John Philip Sousa's America

Just who was John Philip Sousa?

This intimate portrait brings Sousa to Life—who he was, why he was driven to succeed, his love of country—and explores his life and times through hundreds of photos, cartoons, short stories, news clippings, quotes, sheet music covers, and magazine ads collected in family scrapbooks, the Sousa Archive in the Library of Congress, and the U.S. Marines archives.

This book reveals a quintessentially American story: It is the story of being born to poor immigrant parents and through immeasurable hard work, talent, and self-motivated drive succeeding beyond dreams. But it is also a very personal story of a man with a vision: a man who saw great music ultimately as being from the heart and who sought to bring this music—not just his own—to the world.

This book also includes a bonus compact disc recording featuring The March King's most beloved works performed by his successors with "The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band as well as a rare archival track of Sousa's own voice introducing his band and playing his beloved "The Stars and Stripes Forever."