African-American music and its revolutionary potential, whether in the form of slave spirituals or the protest songs of the Civil Rights Movement, is relatively well-trodden ground amongst scholars. Where Robert Darden diverts from, and adds to this historiography, is in highlighting the reach and impact of black musical forms within sections of white American society. Charting the progression of black sacred music from slavery up until the end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Darden argues that African-American religious songs were imbued with a spirit of protest as soon as musical traditions that survived the transatlantic crossing were merged with Christianity. The introduction of Christianity made slaves aware of the sinfulness of the institution, giving them a position of moral authority over the slaveholder. Merging this belief with African musical traditions created protest songs that could safely be sung within earshot of slaveholders and overseers, but, through the use of biblical figures such as Moses and Daniel, incorporated a revolutionary ideology focusing on the belief in eventual freedom. The idea of slave spirituals containing multiple layers of meaning has been argued persistently by historians, and Darden's analysis does not really offer anything new here. Where his analysis does enter into more uncharted territory is the influence of African American sacred music on sections of white American society after the conclusion of the Civil War and into the twentieth century. Blacks migrating to Northern urban areas took these sacred protest songs with them, where they were cultivated by other groups looking to fight against oppressive measures, most notably organised labour. Using singing as a recruiting tool, many of their songs were based on spirituals. Black migrants also encountered other musical styles on moving North, and merged the spirituals with them, creating new sacred forms, such as jubilee, and also new secular forms, such as blues and jazz. The development of gospel in the 1930s saw sacred African-American music adopt a style closer to popular music of the period and, boosted by the influence of radio, it started to appeal to white teenagers. The portable transistor radio, and later the 45 record, enabled teenagers to listen to their music at their own time and place of choosing. The appeal of black music to sections of white American society assisted the impact of the songs when they began to be incorporated into the emerging Civil Rights Movement. Here the book ends a little abruptly with the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, with the remainder of the history to be incorporated, presumably, into the second volume. Despite this, Darden presents a compelling study of the impact of African-American music, making excellent use of both the rich historiography, and the various black musical genres.