Facing the Music

This NY Magazine Article that says long ago authors, and the book industry, set the cultural agenda, made lots of money, and were the generational voice. For a long time, anybody with any creative ambition wanted to write the Great American Novel. But starting in the fifties, and then gaining incredible force in the sixties, rock-and-roll performers eclipsed authors as cultural stars. But now, the music industry is becoming, in size and profit margins and stature, the book business.