Overview

The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a vivid, full-bodied portrait of one of the most influential artists of the 20th century-a man widely regarded as the most important lyricist America has ever produced. Acclaimed poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein frames Dylan against the backdrop of four seminal concerts-all of which he attended: Lisner Auditorium, Washington, D.C., 1963; Madison Square Garden, New York City, 1974; Tanglewood, Massachusetts, 1997; Aberdeen, Maryland, 2009. Recreating each performance song by song, Epstein places them within the larger context of Dylan's life, from his meteoric rise as a young folk singer through his reemergence in the 1990s and his role as the eminence grise of rock-and-roll today. He explores the star's private side, including marriage and fatherhood, and his struggle to overcome substance abuse. Epstein also traces the influences that shaped Dylan's career and offers a thoughtful analysis of his work and fresh interpretations of his lyrics. Here, too, are anecdotes and insights from those closest to the man, including D. A. Pennebaker, Allen Ginsberg, Nora Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Dylan's sidemen throughout the years.

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9780792778301

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Reviews

Historian and poet Epstein structures his loose-jointed chronicle around exegeses of iconic Dylan concerts he attended, analyzing the songs and the shifting persona of the singer: in 1963, the visionary twenty-two-year-old folkie; in 1974, the bristling thirty-something rocker; in 2009, the hoarse old man growling at Fate...Epstein's wallow in the master's words and moods will entrance hardcore Dylanophiles. -- Publishers Weekly If you like Keith Richards' Life, then read The Ballad of Bob Dylan. Just in time for the musician's 70th birthday, Daniel Mark Epstein's biography offers a vivid portrait of the visionary artist. -- US Weekly What sets Epstein's book apart is its accessibility...Epstein is refreshingly direct and approachable, and while the author, also a folk musician, makes much of his extensive quotes from Dylan's lyrics, it is his own clear, emotional enthusiasm that carries the tale. -- Sunday Times (London)

Historian and poet Epstein structures his loose-jointed chronicle around exegeses of iconic Dylan concerts he attended, analyzing the songs and the shifting persona of the singer: in 1963, the visionary twenty-two-year-old folkie; in 1974, the bristling thirty-something rocker; in 2009, the hoarse old man growling at Fate...Epstein's wallow in the master's words and moods will entrance hardcore Dylanophiles. -- Publishers Weekly What sets Epstein's book apart is its accessibility...Epstein is refreshingly direct and approachable, and while the author, also a folk musician, makes much of his extensive quotes from Dylan's lyrics, it is his own clear, emotional enthusiasm that carries the tale. -- Sunday Times (London) If you like Keith Richards' Life, then read The Ballad of Bob Dylan. Just in time for the musician's 70th birthday, Daniel Mark Epstein's biography offers a vivid portrait of the visionary artist. -- US Weekly

Author Information

Daniel Mark Epstein has written more than fifteen books of poetry, biography, and history, including Lincoln and Whitman, which received an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage, named one of the top ten books of 2008 by the Wall Street Journal and Chicago Sun-Times. Bronson Pinchot, an Audie Award-winning narrator and Audible's Narrator of the Year for 2010, received his education at Yale University, which filled out what he had already received at his mother's knee in the all-important areas of Shakespeare, Greek art and architecture, and the Italian Renaissance. He restores Greek Revival buildings and appears in television, film, and on stage whenever the pilasters and entablatures overwhelm him.

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