History of Western Music: Norton or Oxford?

[anticlock]

Hi,
I'd like to buy one of these books:

Oxford History of Western Music
https://www.amazon.com/The-Oxford-History-Western-Music/dp/0195097629/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378386157&sr=8-1&keywords=oxford+history+of+western+music#

or

Norton History of Western Music
https://www.amazon.com/History-Western-Music-Eighth-Edition/dp/0393931250/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378386188&sr=8-1&keywords=norton+history+of+western+music

Can anybody (who's preferrably read both) recommend one or the other and point out differences/advantages/disadvantages of either one?

Thanks,
Sven

[yale_music]

Links don't work. Is the Oxford you're looking at by Taruskin or Gibbs. Makes a big difference.

[anticlock]

oops, should work now.
It's the Taruskin/Gibbs college edition. In fact, both are college editions to work with the respective anthologies.

[yale_music]

Ah, okay. Well, the Taruskin/Gibbs will give you a very personal (but compelling) perspective on history. Taruskin likes to call out all of the ideological b/s that has been passed down from generation to generation, so some of the content might surprise you.

The Norton History is replete with unfair generalizations, but it's more akin to the sort of history that you'd expect to find in a textbook.

In short, Oxford is better, more critical, and ultimately more accurate; Norton is more traditional.

I'd go for Oxford if you really want to learn something.

[anticlock]

Thank you very much, yale_music!