Larry Starr is Professor of Music at the University of Washington. He is a respected scholar on the music of Ives, Gershwin, and Copland, as well as on popular music.

Christopher Waterman is Dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. An anthropologist specializing in the music of Africa and the Americas, he is also a bassist who has performed professionally in a wide variety of popular genres.

The most complete, colorful, and authoritative package of its kind, American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3, Third Edition, examines popular music in the United States from its beginnings into the 21st century.

Highlighting the contributions of diverse groups, Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman trace the development of jazz, blues, country, rock, hip-hop, and other popular styles. They combine an in-depth treatment of the music itself--including discussions of stylistic elements and analyses of musical examples--with solid coverage of attendant historical, social, and cultural circumstances.