This is the first book to concentrate on the rebellious trend within American music at the turn of the twentieth century. American Pioneers examines Charles Ives, Henry Cowell, John Cage, Carl Ruggles, Edgard Varese, Harry Patch, Colin McPhee and Lou Harrison, focusing on the peculiarly American quality of their artistic motivation. The pioneering flair of these composers was an act of defiance: Americans throwing off the shackles of European tradition and inventing a new language, seeking to redefine what could or could not be embraced by the term 'music'.