Rock and roll has traditionally been a boys' game. It has forced female artists to work twice as hard, usually for half the recognition -- but without their contributions, American music would be radically impoverished. Called "a kind of female Cameron Crowe" by the Chicago Tribune, Gerri Hirshey has been writing about music for two decades. Now, in a narrative based on frank original interviews and a vise grasp of American cultural history, she serves up a tasty platter of girl groups and soul queens, acoustic goddesses and priestesses of the avant-garde, punk grrrls, glamazons, and innovators of hip-hop and neo-soul. We Gotta Get Out of This Place is the passionate history of a century of women in rock that is deft, authoritative, and a sheer delight to read. "A literary soul queen, an Aretha of the page ..." -- Karen Schoemer, Elle "We Gotta Get Out of This Place ... helps set the record straight." -- Dan Gilgoff, U.S. News & World Report "Hirshey doesn't write about rock and roll. She writes rock and roll." -- L. D. Meagher, CNN.com "Vivid, impassioned, [and] lively." -- Francine Prose, O Magazine