Martha Bayles

Martha Bayles (born 1948) is an American critic, author, and college professor. Her work focuses on the arts, popular media, cultural policy, and U.S. public diplomacy. She has written for publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Claremont Review of Books, and the Weekly Standard. Bayles' published books include Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music in 1994, and Through a Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America's Image Abroad in 2014. She has formerly taught at Harvard University and Claremont McKenna College, and is currently a professor of humanities at Boston College.

Martha Bayles graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts in art history, and later graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Masters of Education. She taught at several public schools in Philadelphia, as well as in Boston and Cambridge, MA. Between 1997 and 2003, she taught humanities at Claremont McKenna College, with a short period in 2002 as a member of visiting faculty to Colorado College. In 2003, she began teaching humanities and the western cultural tradition at Boston College as a part of the Arts & Sciences Honors Program. After the end of the program in 2018, she remained at the college as a lecturer.

As a writer and lecturer, Bayles has focused on American culture and media, as well as United States public diplomacy. She has worked as a writer for the Wall Street Journal and as an editor at Wilson Quarterly. She has also contributed articles to the Claremont Review of Books, The Atlantic, and the National Review. Bayles has spoken at events both in the US and abroad; within the US, locations include the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia and the American Enterprise Institute. Outside of the US, she has given two speaking tours in Germany for the U.S. Embassy, one tour in Poland as a part of the Fulbright Specialist program, and held several individual events outside of the US.

Bayles is the wife of the political scientist Peter Skerry.

Hole in Our Soul’s released in 1994 to controversial reception. Reviewers tended to praise her writing and her recounting of the cultural history of American music, while criticizing her theoretical analysis. Daniel J. Silver from Commentary writes that “… despite some theoretical shakiness, [Hole in Our Soul] is a spirited and enlightening book… [Bayles] provides an entertaining cultural history, full of many flashes of offbeat insight”. Similarly, Jonathon S. Epstein from American Music writes that “The book is a captivating text, despite its sometimes less than rigorous handling of complex, multifaceted issues, and it should spark considerable debate among readers”. Several reviewers disliked some of the focus on music critics within her analyses. Jazz musician Sonny Rollins praised the work, writing that it is "[a]n illuminating look at where American culture is today, and how it got there".

Focus within reviews was also placed on Bayles’ discussion on the root of American music in African-American styles. Robert Tate of Jazz Now wrote that her theory was an oversimplification of history, as well as “the old natural rhythm theory tricked out as modern political correctitude”. In contrast, Hal Crowther wrote in the Journal-Constitution observed that “Bayles’s indictments of popular music for misogyny, racism and infantile sexuality are among the book’s best arguments. And the torch she’s carrying is for black and black-influenced music”. Stanley Crouch wrote that Bayles "[understood] well the defeatist techniques that would-be radical pop entertainers inherit from misbegotten fine art".

Through a Screen Darkly was well-received by critics. Sam Schulman of the Weekly Standard writes that “Bayles’s genius here is not just in dissecting the pathology of the pop-culture mind, but in revealing its effects on the world at large—in matters of war, peace, freedom, and human relations”. Sonny Bunch from Commentary notes that “It’s hard to think of a political constituency that won’t be annoyed with Bayles…” but that “… there is something to please every side as well”. Sarah Ruden of Books & Culture was more mixed in her review, writing that “though my reservations about Through a Screen Darkly range from the slums of Cape Town to my checking balance at the credit union down the road, I still commend the book for its useful overview and many astute points”. American diplomat R. Nicholas Burns praised how Bayles' work "demonstrates how critical it is that our government return to vigorous public diplomacy to showcase the best of America," while Francis Fukuyama described the book as "a lively but sobering read for anyone concerned with America's place in the world”.

Toby Miller, in his review of the book for The Chronicle of Higher Education, was almost entirely negative on Bayles’ work. He comments that “Bayles has labored long and hard on her analysis, but it amounts to a fleshing out of the simplistic hypothesis she was clearly wedded to from the start.” He also states that Bayles, in her research, did not engage with serious analysts of media and culture. One month after Miller’s review, Bayles wrote a letter to The Chronicle as a response to the article,arguing that he simplified the opinions of the people featured in the book, and ignored several scholars she had referenced: "[Miller] pays no attention to any of the people I interviewed -- especially when they had something good to say about America."