GREAT ROCK AND POP ARTISTS FROM VAUDEVILLE TO TECHNO Two generations of American music lovers have grown up listening with Robert Christgau, attuned to his inimitable blend of judgment, acuity, passion, erudition, wit, and caveat emptor. His writings, collected here, constitute a virtual encyclopedia of popular music over the past fifty years, ranging from the 1950s singer-songwriter tradition through hip-hop, alternative, and beyond. With unfailing style and grace, Christgau negotiates the straits of great music and thorny politics, and commerce. Visit our separate feature on this reference work. An incomparable guide to 5,500 figures in the history of music, this volume brings together all the pertinent biographical information about composers, performers, music theorists, and instrument makers from the days of praise chants to the bop and pop of today. The emphasis is on classical and art music, but ample attention is given to jazz and blues, rock and pop, and hymns and showtunes--with unusual care devoted to coverage of the twentieth century. A compendium that no music lover should be without, this rich volume, along with The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, constitutes the standard reference work for the musically inclined, the curious, the informed, and the expert.