A City Called Heaven

"An extraordinary work. A long-overdue history of the city and people at the heart of gospel music, A City Called Heaven is a readable, meticulously researched chronology that provides a link in understanding not just gospel music, but African American music, history, and religion. The book's greatest strength is Robert Marovich's unparalleled access to Chicago's gospel music royalty, past and present. The detailed scholarship and analysis is enhanced by hundreds of interviews. Nobody knows Chicago gospel better than Marovich. To use the language of the African American church, it is a 'blessing' to have a scholar who loves this music this much be the one to write this essential history."--Robert Darden, author of Nothing but Love in God's Water, Volume 1: Black Sacred Music from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement

"Throughout these fascinating pages, Marovich colorfully shares the blood and sweat, as well as the feuds and collaborations that worked hand in hand to birth this stunning and uniquely American music known as gospel. It's a book worth a loud, boisterous, and affirmative shout!"--Bil Carpenter, author of Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia

"A much-needed extended history of Chicago's pivotal role in the development of gospel music, on its growth within the city, and on how its artists, composers, and various media entrepreneurs helped to make gospel a worldwide music form."--Deborah Smith Pollard, author of When the Church Becomes Your Party: Contemporary Gospel Music