The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century [Paperback]

Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics CircleAward for Criticism
ANew York Times Book ReviewTop Ten Book of the Year
Timemagazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007

NewsweekFavorite Books of 2007
AWashington Post Book WorldBest Book of 2007

In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic forThe New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture.The Rest Is Noiseis an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.

Alex Ross, music critic forThe New Yorker, is the recipient of numerous awards for his work, including two ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for music criticism, a Holtzbrinck Fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin, a Fleck Fellowship from the Banff Centre, and a Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center for significant contributions to the field of contemporary music.The Rest is Noiseis his first book.

The Rest Is Noiseis a great achievement. Rilke once wrote of how he learned to stand 'more seeingly' in front of certain paintings. Ross enables us to listen more hearingly. Geoff Dyer, The New York Times Book Review

[A] Brilliant, hugely enjoyable cultural history. The Christian Science Monitor

Ross is a surpremely gifted writer who brings together the political and technological richness of the world inside the magic circle of the concert hall, so that each illuminates the other. Lev Grossman, Timelc.