Laurent Dubois is Marcello Lotti Professor of Romance Studies and History at Duke University.
Dubois illuminates the banjo’s complicated cultural history…This
lively account is not without surprises.
*New Yorker*
Dubois attempts to trace the evolution of the modern instrument
from its African antecedents to the present day, prudently noting
that a linear account is likely to be misleading…There is enough
anecdote and lore to satisfy both the casual and the specialist
reader.
*Times Literary Supplement*
Dubois relates here a history of the instrument that is both
learned and entertaining. His enthusiasm shines through every
page.
*Weekly Standard*
[A] riveting history of the banjo…While the story Dubois tells is
primarily historical and sociological, it is also musical, and he
never lets us forget the magical hum that distinguishes the banjo
from the guitar and other stringed instruments…Dubois combines
erudition with obvious enjoyment. His limpid prose easily bears the
weight of his impressive research.
*The Australian*
In his astonishing work The Banjo: America’s African Instrument,
DuBois convincingly and compellingly demonstrates the instrument’s
historical role as both symbol and product of diaspora and
dislocation…The Banjo is a masterful accomplishment that reframes
the broader cultural history of the world. By following the
instrument from precontact to postmillennium, this celebrated
historian has created a powerful tribute to the music, its
performers, and its listeners…With its depth and power, The Banjo
achieves an impact commensurate with its namesake.
*American Historical Review*
This is one of the very best books on the banjo published to
date…It is also one with a grand scope of the life of the banjo. If
you are interested enough in the banjo to understand the instrument
and its uses more fully, you cannot do better than to read this
lively, superb account.
*Banjo Newsletter*
If you own a banjo you should probably own this book. But fair
warning, it will probably lead you to buy more banjos, maybe even
one made from a gourd. If you enjoy history on a grand but
approachable scale…you will also find the book fascinating.
*Syncopated Times*
A wonderful offering, and a fascinating and illuminating read. This
is the most comprehensive book yet about the history of the banjo.
The instrument’s story is told here with such depth and detail that
it comes alive. I loved reading this.
*Béla Fleck, banjoist*
Following the strings of the banjo from Africa across the Atlantic
to the Caribbean and then to the United States, Laurent Dubois
provides a new perspective on the African diaspora. The Banjo:
America’s African Instrument is a rich, original view of our sonic
landscape. It is impossible to follow Dubois’s trail without a
smile and the satisfaction of hearing the world anew.
*Ira Berlin, author of Generations of Captivity: A History of
African American Slaves*
Dubois reveals the banjo as a vital medium for the ideas and
struggles of the people who make it, play it, and hear it.
Combining storytelling and scholarship as seamlessly as the banjo
condenses rhythm and melody, this special book is a melodious read
by an extraordinary writer of Atlantic history.
*Vincent Brown, author of The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power
in the World of Atlantic Slavery*
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