World Musics in Context
World Musics in Context: A Comprehensive Survey of the World's Major Musical Cultures

By Peter Fletcher

Published by Oxford University Press, 2001

This is a hardbound book, 6.5" X 9.5", running 734 pages including the bibliography and index.

The title accurately states the book's intentions. Not a reference for facts and factoids so much as a reference that really requires reading, this book goes into great depth for a comprehensive work in one volume.

The table of contents is informative:

Part One: Genesis
1. Elemental Features of Music
2. Aspects of Civilization
3. Early Oligarchies in Mesopotamia and Egypt
4. Diverging Traditions 1: South and Central Asia
5. Diverging Traditions 2: Europe

Part Two: Traditional Musics of Africa and Asia
6. Africa
7. West Asia
8. The Indian Subcontinent
9. South East Asia
10. East Asia

Part Three: Europe
11. New Horizons
12. Enlightenment
13. Disintegration

Part Four: The New World
14. Cultural Mix in Latin America
15. Europeans North of Mexico
16. Africans North of Mexico

Part Five: The Modern World
17. Tradition and Change
18. Westernization and National Musical Identity in Africa and Asia
19. The Postmodern West