Carlin's book is useful for what it contains, Cece's work from nearly 30 years ago on banjo orings is completely supercede by the materials in Laurent Dubois's The Banjo: America's African Instrument and more directly by Banjo Roots and Branches, especially the articles by Shlomo Pestcoe,\u00a0 Greg Adams, and others on banjo origins.\u00a0 Cantwell's Bluegrass Breakdown is still the best thing about the links between historical forms of banjo and bluegrass banjo playing,\u00a0 Lynn's\u00a0 That Half Barbaric Twang provides aspects not fully touched on in the other books.<\/p>\n