This revised edition of Cone's book about the meaning and impact of African-American music focuses on spirituals but his chapter on the blues is as perceptive if not as comprehensive as his treatment of the spirituals. (Cone considers the older, acoustic blues and does not reference the electric blues that grew out of the Great Migration.) I found the songs he quotes echoing in my head as I read and I was deeply affected by what Cone has to say about the experiences and injustice that produced both kinds of music. Although Cone does not deal with either gospel music or jazz, he does, in this updated edition, note that those genres and rap, are contemporary expressions of the harsh conditions under which many African-Americans still live. ( )

"The power of song in the struggle for black survival--that is what the spirituals and blues are about."

One of the best books on the subject of the spirituals and the blues and their relation to the soul. Highly recommended. ( )