jaunty, toe-tapping music that captivated American society from the 1890s through World War I, forms the roots of America’ s popular musical expression. But the understanding of ragtime and its era has been clouded by a history of murky impressions, half-truths, and inventive fictions. Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History cuts through the murkiness. A methodical survey of thousands of rags along with an examination of then-contemporary opinions in magazines and newspapers demonstrate how the music evolved, and how America responded to it.
