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Love for Sale

by David Hajdu
Love for Sale
Love for Sale

Chronicles pop music's evolution through personal lens.

If you're someone who's captivated by the rich tapestry of pop music and how it intertwines with personal experiences, "Love for Sale" would resonate with you. David Hajdu melds historical narrative with the warmth of personal memoir, giving the evolution of pop music a deeply human touch that's rare in music histories. It's for those who appreciate not just the music, but the intimate stories behind their favorite tunes.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

Love for Sale

by David Hajdu
Condition guide

Book Condition Guide

Books in Like New Condition

This book may contain very minor cosmetic defects, but it is in pristine condition. There should be no yellowing, no foxing, no water damage, and no annotations of any kind on the cover and the pages. For paperbacks, there should not be any crease marks on the spine. This book is good as new — lucky you!

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Very Good Condition

This book has been used, but it is still in a clean condition. There should be no foxing or annotations of any kind on the inner pages, but a sparse amount may be present on the cover, title pages, or outside edges of the book. There should be no water damage of any kind. For paperbacks, there may be light crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

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We do our best to ensure the quality of our books, but there is no escaping the wear and tear that comes with time. Slight foxing and some annotations may be present on the pages and the cover. There should be no water damage of any kind. For paperbacks, there may be several crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Well Read Condition

This is a well-read book, which means that the previous owner probably really enjoyed it! The cover and pages may include moderate foxing and annotations, but the text is not obscured and still readable. Moderate cosmetic defects and minor water damage may be present on the edges of the book. For paperbacks, there may be multiple crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

 

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ISBN: 9780374170530
Authors: David Hajdu
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date of Publication: 2016-10-18
Format: Hardcover
Related Collections: Creative Nonfiction, Music, History
Related Topics: Essays, History, Pop Culture
Goodreads rating: 3.71
(rated by 197 readers)

Description

A personal, idiosyncratic history of popular music that also may well be definitive, from the revered music critic. From the age of song sheets in the late nineteenth century to the contemporary era of digital streaming, pop music has been our most influential laboratory for social and aesthetic experimentation, changing the world three minutes at a time. In Love for Sale, David Hajdu—one of the most respected critics and music historians of our time—draws on a lifetime of listening, playing, and writing about music to show how pop has done much more than peddle fantasies of love and sex to teenagers. From vaudeville singer Eva Tanguay, the “I Don’t Care Girl” who upended Victorian conceptions of feminine propriety to become one of the biggest stars of her day to the scandal of Blondie playing disco at CBGB, Hajdu presents an incisive and idiosyncratic history of a form that has repeatedly upset social and cultural expectations. Exhaustively researched and rich with fresh insights, Love for Sale is unbound by the usual tropes of pop music history. Hajdu, for instance, gives a star turn to Bessie Smith and the “blues queens” of the 1920s, who brought wildly transgressive sexuality to American audiences decades before rock and roll. And there is Jimmie Rodgers, a former blackface minstrel performer, who created country music from the songs of rural whites
 

Chronicles pop music's evolution through personal lens.

If you're someone who's captivated by the rich tapestry of pop music and how it intertwines with personal experiences, "Love for Sale" would resonate with you. David Hajdu melds historical narrative with the warmth of personal memoir, giving the evolution of pop music a deeply human touch that's rare in music histories. It's for those who appreciate not just the music, but the intimate stories behind their favorite tunes.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.