"Thoughtful, well-researched. . . .There is nothing soothing about the sometimes-overwhelming white noise of late 1960s rock, but Burke will not let the music’s radical roar fade to silence below its problematically persistent hum of racial retrenchment. The dissonances that emerge from his carefully wrought ambivalences are a good thing."

The Sixties

"Burke takes an even-keeled approach to Black-influenced revolutionary music in the 1960s created by white musicians within a white-centric industry, shedding light on an under-researched aspect of the music of the period."

Choice

"As a whole, the book reveals that the walls of race have not been torn down. This is hardly the fault of music and musicians, however. In fact, those making claims to 'race music' include a diversity of interested parties."

Ethnic and Racial Studies

"Incisive and even-handed, Tear Down the Walls is bound to enrich ongoing discussions of the enigmatic relationship between rock and race. Its findings pave the way for future studies to understand these categories more holistically and further analyze the discrepancies between artistic intent and cultural consequence."

Rock Music Studies

"Tear Down the Walls successfully problematizes ideas of musical and political appropriation and authenticity, as well as white radical politics and its organization, messaging, and relationship to white rock groups of the late 1960s. Burke’s text is clearly rooted in extensive research and built on established theoretical ideas, but he avoids overly technical musical analysis and writes engagingly, widening the prospective audience. Tear Down the Walls is recommended for public and academic libraries, and should be accessible and of interest to readers in the humanities as well as in music."

Alyssa Nance | Music Reference Services Quarterly