Among the reviewers of the arts, classical music critics are perhaps the least esteemed by those they write about. Yet these often despised beings are also, for better or worse, key players in the world of classical music. This history, in which Mark N. Grant traces the development of music criticism in the United States from the early 19th century to the present, is both a comprehensive portrait gallery of our significant music critics and a study of the evolving role of classical music in American cultural life.