1917: "Yankees to the Ranks"presents 25 songs from the year the U.S. declared war on Germany and entered into World War I. President Woodrow Wilson had kept the nation neutral up through his November 1916 re-election, but the wheel of fortune could not be slowed down. Once Americans caught wind of the infamous Zimmermann Telegram--a German missive to Mexico offering terms in the event of an alliance against the U.S.--they had had enough of the Kaiser's flaunting of American neutrality. After the April 6th declaration of hostilities, Americans of (almost) every political stripe signed up to help with the war effort, no matter how big or small it might have seemed. This, Archeophone's fourteenth installment in The Phonographic Yearbook series, tells the story of patriotic volunteerism and presents the soundtrack to the year's events in clear, masterful restored audio. Old favorite artists such as Billy Murray, Campbell and Burr, and Collins and Harlan are all here; so too are newcomers Van and Schenck, Marion Harris, Dietrich and Wright, Anna Wheaton with James Harrod, Arthur Fields, and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band on their first record!The informative literature that comes with the CD is a 24-page, full-color booklet, which gives an interpretive historical essay and extensive notes on all the songs. Recording dates and places, personnel, and other data important to researchers are all included. The Phonographic Yearbook series is quickly becoming the most important survey of early recorded popular American music available anywhere.