From The New York Times: "The Essence of America" (Chuck Berry!)

"With entries on the porn star Linda Lovelace, the indie film “Wild Style” and Hurricane Katrina, it is clear that “A New Literary History of America” is not your typical Harvard University Press anthology. Although it has many features of an academic compendium — page numbers that reach into four digits and scores of scholarly contributors — this new collection of essays, being released on Wednesday, roams far beyond any standard definition of literature. Aside from compositions that contain the written word, its subjects include war memorials, jazz, museums, comic strips, film, radio, musicals, skyscrapers, cybernetics and photography."

"Each topic begins with an event, a moment that something changed, an act of creation, the editors said. Chuck Berry was included rather than Elvis Presley, Mr. Marcus said, because Mr. Berry wrote his own songs. A similar analysis favored the country singer Hank Williams."

Hail! Hail!  And here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/books/23harvard.html