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    Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song
    Unavailable
    Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song
    Unavailable
    Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song
    Ebook391 pages6 hours

    Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song

    By Steve Turner

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Behind our most beloved hymn is a fascinating story spanning continents, cultures, and centuries. Inspired by the way "Amazing Grace" continues to change and grow in popularity, acclaimed music writer Steve Turner embarks on a journey to trace the life of the hymn, from Olney, England, where it was written by former slave trader John Newton, to tiny Plantain Island off the coast of Africa, where Newton was held captive for almost a year, to the Kentucky-Tennessee border and other parts of the South, where the hymn first began to spread.

    Newton had been rescued from Africa by a merchant ship when, during an eleven-hour storm on the Atlantic, he converted to Christianity. Years later, as a minister, he wrote the hymn for use among his congregation. Through the nineteenth century, "Amazing Grace" appeared in more and more hymn books, and in the twentieth century it rose to a gospel and folk standard before exploding into pop music. It has been recorded by artists as varied as Elvis Presley, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tiny Tim, Al Green, Johnny Cash, Rod Stewart, Chet Baker, and Destiny's Child. Amazing Grace closely examines this modern history of the hymn through personal interviews with recording artists.

    From John Newton's incredible life story to the hymn's role in American spirituality and culture, Amazing Grace is an illuminating, thorough, and unprecedented musical history.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061857072
    Unavailable
    Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song
    Author

    Steve Turner

    STEVE TURNER is a performance poet and journalist. Author of several anthologies of adult verse, children's poetry and many rock biographies.

    Read more from Steve Turner

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    Reviews for Amazing Grace

    3.5/5

    20 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I very much enjoyed reading this book as I try to learn to play this song as a solo handbell piece. I was vaguely aware of the story behind the song, but this book brought so many more details to light. I especially liked the fact that the author detailed all the various recordings of the song.
    • 1/5
      Funny how with all the mentioned " research" the fact that this song was basically stolen from slaves as they were brought to America to be sold was never mentioned . Nor did our Author mention that the writer was the Capt of a Slave ship . Nor did he mention what the original African words were !!! Nor how important was it to the alleged composer to keep blacks out of his church etc This book is failure on all accounts . Somehow the author credits himself for the rebirth of this song with his oft mentioned recording of it . His Grandmother gets more credit for introducing him to the song than does any acknowledgement of its true composers . A travesty poorly researched ...
    • 3/5
      I had originally marked this book as read, but realizing from the placement of a bookmark that I hadn't finished it, I started over. It was well worth reading. For some people this might be more than they ever wanted to know about "Amazing Grace." About half of the book is a mini-biography of John Newton, who wrote the lyric, with digressions about William Cowper, his friend, and William Wilberforce, the abolitionist. It's quite useful as a corrective to the various urban legends about the author. Then as we get to learn about the tune, we also learn about Southern Harmony and Sacred Harp singing. The third section describes the song's resurgence in the early 1970s with recordings by Judy Collins and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards pipes, drums, and band. The author also points out that it is George W. Bush's favorite hymn; cynically, I would suggest that perhaps it's the only one he knows. There is a (necessarily incomplete) discography at the end as well as a (now outdated) list of movies which use the hymn in their soundtrack (Invasion of the Body Snatchers??? Huh.)
    • 4/5
      An interesting look at the song Amazing Grace, the biography of it's author and it's story over the years. It's interesting to see how it fit into it's period but still has resonance over the years. While a good read, it sometimes made me think that there was more to be told and that there were issues unseen. I wasn't quite as interested with the commentary about modern versions of the tune but the adventures of John Newton sounded facinating.I dare you to read this without humming the tune!