The American music is the whole continent, extensive, rich, inexplored till present time. It will be in store to investigate it, to lay tracks, to search for reference points, for a long time. During all XX-th century group of the American pioneers moved the frontier of musical art all further, got into place which nobody dared to get in. There it is possible to meet the most unusual ways of the music composition and representation about what are a sound, a musical instrument, a score, a concert.

Olga Manulkina's book tells about the American composers — from Ives to Adams. The author is the historian of music and the musical critic, the senior lecturer of the St.-Petersburg conservatory. There are many Russian plots in the book: Russian roots of musicians, the Russian-American communications, interlacings of destinies. The book contains set of the documents which were not translated into Russian earlier: manifestos, letters, an essay, memoirs of composers of the USA.
The book is addressed to all who is interested in XX-th century music, history of art and culture of the United States of America.