Bruno Nettl is professor of music and anthropology at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He is the author or editor of nineteen books, including "Folk and Traditional Music of the Western Continents" and "The Study of Ethnomusicology". In 2012 he was awarded the CharlesHomerHaskinsPrize, which is presented annually to a distinguished humanist by the American Council of Learned Societies.

From one of the most lauded scholars in ethnomusicology comes this enlightening and highly personal narrative on the evolution and current state of the field of ethnomusicology. Surveying the field he helped establish, Bruno Nettl investigates how concepts such as evolution, geography, and history serve as catalysts for advancing ethno-musicological methods and perspectives. Nettl's entertaining collection covers his scholarly interests ranging from Native American to Mediterranean to Middle Eastern contexts while laying out the pivotal moments of the field and conversations with the giants of its past. Bruno Netll is professor emeritus of music and anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the author of The Study of Ethnomusicology: Thirty-One Issues and Concepts and many other books.