Scott Gac is visiting professor of American studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and an accomplished double bass player.
“Gac’s book is a rare work of cultural history that is a joy to
read and that sheds enormous light on the era, suggesting the
texture and feel of the time.”—John Stauffer, Harvard
University
*John Stauffer*
"Scott Gac is a splendid narrative craftsman, schooled in history
and musicology. His 'Singing for Freedom' is a unique and
compelling book—the first work to carefully uncover the busy,
fascinating intersection of music, popular culture, commerce,
celebrity, and abolitionism. Behold: a time long before Bob Dylan
when lyrics really mattered, and singing abolitionists were rock
stars with political clout."—David W. Blight, Director of the
Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and
Abolition, Yale University
*David W. Blight*
“In Singing for Freedom Scott Gac offers readers a remarkable look
at the music of America's first great age of reform. The
Hutchinson Family Singers gave voice to the popular movement for
radical change not unlike the anti-war and pro-Civil Rights
musicians of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. But in Gac's artful hands, the
family's history reveals much more, showing us the nexus between
religion and reform, individualism and the search for community,
and the entrepreneurial spirit and moral impulse that
defined the era. No one hoping to understand the culture of
the 19th century can afford to overlook this book.”—Carol Berkin,
author of Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for
America’s Independence
*Carol Berkin*
“The Hutchinson Family Singers were the era’s best-known musicians,
admired by the powerful and powerless alike. Singing for
Freedom illumines beautifully these extraordinary lives, etching
sharply the highlights and the shadows.”—Dale Cockrell, author of
Excelsior: Journals of the Hutchinson Family Singers, 1842-1846
*Dale Cockrell*
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