Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll

3.39 of 5 stars 3.39 · rating details · 100 ratings · 32 reviews

A vibrant biography of one of the greatest rock 'n' rollers, the America that made him, and the America he made.

Smart and incisive, this unique book takes us through Bruce Springsteen’s life by tracing the cultural, political, and personal forces that shaped his music. Beyond his constant stylistic adaptations, Springsteen developed over the decades from expressing the voi...more

Hardcover, 528 pages

Published June 4th 2012 by W. W. Norton & Company

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 233)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Dec 01, 2012 Christine Rebbert rated it 3 of 5 stars

My husband saw this on the shelf at the library and brought it home to me because I've been a big Springsteen fan since 1974 (have all his "records" and have been to maybe 10 of his concerts over the years). I should first point out that this is an "unauthorized" biography and the author never actually talked to Bruce himself...

Early in the book, the phrase "droningly studious manner" was used, and I wrote it down on the library check-out slip I was using as a bookmark, because I already had th...more My husband saw this on the shelf at the library and brought it home to me because I've been a big Springsteen fan since 1974 (have all his "records" and have been to maybe 10 of his concerts over the years). I should first point out that this is an "unauthorized" biography and the author never actually talked to Bruce himself...

Early in the book, the phrase "droningly studious manner" was used, and I wrote it down on the library check-out slip I was using as a bookmark, because I already had the sense that that phrase was going to describe this book as well as whatever it was referring to. Yep... Here's a sample: "On the simplest level, Bittan's piano part increasingly extended the figures of the main vocal line of the track, rather than existing in dialogue or counterpoint with them. It made the melodic fragments and other musical figures of the vocal line more elaborate, more complex, offering a more evolved but not really alternative perspective." Whew! Later in the book, after ascribing a particular meaning to the set list for the 1999-2000 tour, the author notes "Whether Springsteen's audience understood all this was very much an open question..." Uh, yeah...

But still, it could be a fun read here and there, and brought back a lot of memories; in particular, referring to the day-after-Election Day concert in Tempe, AZ, in 1980 (Reagan's first win) -- I was there when he said, "I don't know what you guys think about what happened last night, but I think it's pretty frightening." And it was interesting to find out that about half the songs on "The Rising" were written well before the World Trade Center attack; the album came out almost a year later and so perfectly conveys the mood of that time. Even "My City of Ruins" was written a year before, but what better song could there be post-9/11? Actually, I was just listening to this album Thursday night, on the bus coming back from a day in New York City, looking at the skyline with the new WTC buildings going up; and then read about it in the book yesterday...

If you're a big fan, you will probably slog through the "droningly studious" stuff to get to the fun stuff, as I did. If you're not, you probably wouldn't pick it up anyway! (less)

1 like · like · see review

Aug 06, 2012 Jenny Brown rated it 1 of 5 stars

Maybe it's just me, but I have this old fashioned notion that a biography should tell us more about the life of its subject than you'd find in a detailed discography. This book does not.

If you want to know exactly who was in Springsteen's band in any given month--though nothing about the personalities of any of the people named--or exactly how many different versions of a given Springsteen song were recorded before the final cut made it onto vinyl, this book is for you.

If you enjoy pretentious...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 19, 2012 Elizabeth Boyd rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love biographies and I love Bruce Springsteen, so I was eagerly looking forward to Marc Dolan's Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll, especially when I saw all the lavish advance praise for it in reviews and blogs, and the praise for it on the dust jacket blurbs--by Douglas Brinkley and Pulitzer Prize winning biographer John Matteson (whose life of Louisa May Alcott is one of my favorite recent biographies). But still I was not prepared, even by this, for what an amazing book I w...more I love biographies and I love Bruce Springsteen, so I was eagerly looking forward to Marc Dolan's Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll, especially when I saw all the lavish advance praise for it in reviews and blogs, and the praise for it on the dust jacket blurbs--by Douglas Brinkley and Pulitzer Prize winning biographer John Matteson (whose life of Louisa May Alcott is one of my favorite recent biographies). But still I was not prepared, even by this, for what an amazing book I was about to read. Where to start?
First and foremost, Dolan's biography is beautifully written--a real page turner. Although he is clearly a scholar (both Brinkley and Matteson call his knowledge of Bruce "encyclopedic"), the style of the book is lively, readable, and totally engaging. It can be read and enjoyed by anyone, from those Jersey and NYC guys in cut off t-shirts I see at all the Springsteen concerts I've been to, where we sing and dance all night with Bruce, to academics and intellectuals, who spend their lives in offices and libraries. It must be difficult to write a book that can appeal to such a mass and diverse audience. But you simply cannot put it down once you start reading it. Second, this is the only book on Springsteen (and I've read them all) in which he really comes alive and you feel the flesh and blood figure in all of his many dimensions. Dolan shows you how this awkward, skinny, working class kid from Jersey developed as a musician from his early years, fashioned both his music and himself, and emerged as a rock icon, but he also shows you how individual songs and albums developed along the way, oftentimes--as in his stunning analysis of my favorite song, "Thunder Road"--taking you through the various versions. In the earliest of these, which Dolan calls the "Chrissie" version, we have a typical song about a guy who wants to blow town with his girl. By the time we get to the "Thunder Road" we all know and love, Bruce has transformed the song so that we get a sense of Mary's point of view, and her situation as understood by the singer ("You can hide 'neath your covers and study your pain / Draw crosses on your lovers, throw roses in the rain"), and it is this artistic move that gives the song such power, depth, and poignancy. Similarly, Dolan shows us how the albums emerged, and his insights are always amazing, yet they never get in the way of his narrative thread. Third, most Bruce books act as though he stopped growing in 1985, with the "Born to Run" tour. But Dolan not only takes us through the past 25 years of his development, he is completely convincing in making the case for the importance of these years of experimentation, as in his amazing analysis of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" album. As with other later Bruce albums, I had never been as attracted to them as to the earlier ones. But after reading Dolan, I now appreciate Bruce's growth, which has never stopped, and his courage in constantly experimenting, growing, and developing. Dolan's book opened up to me, and to others I assume, just how much greater Bruce is than even his biggest fans have ever realized. (Dolan also shows how, for Bruce, a song is never "complete." It is always under construction, and it often changes during concerts, as he never stops searching for new meanings in his previous work.) Fourth, and this is one of the most wonderful aspects of the book, while never losing sight of Springsteen's story, Dolan links Bruce's life, songs, concert tours, and development to the history of American popular culture and the history of music. This cultural context is one of the many charms of the book, and one can learn a ton about music and culture from it. For the first time, I understand Bruce's eclectic appreciation of every type and genre of music, how these diverse strands influenced his own art, and why he's influenced such an wide array of other musicians. It's also one of the reasons why he's the most beloved and appreciated musical artist of the past half century, why--and this is hard for me to say--he's even bigger and more important than Dylan or The Beatles. Dolan also demonstrates the connections between Bruce's songs and American politics. We all seem to forget that Bruce was pretty much totally apolitical until 1985. Dolan explores brilliantly how Bruce came to realize that his songs spoke for a political view that he didn't even know he had, which he then consciously pursued over the past quarter century--thus albums like The Rising or the Seeger Sessions. I also am very impressed by the way in which Dolan handles Springsteen's personal life--his first marriage and divorce, and his relationship with and marriage to Patty. Although not ignoring these parts of the life, he handles them with tact, grace, and insight. This is quite a departure from the sensationalizing of it by some other writers, or the silence about it by those "authorized" writers with ties to the Springsteen establishment. Dolan has written a biography about an important living figure the way one would write a biography of Washington, Mark Twain, or Sinatra; he treats him with respect and sympathy while remaining scrupulously honest and insightful toward his subject, and he places him in a wealth of contexts that deepen our understanding of both the man and his music. One must respect that. In short, this is as brilliant, beautiful, and exciting a biography as I have ever read. I place it in the same class as such biographies as David Donald's Lincoln, Edmund Morris's bios of Teddy Roosevelt, Chernow's biographies of Washington and Hamilton, Justin Kaplan's bio of Mark Twain, Donald Spoto's bio of Alfred Hitchcock, and Michael Reynolds's five volume life of Hemingway. It has a few equals, but nothing that surpasses it, and it simply blows away all the other books I've read on Bruce, or on other musicians. In fact, I've since bought a dozen copies of it to give to friends and family members as birthday and Christmas presents (you can never buy Christmas presents too early!), and so that I can re-read it right now. My husband--a physicist whom I drag to Springsteen concerts and, while I go wild dancing and singing along with Bruce and all the fans, listen to him grumble about how he prefers Dylan, the Stones, and jazz--is now reading it and I can't get it back, so I needed another copy for me! But the upside is that he's now listening to Bruce and respecting his work, and actually puts in Bruce CDs when we are driving, and talks about Bruce like he's the one who discovered him. I can't wait until we go to our next Bruce concert. I know this review must seem hyperbolic, but it barely does justice to this brilliant, insightful, and wonderful book. If you are a Springsteen fan, you will love it. And if you aren't a Springsteen fan, it will convert you into one. Just in case you ever read this review, thank you Mr. Dolan, for giving me one of the truly best books I have ever read. I just wish I knew you and could get it signed!(less)

like · see review

Nov 27, 2012 Holly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads

This is a long, nearly-encyclopedic song-by-song, performance-by-performance, psychologically- and sociologically-perceptive discussion of Springsteen's career. Dolan is best at explaining Springsteen's political persona and social consciousness in the context of recent American history (not necessarily of all of rock n roll). But since Springsteen was apolitical for many years, the first half of the book tends to read as more of detached litany of band members' names and song titles - only good...more

like · see review

Jun 16, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

This is at times a strong biography of Bruce, which might be more useful to call an interpretive biography. Obviously all biographies force their authors to place the lives of their subjects in a constructed context, but this one feels more like Dolan summarizing factual details gleamed from previous works and then riffing off of them.

This approach works to best effect in the chapter covering the Nebraska and Born in the USA recordings and the subsequent world tour. We all know the story of Reag...more This is at times a strong biography of Bruce, which might be more useful to call an interpretive biography. Obviously all biographies force their authors to place the lives of their subjects in a constructed context, but this one feels more like Dolan summarizing factual details gleamed from previous works and then riffing off of them.

This approach works to best effect in the chapter covering the Nebraska and Born in the USA recordings and the subsequent world tour. We all know the story of Reagan's co-opting of "Born in the USA" as a jingoistic anthem, but Dolan makes an intriguing connection between the two men that I hadn't previously considered, but goes a long way toward explaining why this era is my least favorite of Bruce's stage life*:

"So, just as Bruce Springsteen and his advisers were plotting in the spring of 1984 to snag the broadest possible segment of the record-buying public, Ronald Reagan and his advisers were planning that same season in strategically similar ways to pull in the largest possible portion of the electorate. Reagan might be proceeding from the House Un-American Activities Committee-based right and Springsteen from the Monterey Pop-based left, but in 1984 each man was seeking to go beyond the loyal base that he had painstakingly built during the 1970s to capture the hearts and minds of the much wider American center." (p.216)

Dolan sprinkles insights like this throughout his book, really giving the impression that Bruce's music is all of a piece, one album written in reaction to (or conversation with) something else, and I admired how he described Bruce's set lists, teasing out the narratives he is trying to tell rather than something he hastily assembles. The book is well-sourced and Dolan has clearly done the work of listening to hundreds of hours of bootlegs, going so far as to gauge crowd reaction to a particular song on a particular night.

So why am I only giving this 3 stars?

For one, it's too long. Again, the biographical details here are all previously cited (it doesn't appear that Dolan spoke with anybody directly for original insights), which is not a problem other than to say that what this really is is a dissertation on Bruce Springsteen and his music, and sometimes you wonder if Dolan, a college professor, is guilty of academic overwriting**. It is just rock and roll, after all. (He also attempts to claim that "Mary's Place" is the second-best song off The Rising, which, come on.)

There is another biography coming out later this year that, if not fully authorized, at least comes with participation from Team Springsteen. It will be interesting to see how that compares with this one, and I might revisit this review once I do.

*The other part might be that the BitUSA tour recordings manage to sound more dated than the earliest E Street Band recordings, with Max's drums sounding like they're in a cavern and Bruce literally screaming lyrics at his stadium crowds.

**The word ersatz is used at least 10 times, which is probably 5 more times than I've ever seen it before this.
(less)

like · see review

Sep 04, 2012 Joe rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

This book could be called, "Bruce Springsteen Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Rock and Roll". If you're a Springsteen fan and you're intrigued by how his music has evolved throughout his career, you'll most likely enjoy this book although it can be frustrating to read at times. You should plan on taking longer than you think to finish reading since you'll frequently succumb to the urge to search YouTube for many of the performances referenced by Marc Dolan in each chapter.

This biogra...more This book could be called, "Bruce Springsteen Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Rock and Roll". If you're a Springsteen fan and you're intrigued by how his music has evolved throughout his career, you'll most likely enjoy this book although it can be frustrating to read at times. You should plan on taking longer than you think to finish reading since you'll frequently succumb to the urge to search YouTube for many of the performances referenced by Marc Dolan in each chapter.

This biography is an enjoyable read if you feel the pull of Bruce's music. At times, Dolan's book struggles under the weight of over-wrought sentences like this one; "Conceived this way, the piano line in "Thunder Road" is less like the narrator's critical interlocutor than like a piece of the narrator's musical clothing, something he dons to lend himself greater presence."

The attempts to link Bruce's worldview expressed in his music to Ronald Reagan's is unconvincing. The section detailing Springsteen's endorsement of Barack Obama is overdone with lines such as, "Was there ever a presidential candidate who better fit with Bruce Springsteen's worldview?" As Dolan himself explains, Springsteen became more overtly politically active as he grew older and saw the world (and himself as a musician) in less absolute terms.

Dolan's analysis of Springsteen's lyrics and his ability to connect songs across different periods of Bruce's career is a strength of the book. Much of the book helps us understand why Bruce needed to regularly leave the band and explore his music on his own or with other musicians. Even as a lifelong Springsteen fan, however, I found Dolan to be a bit too forgiving of some of the weaker songs on some of Bruce's most recent recordings (i.e. Magic, Working on a Dream). Dolan is at his best when he describes how Springsteen created, recorded, and later re-imagined many of his songs on successive tours as his musical interests and his relationship with his audience evolved.(less)

like · see review

Aug 20, 2012 Paul Gleason rated it 2 of 5 stars

I need to preface this review by stating that Dolan's book is the first Springsteen biography and the first book on Springsteen that I've ever read. So I'm a Springsteen bio rookie, even though I've been listening to his music for almost my entire life and think that Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Nebraska are three of the greatest albums ever made.

Dolan is an academic, and I myself used to be one. His critical approach to Springsteen's music unfortunately reminds me of the main...more I need to preface this review by stating that Dolan's book is the first Springsteen biography and the first book on Springsteen that I've ever read. So I'm a Springsteen bio rookie, even though I've been listening to his music for almost my entire life and think that Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Nebraska are three of the greatest albums ever made.

Dolan is an academic, and I myself used to be one. His critical approach to Springsteen's music unfortunately reminds me of the main reason I left the academy - his pretentious writing style and use of literary criticism.

Dolan is unabashedly a New Historicist, and, as such, he brings that theoretical approach to Springsteen's work. In other words, Dolan focuses on Springsteen's songs, concerts, concert banter, and formation of his musical style as TEXTS that should be analyzed in relation to the historical context in which they appeared and, sometimes, in relation to the other musical texts that appeared during the historical time period in which Springsteen made music.

Now Dolan's approach, for what it's worth, is fine and occasionally interesting. Its main problem, however, is that it deprives Springsteen's music of any life. As a reader, I never really learned how Springsteen as a human being wrote all those great songs and gave all those great performances.

Dolan would argue that we can't really know who Springsteen is. We, he'd go on, are, after all, only historical constructs ourselves and don't really have coherent and consistent identities. Who we are, he'd say, is contingent upon the historical time period in which we live. This contingency, by extension, determines what songs are about, how they're made, how they're produced, etc.

Granted, a lot of what Dolan has to say is true and perfectly valid. But, as I was reading, I felt an inherent and rather annoying contradiction in the book. Let me put it this way. Springsteen is a HOT artist, and Dolan's approach is COLD and analytical. In addition, Springsteen is a Romantic with a capital R, whose lyrics tend to feature characters with stable identities. Indeed, Springsteen writes about people who live, breathe, suffer, die, fall in love, get fired, and, most of all, have to make real, existential decisions.

So, it seems to me that Dolan's icy New Historicist approach isn't the best way to handle a musician of Springsteen's character and calibre. The main point of Springsteen's music, in my opinion, is to be a catalyst in the development of the listener's compassionate nature - and, most importantly, to empower the listener to realize his/her potential to achieve self-actualization and existential and spiritual (if not political) freedom.

For Dolan, spiritual freedom is the "Promise of Rock 'N' Roll," as his title indicates. It's truly unfortunate that Dolan removes himself from the experience of this spiritual freedom by being so COLD and dead to the world.

Ain't it strange? The author of a book on Springsteen doesn't seem to have gotten his message. Or maybe he has, and he just wrote this New Historicist study because it hasn't been done before. What a shame. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Oct 16, 2012 Doug rated it 3 of 5 stars

Although this is a generally interesting book, there are a lot of down-in-the-weeds details that, while perhaps relevant to the author's aims, can make your eyes glass over. For example, the endless assessments of Springsteen's nightly set lists, how he changed them, and why.

The best parts, interestingly, reflect Springsteen's best music -- up through Tunnel of Love, for example, and maybe The Rising and Magic. But when the music was less-than-enthralling (The Ghost of Tom Joad, Lucky Town, Hum...more

like · see review

Jul 01, 2012 Mitchell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, public-library

I've been a fan of Bruce Springsteen at least as far back as 1976. I have vague memories of Darkness on the Edge of Town coming out. I saw him in concert for the first time in Madison Square Garden for the River. I remember listening to Nebraska over and over again while bagging newspapers to deliver. His early albums will always contain the voice of my youth, the sound of New Jersey - where I thought being a Bruce fan was a bit of a requirement. And I guess that's some of my difficulty with thi...more

like · see review

Dec 01, 2012 Craig Werner rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: music

Serviceable biography, useful mostly for providing a summary of Bruce's career and music from the point Dave Marsh's Two Hearts leaves off through the Working on a Dream tour. Not much will surprise those who have been following Springsteen even somewhat closely, and Dolan's judgments on the quality of songs and albums and tours differs from mine in significant ways. (Two examples: he thinks Human Touch is a failed album; I like it quite a bit better than Lucky Town. He says Bruce was struggling...more

like · see review

Jul 14, 2012 Keith rated it 3 of 5 stars

Had heard many good things about this book, and had great expectations. There are some chapters that are quite good, such as the ones focusing on Springsteen's early bands. But the book comes up short in that Dolan's lack of access to Springsteen or even his bandmates forces him to rely on many written sources and then interpret events and Springsteen's material. There are too many qualified statements such as "probably" and "may have" and "likely." I didn't expect or even want a tell-all book,...more

like · see review

Aug 27, 2012 Morris Shamah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dolan provided some really intriguing and insightful background to certain aspects of Bruce's career and songwriting. In several cases the information he uncovered and the analysis he gave changed my perspective on monumental aspects of Bruce's career.

However, in doing so, Dolan set the bar too high for himself. When it comes to the most impact times in Bruce's career - like the firing and rehiring of the band, the decision to include producer Brendan O'Brien, and the death of Doug Springsteen -...more

like · see review

Feb 19, 2013 Cate Pacella rated it 2 of 5 stars

If your looking for a detailed analysis of bruce's life from childhood to now, then this probably isn't the book your looking for. this rather, details the world in which rock and roll was alive, and how thie influenced a young springsteen to learn guitar. i felt that it was sometimes so convoluted with facts, names and places that it was losing the plot a little, sometimes i had to remind myself it was a biography. a more accurate title would have been "A Rock and Roll Story, featuring Bruce Sp...more

like · see review

Mar 18, 2013 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm a huge Springsteen fan and saw him 7 times on his recent tour. That said, I agree with some of the reviews about the lack of first-hand information, etc. The Boss has his flaws and I would have liked to learn more about the band. No matter--his music remains outstanding and his performances are better than ever. I don't care about the book, as long as he writes and puts on amazing shows.

like · see review

Oct 25, 2012 Ed rated it 1 of 5 stars

Way too many mistakes and a lot of opinion written as fact. Also, docked one star for using the word "ersatz" more times than any other book in literary history. If you want a good Bruce Springsteen bio, read "Born to Run" by Dave Marsh (but not Marsh's follow-up, "Glory Days,") or Eric Alterman's excellent "It Ain't No Sin to be Glad You're Alive."

like · see review

Sep 09, 2012 Mk100 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction-music

This is not a true biography of Bruce. It uses the outlines of Bruce's life to discuss what influenced his choice of styles, musical and thematic concerns. It's an interesting read, particularly when concerned when the pre-fame years and Born To Run. But it will hardly be the last word on the life of Bruce Springsteen.

1 like · like · see review

Oct 16, 2012 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don't understand why this is being promoted as a biography.It's more of a critical analysis of Springsteen's work with some biography thrown in. I don't agree with all of Dolan's views, but some of them did make me hear familiar songs in new ways.
This one would probably be rough going if you're only a casual fan who only knows the singles. There's a lot of text about album cuts.

like · see review

Sep 13, 2012 Marit Larsen marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: permanent-collecton

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11398975

like · see review

Sep 16, 2012 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Was greatly disappointed as I hoping to learn about Bruce in as a person and what makes him tick. This book did not meet my expectations at all

like · see review

Nov 03, 2012 Chris Aylott added it

More of a biography of Springsteen's art than Springsteen himself, since it's clear that Dolan had no access to The Boss or anybody particularly close to him. That said, I enjoyed Dolan's insights into Springsteen's music and how it has evolved over the decades.

1 like · like · see review

Mar 22, 2013 Mark Widman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good Bruce book for behind the scenes with Bruce and the E Street Band.

like · see review

Jul 30, 2012 Ken rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I can't recommend this book enough, for the die-hard Tramps or for the casual fan. Dolan's attention to all aspects of Bruce's life, -from Bruce as a young, hungry musician, to the Bruce currently Wrecking Europe- gives the reader a fascinating insight to the psyche of this unique rocker and the American culture that Bruce was shaped by and in turn, shaped with his music.
A fun read, at all times relevant, paving the path to the Holy Grail for Bruce fans: the Promis of Rock 'n' Roll.

like · see review

Jul 21, 2012 Du rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: music

I've read a bunch of Springsteen biographies. This one was mainly different in that it was a straight bio, and not focused on an era or aspect of his music. The pace was quick and informative, but clearly not written from interviews or first hand experience. It reads like a magazine article reviewing concerts. In fact, the best part is the amount of focus given to the live shows and aspects of Springsteen's music. I enjoyed the book, and wished it didn't end in 2008.

like · see review

Jun 21, 2012 Brian Brantley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good bio of this iconic figure. If you don't know much about Springsteen, this is a great way to catch up.

like · see review

Oct 22, 2012 Marie rated it 2 of 5 stars

a very comprehensive history of Bruce and the musical world...

like · see review

Apr 05, 2013 Paul Maurer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Boring. For someone as fascinating as The Boss I was very disappointed. Almost read like an encyclopedia and stopped halfway through. Just picked up "BRUCE" and it is substantially better.

like · see review

Aug 31, 2012 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Insightful, but less about Bruces childhood and personal life than I had hoped.

like · see review

Feb 07, 2013 Geoff Collins rated it 3 of 5 stars

Pretty good details about individual songs, concerts, recording sessions, etc. but it's easy to tell that the author did not have access to Springsteen himself. There are very few personal details, but I did like the close accounts of concerts and tours.

like · see review

Mar 09, 2013 Laurie Davis added it

Shelves: didn-t-finish

This is one of the worst Springsteen biographies I've read, and takes much of its material from what is the absolute worst Springsteen biography I've read. I couldn't continue; it was making me too mad.

1 like · like · see review

Dec 23, 2012 Janice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Only in the beginning, completely absorbed by the trajectory of Bruce's music, and the ways in which he was a product of his age Really insightful analysis.

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (2)

Genres

Music

11 users

Biography

8 users

Non Fiction

3 users

See top shelves...

Books by Marc Dolan

Modern Lives: A Cultural Re-Reading of the "Lost Generation"

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Bruce Springsteen...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Bruce Springsteen and ...

“Det som hadde begynt som en feber to år tidligere, var nå blitt nesten kaldt som is.” — 1 person liked it

“Det var fullt mulig å være personlig selv om du hadde fem andre musikere i ryggen.” — 1 person liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll
avg rating	preview: Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll Goodreads rating: 3.39 (100 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13707577-bruce-springsteen-and-the-promise-of-rock-n-roll?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1338393518l/13707577.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13707577-bruce-springsteen-and-the-promise-of-rock-n-roll?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll by Marc Dolan[/url]

Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (2)

Genres

Books by Marc Dolan

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Bruce Springsteen...

Quotes from Bruce Springsteen and ...

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (2)