Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music is a 1995 non-fiction book by Deborah Pacini Hernández, published by Temple University Press.
The author wanted to write a book about merengue music, but changed her focus to bachata while visiting the Dominican Republic for research purposes.[1]
"Music and Dictatorship," the second chapter, described the genre under the rule of Rafael Trujillo.[2] The dictator preferred merengue over bachata and pushed the former to be more prominent.[3]
The conclusion gives a comparison between the subject to other popular music in other countries.[4]
Gage Averill of New York University concluded that overall the work is "remarkable and readable", although it is "uneven in places".[4]
John Charles Chasteen of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill praised the book for being "lucid" and reflecting the author's knowledge of the subject.[5]
Suzel Ana Reily of Queen's University, Belfast described the book as "an important contribution" about the subject.[6]