When it was first published, Alec Wilder's American Popular Song quickly became a classic and today it remains essential reading for countless musicians, lovers of American Song, and fans of Alec Wilder.

Now, in a 50th anniversary edition, popular music scholar Robert Rawlins brings the book fully up-to-date for the 21st century. Whereas previous editions featured only piano scores, the format has been changed to lead sheet notation with lyrics, making it accessible to a wider readership. Rawlins
has also added more than sixty music examples to help complete the chapter on Irving Berlin.

One of the most fascinating features of the original edition was Wilder's inventive use of language, often revealing his strong and sometimes irreverent opinions. By and large, these have been left the way Wilder wrote them, but now also feature footnotes that clarify, elucidate, and even correct.
moreover, a new chapter has been added, discussing several songs and composers including Duke Ellington and Fats Waller that Wilder might have well included but was not able to.