Respect yourself

Stax records and the soul explosion

Robert Gordon, Bloomsbury Publishing, 480 pages, hardback, £22.95  

A white brother and sister build a record company that becomes a monument to racial harmony in 1960s segregated south Memphis.

Their success is startling, and Stax soon defines an international sound. Then, after losses both business and personal, the siblings part and the brother allies with a visionary African-American partner. Under their leadership, Stax explodes as a national player until, Icarus-like, they fall from great heights to a tragic demise. Everything is lost, and the sanctuary that flourished is ripped from the ground.

A generation later, Stax is rebuilt brick by brick to once again bring music and opportunity to the people of Memphis. 

Set in the world of 1960s and 1970s soul music, Respect yourself is a story of epic heroes in a shady industry. It’s about music and musicians — Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers — and Booker T and the MGs, Stax’s interracial house band.

It’s about a small independent company’s struggle to survive in a business world of burgeoning conglomerates. And always at the centre of the story is Memphis, Tennessee, an explosive city struggling through heated, divisive years. 

Reviews contributed by the Bookmarks socialist bookshop. Order online at www.bookmarksbookshop.co.uk