Beginning at the threshold of the modern era, with the atypical delivery of Louis Tiant, the authors trace the new directions of music through torturous paths. Illumination is provided by a concentration on the major fears of contemporary life: being disemboweled on an airplane toilet, the unbounded universe of irredeemable coupons, the undreamed-of possibilities opened up by Saran wrap, the role of chance in music, the inability to recognize a society driven to greed.

"Admirably lucid... just what was needed, both for the interested concert-goer and for the professional musician."
(The Times, London)

"WMC write cleanly and concisely, if at all... an excellent general introduction to 20th century music."
(New York Newsday)