In this first full-length study of Henry Cowell, Michael Hicks shows how the maverick composer, writer, teacher, and performer built his career on the intellectual and aesthetic foundations of his parents, community, and teachers--and exemplified the essence of bohemian California. Author of the highly influential New Musical Resources and a teacher of John Cage, Lou Harrison, and Burt Bacharach, Cowell is regarded as an innovator, a rebel, and a genius. One of the first American composers to be celebrated for the novelty of his techniques, Cowell popularized a series of experimental...

Music has flourished in the Mormon Church since its beginning. In this book - now available in paperback - Michael Hicks examines the direction that music's growth has taken since 1830. He looks closely at topics including the denomination's first official hymnals; the views of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young on singing; the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; and the changing attitudes of church officialdom and laity toward popular and non-western music styles. It is the winner of the 1989 Award in Criticism, from the Association for Mormon Letters.

A study of how politics worked in late medieval England, this text throws new light on a much-discussed period in English history. Michael Hicks explores the standards, values and principles that motivated contemporary politicians and the aspirations and interests of both dukes and peasants alike. Hicks argues that the Wars of the Roses did not result from fundamental weaknesses in the political system but from the collision of exceptional circumstances that quickly passed away. Overall, he shows that the era was one of stability and harmony and that there were effective mechanisms for...

English Political Culture in the Fifteenth Century is a new and original study of how politics worked in late medieval England, throwing new light on a much-discussed period in English history. Michael Hicks explores the standards, values and principles that motivated contemporary politicians, and the aspirations and interests of both dukes and peasants alike.

Hicks argues that the Wars of the Roses did not result from fundamental weaknesses in the political system but from the collision of exceptional circumstances that quickly passed away. Overall, he shows that the era...

Richard III is undoubtedly the dominant personality in this collection of essays, but not in his capacity as king of England. Richard was Duke of Gloucester far longer than he was king. For most of his career, he was a subject, not a monarch, the equal of the great nobility. He is seen here in the company of his fellows: Warwick the Kingmaker, Clarence, Northumberland, Somerset, Hastings a the Wydevilles. His relations with these rivals, all of whom submitted to him or were crushed, show him in different moods and from various vantage points.