Soundscapes of Liberation

“Celeste Day Moore takes us on a dazzling and deeply researched tour through the soundscapes and multisensory experiences of the Francophone Black world. Soundscapes of Liberation is indispensable reading for scholars and students of the African Diaspora, liberation projects, and the circulation of music in the twentieth century.” - Penny M. Von Eschen, author of Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War

“Celeste Day Moore provides the best account of the process by which African American culture was popularized in postwar France at a time when France was negotiating its relationship to decolonization, American culture, and power writ large. This fascinating and detailed book made me think anew about things I thought I knew well.” - Daniel Widener, author of Black Arts West: Culture and Struggle in Postwar Los Angeles

"What Moore describes is not a simple love affair between a music maligned at home and a country destined to embrace it. . . . Navigating broad territories, she moves from an era when African-American music could only be apprehended fragmentarily to the advent of mass broadcasting, long playing records, and the involvement of state powers. Although this history's outlines can feel familiar, it is approached in a fresh way." - Pierre Crépon, The Wire

"Thoroughly researched, erudite, and well written, this volume is required reading for those who study the African diaspora and African American music. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers." - F. J. Hay, Choice

"Soundscapes of Liberation is a meticulously, deeply, and broadly, researched work. It is well-written and compelling." - Brett A. Berliner, Diplomatic History

“Using an eclectic collection of archival sources, the book makes a needed intervention into the consideration of the circulation of African American music in France.” - Crystal S. Anderson, Journal of African American History

“A valuable book that provides new dimensions to our understanding of the global reach of African American music, and especially of the institutions that bring the music to its fans. Moore offers vivid portraits of several indelible figures largely lost to history, and she does so with a light touch and appealing narrative voice that nonetheless carries the heft of impressive archival research done on three continents.” - Greg Barnhisel, Journal of American History

“Celeste Day Moore has woven together a compelling book that sheds new light on the Black (American) experience in twentieth century France.” - Rachel Gillett, Journal of Social History

“Celeste Day Moore’s Soundscapes of Liberation investigates the material conditions and intermediaries that made possible the diffusion of African American music in postwar French and Francophone spaces. Looking into and beyond jazz, Moore’s compelling narrative highlights the contradictions that marked this history.” - Palimpsest

"Complex, nuanced, and deeply informative." - Rodrigo Salido Moulinié, Sound Studies

"Moore’s attention to the experiences of African Americans in France is crucial in pointing out how the cultural globalization of music led to attempts to redefine its meaning in new contexts but not without resistance to those efforts." - Jonathyne Briggs, Journal of Contemporary History