Playing for Change: Music and Musicians in the Service of Social Movements [Paperback]

Although music is known to be part of the great social movements that have rocked the world, its specific contribution to political struggle has rarely been closely analyzed. Is it truly the 'lifeblood' of movements, as some have declared, or merely the entertainment between the speeches? Drawing on interviews, case studies and musical and lyrical analysis, Rosenthal and Flacks offer a brilliant analysis and a wide-ranging look at the use of music in movements, in the US and elsewhere, over the past hundred years. From their interviews, the voices of Pete Seeger, Ani DiFranco, Tom Morello, Holly Near, and many others enliven this highly readable book.Rosenthal and Flacks have greatly advanced the study of culture and social movements with Playing for Change. This book should be required reading for anyone seeking a more in-depth understanding of the role of music in social movements.
Social Forces


Playing for Change is a thorough and focused study that will no doubt help shift the music-movement nexus conversation and offer a far more nuanced analysis of the ways in which this link has matured and shifted across time and space.
Labour/Le Travail


This is the definitive book on the uses of songs and musical performances, or what [the authors] refer to as musicking, in social movements&It offers a strong analytical framework that should guide future work not only on movement musicking, but on social movements more generally.
Humanity & Society

The strengths of the book lie in the insightful discussion of meaning in music and the inclusion of the position and concerns of the activist. The authors move the discussion of the role of music in social movements forward. Adopting a very accessible vocabulary and tone they achieve their goal as stated in the opening pages, to argue for the importance of culture in general and music in particular in social movements (pg.5).
Ron Eyermaló´