This is the first book to concentrate on the rebellious trend within
American music at the turn of the twentieth century. American Pioneers
examines Charles Ives, Henry Cowell, John Cage, Carl Ruggles, Edgard
Varèse, Harry Patch, Colin McPhee and Lou Harrison, focusing on the
peculiarly American quality of their artistic motivation. The pioneering
flair of these composers was an act of defiance: Americans throwing off
the shackles of European tradition and inventing a new language, seeking
to redefine what could or could not be embraced by the term 'music'.