MAIN BOOK PAGE | EXCERPT | AUTHOR BIO | TABLE OF CONTENTS REVIEWS "Instruments of Desire is a powerful book. The way in which Waksman moves with real authority from style to style as he considers each guitarist is almost a virtuosic accomplishment in itself." --John Covach, editor of Understanding Rock "This is a new kind of--polyphonic and polyrhythmic--history of popular music. It seamlessly weaves together everything from theory to biography, from economics to technology, from race and gender to aesthetics. Anyone interested in popular music will enjoy reading this book, and everyone will leave it wiser than when they came to it." --Lawrence Grossberg, author of Dancing in Spite of Myself "These instruments of desire are the tools of our trade, the means of production and while the muddled, middle-aged prophets of year zero predict their demise, Steve Waksman lays out a history that's essential reading for all foot soldiers in the music biz wars." --Jon Langford, The Mekons