Nat Hentoff has called Peter Guralnick "a national resource," and for once this isn't a piece of hype. Guralnick may be a premiere chronicler of American popular music, which he writes about with brains, reverence, and a peculiar tenderness for dashed dreams. In this volume, he records the rise and fall of Stax Records--the Memphis powerhouse that produced a string of classics from the likes of Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, Booker T. and the MGs, and Johnnie Taylor. The birth of modern rhythm-and-blues makes for a fascinating story. But there's another story behind that one--the racial tensions that eventually tore Stax apart--which makes the book richer, and sadder, than we have any right to expect.