Bob Dylan: No Direction Home
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- $22.99
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
No Direction Home took 20 years to complete and has received widespread critical acclaim. Robert Shelton met Bob Dylan when the young singer arrived in New York; he became Dylan's friend, champion, and critic, and his book has been hailed as the definitive unauthorised biography of this moody, passionate genius and his world. Of more than a thousand books published about Bob Dylan, it is the only one that has been written with Dylan's active cooperation.
Shelton witnessed Dylan’s crowning moment at Newport in 1963. He was in the audience for the celebrated Philharmonic Hall concert on Halloween 1964. He was in the Newport crowd when Dylan alienated the folk fraternity with his electric guitar. Dylan gave Sheldon access to his parents, Abe and Beatty Zimmerman – whom no other journalist has ever interviewed in depth; his brother, David; childhood friends from Hibbing; fellow students and friends from Minneapolis; and Suze Rotolo, the muse immortalised on the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
Adorned with rare and revealing images from throughout Dylan’s whirlwind first decade of music, this a unique and honest insight into a man, who, as his sixth decade of music approaches, is ever harder to separate from the myths he has woven.
“I can’t be hurt, man, if the book is honest. No kidding, I can’t be hurt. I want you to write an honest book, Bob, I don’t want you to write a b******t book. Hey, I’m trusting you. The only reason that I am here with you now is that I know that you are the man... I’ll do it with you.” Bob Dylan to Robert Shelton
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hailed by many as the definitive biography but surprisingly out-of-print for over a decade, Shelton's volume is back in a new edition including an additional 20,000 words from the original manuscript, giving fans greater insight into Dylan's formative years and creative process up to 1978. Shelton traces the singer-songwriter's evolution from small town to big city, and chronicles his battles with stardom, the press, and public opinion. Interviews with childhood friends, college roommates, and Dylan's first encounter with Woody Guthrie create an intimate portrait and portray the many sides of Dylan without romance or clich . Shelton's unfettered access (Shelton's relationship with his subject blurred the line between reporter, friend, and even employee) provides an illuminating perspective on key periods in Dylan's career. An often combative interview subject, the Dylan who interacts with Shelton is thoughtful, sensitive, and fun-loving, far from the curmudgeon that appeared in many articles. The writer's ability to observe and comment, juxtaposed with his personal conversations with Dylan, make for a biography of remarkable depth and insight. Though Shelton's occasional musings on Dylan's place as a philosopher and artist can stretch the point at times, this is an excellent record of Dylan's early years, and a sterling example of how personal a biography can be.
