Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Virgil Thomson, William Grant Stiff, Edgard Varese, Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles, Marion Bauer, Dane Rudhyar -- these were the leaders of a talented new generation of American composers whose efforts made New York City the center of new music in the country. They founded composer societies to promote the performance of their music, and they nimbly negotiated cultural boundaries, aiming for recognition in Western Europe as much as at home. Drawing on extensive archival material -- including interviews, correspondence, popular periodicals, and little-known music manuscripts -- Oja provides a new perspective on the period and a compelling collective portrait of the figures, puncturing many longstanding myths. She also discusses the persistent biases of the time, particularly anti-Semitisim, gender stereotyping, and longstanding racial attitudes.