Folk Music A Bob Dylan Biography in Seven Songs

<b>Acclaimed cultural critic Greil Marcus tells the story of Bob Dylan through the lens of seven penetrating songs</b> <p><b>"The most interesting writer on Dylan over the years has been the cultural critic Greil Marcus. . . . No one alive knows the music that fueled Dylan's imagination better. . . . <i>Folk Music . . . </i>[is an] ingenious book of close listening."--David Remnick, <i>New Yorker</i></b> <p><b>Named a Best Music Book of 2022 by <i>Rolling Stone</i></b> <p><b>"Further elevates Marcus to what he has always been: a supreme artist-critic."--Hilton Als</b> <p> Across seven decades, Bob Dylan has been the first singer of American song. As a writer and performer, he has rewritten the national songbook in a way that comes from his own vision and yet can feel as if it belongs to anyone who might listen. <p> In <i>Folk Music</i>, Greil Marcus tells Dylan's story through seven of his most transformative songs. Marcus's point of departure is Dylan's ability to "see myself in others." Like Dylan's songs, this book is a work of implicit patriotism and creative skepticism. It illuminates Dylan's continuing presence and relevance through his empathy--his imaginative identification with other people. This is not only a deeply felt telling of the life and times of Bob Dylan but a rich history of American folk songs and the new life they were given as Dylan sat down to write his own.