To those interested in cutting edge perspectives on the power of popular music, and in particular its influence on how Latin Americans have imagined themselves, their communities and their nations: read this book! The authors in this anthology insightfully explore the complex relationships between sound, emotion, and identity, using as analytical lenses genres popular throughout the Americas, from Colombian vallenato, Argentine tango, Chilean pop to Puerto Rican salsa. Other contributors examine the intersections between music and visual images, such as the dialogues between comics and popular music in Brazil, or how the reggaeton music video Bailando reveals evolving notions of national identity in Cuba. Kudos to the editors for this fine anthology!

Deborah Pacini, Tufts University

Moving beyond the outdated idea that music has a meaning in itself, the essays in Sound, Image, and National Imaginary in the Construction of Latin/o American Identities explore instead how music acquires profound social significance according to the ways it is used at particular moments in history. By focusing on a wide variety of elite, commercial, and semi-underground musics, the authors in this splendidly conceptualized volume convincingly show how music and the imagery that accompanies it have been affectively mobilized to play powerfully effective roles in nation-building and cultural identity projects throughout Latin@ America that not only complement but often transcend the intellectual efforts of the lettered city.

Alejandro L. Madrid, Cornell University

Once again the Americas reveal the persistence of gaps at the heart of the nexus between nation and society and of how their perdurance compels the endless but necessary work of the imagination. This broad-reaching collection illustrates how sound and images both seek to bridge across those gaps while making them audible and visible in the very affective responses they provoke. A must-read for anyone interested in Latin American politics of culture during the long twentieth century.

Jairo A. Moreno, University of Pennsylvania