{"product_id":"book-cx84","title":"Song of a Nation","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe greatest story never told, this formidable and gorgeously written biography documents the amazing and controversial short life of Calixa Lavallée--the composer of \"O Canada\"--and the tumult of 19th-century North America.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe story of \"O Canada\" is one of the great unknowns of our collective lives. No longer. This formidable and gorgeously written tale documents the history of this song of a nation, from its origins in French Canada in the years just after Confederation to the surprisingly controversial story of its adoption as Canada's national anthem a hundred years later. \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSong of a Nation\u003c\/i\u003e is also the extraordinary and mysterious story of Calixa Lavallée--the anthem's French-Canadian composer--and his compelling, almost unbelievable personal journey: his early life as a blackface minstrel, travelling throughout the United States for more than a decade; his service for the Union Army in the American Civil War; his production of the first opera in Quebec; and, in a final act, becoming a leading figure in American music education. To understand \"O Canada,\" and to understand the man who wrote it, is to return to the Canada of the mid-1800s, just forming as a nation, bringing together ancient racial hatreds and novel political possibilities. More than just a song, in its own story \"O Canada\" evokes the history of a country creating an identity for itself out of the unique forces and rivalries of French and English Canada, and looking to the infinite possibilities that lay ahead.","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49330701828400,"sku":"BDcx84","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/350873-cx84-Square.jpg?v=1733791116","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-cx84","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}