American Song and Struggle from World War II to MAGA

Will Kaufman's "American Song and Struggle from World War II to MAGA" (Cambridge University Press, 2026) continues the award-winning cultural history that began with "American Song and Struggle from Columbus to World War II" (Cambridge, 2022). Kaufman now brings his history up to the present: to a USA poised on the brink of autocracy under Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. His second instalment explores songs from all genres that respond to war, racism, sexism, terrorism, the climate emergency and political oppression—including the crisis of Trumpism itself. The struggles of the American project have always been sung into history; and Kaufman's aim is to preserve and continue this venerable tradition. The musical sweep is broad. It includes Indigenous and immigrant songs, the Broadway musical, opera, symphonic music, swing, bebop, free jazz, avant-garde and electronica, Puerto Rican and Hawaiian resistance anthems, Mexican corridos, blues, rock, soul, country, folk, gospel, punk, riot grrrl, heavy metal, disco, hip-hop, rap, and reggaeton. Revealing the myriad ways in which American song reflects the fight for social and political justice, it is an essential intervention.