Books About Popular (Or Unpopular Music)

Sam Sweet, Hadley Lee Lightcap, All Night Menu Books (2017)

This quiet, ethereal biography of a quiet, ethereal band is perhaps the best book about indie guitar music ever written. Once forgotten, 1990s “slowcore” pioneers Acetone are forgotten no longer thanks in part to writer and self-styled L.A. historian Sam Sweet’s compassionate but unflinching—and unfailingly subtle—reconstruction of the band’s life and times.

Jarett Kobek, Do Everything Wrong!: XXXTentacion Against the World, We Heard You Like Books (2018)

Florida rapper Janseh Onfroy, known professionally as XXXTentacion, led a short, hard, and disturbingly violent life. During that life, he revolutionized hip-hop (whether for better or worse is a thorny question). Pundits, music critics, and the news media were spectacularly ill-equipped to understand or explain XXXTentacion’s life, death, music, or his extraordinary popularity. Jarett Kobek’s book has some fascinating (and withering) insights as to why that might have been the case, delivered with the I Hate The Internet author’s signature clarity and searing wit.

Dylan Jones, Wichita Lineman: Searching for the Sun in the World’s Greatest Unfinished Song, Faber Social (2019)

“Wichita Lineman” is a weird song. Composed by songwriting legend Jimmy Webb, its telegraph-mimicking riff is as instantly recognizable as it is incongruous with the rest of the song. Its lyrics—told from the perspective of a telephone line repairman eavesdropping on the object of his affections—are downright Hitchcockian. Weirdest of all, it was a massive hit for country legend Glen Campbell upon its release in 1968. For most people who care about these sorts of things, the brilliance of “Wichita Lineman” is self-evident, but best of luck explaining why. British journalist Dylan Jones tries anyway, and encounters some fascinating characters along the way.

Nige Tassell, Whatever Happened to the C86 Kids? An Indie Odyssey, Nine Eight Books (2022)

For a certain type of music listener, “C86”(the name of a cassette compilation issued by New Music Express) is a code word. It evokes a lost world of witty, shambolic, and very British bands, doing pretty much everything themselves and writing brilliant pop songs while they could barely tune their guitars–like punk, really, but with less bravado and more sweaters. Tassell does a great job of celebrating the compilation while also demythologizing it. Some C86ers went on to become quite famous, while others disappeared quietly back into the mists of everyday life. He tracked down quite a few of them for this book. Readers should be grateful.

Fiona McQuarrie, Fountains of Wayne, J-Card Press (2025)

Finally, a biography of Fountains of Wayne, the legendary nerds who made five incredible studio albums of cerebral, funny, self-effacing and compassionate pop music between 1996 and 2011. Their big single, “Stacy’s Mom” was a double-edged sword, providing them with the resources to tour the world, but leaving in its wake a permanent misunderstanding of what the band was about. To make matters worse, bassist/co-songwriter Adam Schlesinger’s death from COVID in 2020 has cast a permanent pall of sadness over the band’s story. I can’t say I love every aspect of McQuarrie’s attempt: It’s polite when it should probe, a bit credulous when it should be a bit skeptical, and it takes “no” for an answer when it should pester. (And why, for that matter, did the surviving band members decline to participate?) But I love finding out new things about Fountains of Wayne. I love that someone made the attempt, and I hope there will be more attempts in the near future.

Compiled by Joel Harold Tannenbaum

American Animals

Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac

Aldo Leopold was a great twentieth-century writer and conservationist and this book is very much in the Wendell Berry vein, observing and appreciating his environment. There are passages describing the birds on his property and the changing of the seasons. It emphasizes that we should each have a sense of a “land ethic,” but you won’t feel preached at.

Steven Rinella, American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon

Steven Rinella has written multiple books and he’s a poster boy for American hunting (and his own show, MeatEater). This book is all about the history of the buffalo and its place in our country, along with some actual buffalo encounters. You will come away more intrigued by the buffalo than you already probably are (after all, who isn’t?).

Dan Flores, Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History

This book is what it sounds like, stories of coyotes and analysis of what they are and what they mean to us. Some of the most interesting passages involve Native American coyote stories. You’ll also find out why they’re everywhere in America right now and why they likely always will be. No roadrunner propaganda in this book.

Dan Flores, American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains

This one also includes buffalo, but so much more. When we think of the Great Plains we likely don’t think of it as the kind of place you’d take a safari, but this book may change your perspective on that.

John McPhee, The Founding Fish

If you haven’t read anything by John McPhee, you’re missing out. Easily one of the best and most interesting writers for the general audience, this book is all about shad. Yes, really. Shad. It’s a good example of what great writing can do and a meditation on a relationship between a fish and a country. From history to lore to his own fishing adventures, you’ll enjoy reading along with McPhee and learning about shad (really).

Nate Blakeslee, American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West

If the buffalo has a rival for icon status in America, it may be the wolf. We once hated them, now most of us want them back, and managing their return has been complicated. This book looks at their reintroduction and many of the human and wolf personalities involved in the Yellowstone reintroduction. You may have a favorite wolf after you read it.

BONUS: This Patagonia Films video “Range Rider” is all about keeping an eye on wolves and the complications involved. And this podcast from The Rest is History is all about beavers.

Compiled by Elizabeth Stice