The author E.L. Doctorow addresses many major societal changes in turn-of-the-century America in his novel Ragtime. Ragtime reflects the effects of business expansion and the progressive reform in the United States. Ragtime tells the reader a lot about the climate of the American society at the tu...

Hugh Arkinson May 6, 2004 BAMS 306 Jazz: The American Heritage From the beat of ragtime syncopation to soaring gospel choirs mixed with call-and-response vocalizations and the moody blues, jazz has become a much-loved form of music worldwide. Since it came out of the South ...

"It is America's music – born out of a million American negotiations: between having and not having; between happy and sad, country and city; between black and white and men and women; between the Old Africa and the Old Europe – which could only have happened in an entirely new...