Book cover of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong

Book description

Louis Armstrong was the greatest jazz musician of the twentieth century and a giant of modern American culture. He knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts, wrote the finest of all jazz autobiographies - without a collaborator - and created collages that have been compared to the art…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Pops as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

It is not possible to have any serious grasp of America in the 20th century without knowing and understanding Louis Armstrong. His story covers a great deal of the Black experience, from the exodus out of the South to the racism of the North. His life exposes the homogenizing machine that is the entertainment industry. And it shows what happens when a genius refuses to accept tragedy. This is the definitive biography of a great American.

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A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

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