Carol A. Hess is a professor of musicology at the University of California, Davis. She is the author of Experiencing Latin American Music and Representing the Good Neighbor: Music, Difference, and the Pan American Dream.
Among its many achievements, Aaron Copland in Latin America is a vital contribution to the study of U.S. cultural diplomacy. Carol Hess's meticulously researched, beautifully written book is not only an essential work of history and biography; it chronicles and illuminates longstanding debates about the politicization and weaponization of music that inform policy to this day. As both a scholar and practitioner of cultural diplomacy, I will continue to turn to Aaron Copland in Latin America for edification and inspiration. --Mark Katz, author of Build: The Power of Hip Hop Diplomacy in a Divided World