Book excerpt: Rock and roll. Those three words are understood by people in almost every nation on Earth. They describe a type of music and an attitude that made history and continues to change the musical landscape. Readers will learn that the music style started out in the United States as a new type of dance music for teenage baby boomers during the mid-1950s. By the 1960s, the music transformed the cultural and political landscape of much of the world. Never before in history has a style of music come along that so quickly and so completely changed the world. Author Stuart Kallen traces the history of rock and roll from its early 1950s beginnings through its most significant developments to date.