The Story of Boogie-Woogie: A Left Hand Like God examines the socio-historical background of the boogie-woogie piano style, from its early appearances in the barrelhouses of lumber, turpentine, and railroad camps in the southern United States, to its emergence at rent parties in Chicago and St. Louis, to its rise as a popular form of music in the nightclubs of New York, to its status as an international craze during World War II. In this enhanced revision of A Left Hand Like God, Peter J. Silvester presents a comprehensive history of boogie-woogie, describing the style's appearance and development, its offshoots, and the pianists who made it famous, and studying its impact on rhythm and blues, urban blues, and big band swing, leading to the eventual revival of "classical" boogie-woogie in concerts and festivals. Silvester discusses significant European and American pianists of boogie-woogie throughout history, providing biographical information about their life styles and musical influences and offering an analysis of their important recordings. The book also includes a new chapter on the contribution of national and independent record companies to the recording of boogie-woogie music. A thorough bibliography and a final appendix providing many of the bass patterns common in boogie-woogie make this a valuable reference.

"Perhaps the most valuable aspect of [the book] is the insight it provides into the style's beginnings in Southern turpentine and logging camps, an obscure world brought to life admirably by Peter J. Silvester... [F]uture scholars will find little to add to what will surely stand as the first and last word, lovingly spoken, on an American cultural phenomenon." - The New York Times

"Recommended." - CHOICE, March 2010

".... this scholarly book is essential reading for serious fans of jazz and blues piano." - Blues Revue, May 2010

"The author's love and enthusiasm for the music overcomes, as far as is possible, the difficulty of recreating in writing the joy that many of us experienced as we found and heard, one at a time, the musicians and recordings described.... Peter Silvester has created a truly admirable work that aids us as we attempt to hold and renew the spirit of boogie woogie." - The Mississippi Rag

"Silvester assumes the task of telling the full story of boogie-woogie, from its undocumented beginnings to the present, and he starts off well. The book is organized roughly chronologically....Its coverage is broad and it contains an immense amount of information." - Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association