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Book reviews for "Austerlitz,_Paul" sorted by average review score:

Merengue: Dominican Music and Dominican Identity
Published in Hardcover by Temple Univ Press (June, 1998)
Authors: Paul Austerlitz, Paul Auster, and Robert Farris Thompson
Amazon base price: $69.95
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An Important Addition to the Library of Any Merengue Fan
If you are looking for a quick yet thorough coverage of this topic then this is the book for you. It is a relatively short book, coming in at 167 pages (not including bibliography but including notes section), yet it covers the whole spectrum of the national music of the Dominican Republic.

Mr Austerlitz covers the beginnings of this music all the way through to its current state. It also spends time on Merengue's development during the Trujillo era (a particularly interesting topic to anyone who studies the Dominican Republic).

Mr Austerlitz also does a good job of addressing the sociological issues that arise from music and manages to blend well the merengue of the campo with that of the salon.

A good read and it even comes with a CD with some very good campo (country) merengue. If you are looking for merengue at its roots then this CD should please you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1.Introduction

PART 1: THE HISTORY OF MERENGUE 1854-1961. 2. Nineteenth-Century Caribbean Merengue. 3. Merengue Cibaeno, Cultural Nationalism, and Resistance. 4. Music and the State: Merengue during the Era of Trujillo, 1930-1961.

PART 2: The Contemporary Era, 1961-1995. 5. Merengue in the Transnational Community. 6. Innovation and Social Issues in Pop Merengue. 7. Merengue on the Global Stage. 8. Enduring Localism. 9. Conclusion

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AY COMPAY! DON'T MISS THIS!
Up in Manhattan's Morningside Heights and its Dominican analogs all over the US, salsa is edged out by the magnificently manic beat of the merengue, whether stirred into Dominican rap and house (the most original as well as the least known versions of the genre) or in the tear-em-down accordion of Fefita La Grande. Austerlitz has all this and a lot more, all the way from the luckless Toma' back in the 1840s (read the book!)Austerlitz covers merengue from rural to hi-society in all its fierce joviality. Read this book and you'll know there's one good thing Trujillo did for the Dominican Republic!

John Storm Roberts

Great Overview of Merengue
Enjoyed the insight into the history of Merengue and its cultural context. This book has a place on my bookshelf along with "The Latin Tinge" and "The Brazilian Sound."


Island Sounds in the Global City: Caribbean Popular Music & Identity in New York
Published in Paperback by Univ of Illinois Pr (Pro Ref) (July, 1998)
Authors: Ray Allen, Lois Wilcken, Ruth Glasser, Peter Manuel, Paul Austerlitz, Juan Flores, Donald Hill, Philip Kasinitz, and Les Slater
Amazon base price: $17.95
Used price: $10.59
Collectible price: $15.88
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