Acclaimed cultural critic Greil Marcus tells the story of Bob Dylan through the lens of seven penetrating songs"Marcus delivers yet another essential work of music journalism."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Further elevates Marcus to what he has always been: a supreme artist-critic."—Hilton Als"Greil Marcus is already the most important chronicler of Dylan. But here he outdoes himself."—Rachel KushnerAcross seven decades, Bob Dylan has been the first singer of...

An "astute, challenging, and far-reaching" look (Kirkus Reviews, starred) at how F. Scott Fitzgerald's vision of the American Dream has been understood, portrayed, distorted, misused, and kept alive"Now more than ever, we need to think long and hard about our collective national fantasies. There's no one better suited to this task than Greil Marcus."—David Treuer, author of The Heartbeat of Wounded KneeRenowned critic Greil Marcus takes on the fascinating legacy of F. Scott F...

The first illustrated history of rockabilly music from the 1950s to the twenty-first century.It was the twang heard 'round the world: Rockabilly was born out of country, bluegrass, jazz, and the blues in the 1950s, becoming rock 'n' roll and ruling the world. Here's the story of Elvis Presley's first Sun records that inspired all. And here's Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and many more rockabillies from the gol...

Wounded Galaxies 1968 examines the relationship between radical politics, radical aesthetics, radical culture, and the legacy of a watershed year for the world. Like the Surrealists before them, 1968's counterculture believed that changing the world (politics) and changing art (life, culture) were part of the same project.This year saw violent protests and uprisings, including those at the National Democratic Convention in Chicago; the Prague Spring and subsequent Warsaw P...

Legendary music critic and historian Greil Marcus explores the subject of Bryan Ferry and his music—both with Roxy Music and as a solo artist—seeking out what distinguishes the beloved performer from his peers and draws listeners so closely to his unusual sound, style, and powers of interpretation.

The legendary critic and author of Mystery Train "ingeniously retells the tale of rock and roll" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).Unlike previous versions of rock 'n' roll history, this book omits almost every iconic performer and ignores the storied events and turning points everyone knows. Instead, in a daring stroke, Greil Marcus selects ten songs and dramatizes how each embodies rock 'n' roll as a thing in itself, in the story it tells, in...

A Beat-era novel of heroin addiction in 1950s New York City that was called "a treasure" by Ken Kesey.This is the journal of Joe Necchi, a junkie living on a barge that plies the rivers and bays of New York. Joe's world is the half-world of drugs and addicts—the world of furtive fixes in sordid Harlem apartments, of police pursuits down deserted subway stations. Junk for Necchi, however, is a tool, freely chosen and fully justified; he is Cain, the malcontent, the ...

A 50th anniversary edition of the music classic, with fully updated discographies and new introductions from Greil Marcus and Dwight GarnerIn this special 50th anniversary edition of the beloved Plume backlist staple first released in 1975, Mystery Train's complex analysis of the relationship between rock 'n' roll music and America is given new life with updated discographies and new introductions by Greil Marcus and Dwight Garner.Rather than provi...

**From a celebrated critic, a heartfelt and adventurous reflection on the art of writing about art“Essential for fans of Marcus and fruitful reading for anyone reflecting on the mysteries of art.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)**“Writers write. They can’t help it. They can’t not.” In this spirited book, the revered cultural critic Greil Marcus explains his compulsion as a yearning for fun, for play, and, most of all, to discover—to feel the moment when a creation ...

Greil Marcus, author of Mystery Train, widely acclaimed as the best book ever written about America as seen through its music, began work on this new book out of a fascination with the Sex Pistols: that scandalous antimusical group, invented in London in 1975 and dead within two years, which sparked the emergence of the culture called punk. “I am an antichrist!” shouted singer Johnny Rotten—where in the world of pop music did that come from? Looking for an answer, with a high sens...

"No previous writer has so transportingly or authoritatively revealed Mr. Dylan against receding vistas of American music and culture." —Robert Polito, The New York Times Book ReviewGreil Marcus's widely acclaimed book is about the secret music (the so-called "Basement Tapes") made by Bob Dylan and the Band while in seclusion in Woodstock, New York, in 1967 a folksy yet funky, furious yet hilarious music that remains as seductive and baffling today as it w...

"It may be the most sophisticated political thriller ever made in Hollywood," film critic Pauline Kael wrote of John Frankenheimer's terrifying 1962 political thriller about an American serviceman brainwashed in Korea and made into an assassin. Sophisticated to be sure, it's also a headlong fall through the looking-glass of American politics and the most deeply prophetic film of the second half of the American century. As Greil Marcus reconstructs the drama, The Manchurian Candidate