Rock & Roll: An Unruly History is a full-scale salute to rock that is also a companion to the ten-part public television series, illuminating the roots of rock and exploring the "rock and roll culture" that surrounds the music. Robert Palmer, a preeminent rock critic and musician who was the chief advisor for the public television series, explores the complex creative processes that have allowed rock music to endure as a living art, fed from sources deep within nonconformist, anti-mainstream, often multiethnic American culture. By focusing on its roots and branchings, Palmer charts rock's ongoing developmental processes, showing how its many tributaries - from blues and gospel to reggae, punk, and rap - converge and connect to create the most insightful history of rock and roll ever written. Rock & Roll: An Unruly History is a full-scale salute to rock that is also a companion to the ten-part public television series, illuminating the roots of rock and exploring the "rock and roll culture" that surrounds the music. Robert Palmer, a preeminent rock critic and musician who was the chief advisor for the public television series, explores the complex creative processes that have allowed rock music to endure as a living art, fed from sources deep within nonconformist, anti-mainstream, often multiethnic American culture. By focusing on its roots and branchings, Palmer charts rock's ongoing developmental processes, showing how its many tributaries - from blues and gospel to reggae, punk, and rap - converge and connect to create the most insightful history of rock and roll ever written.