The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait – An Insightful Biography Combining Revelatory Interviews and Literary Analysis($12.79Value)

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Drawing on revelatory interviews, a rich analysis oflyrics, and a lifelong study of one of the greatest songwriters of our time,Daniel Mark Epstein delivers a singular, nuanced, and insightful examination ofBob Dylan—the poet, the musician, and the man. Interweaving in-depthconversations with Dylan collaborators and contemporaries, including Eric Andersen,Tom Paxton, Woody Guthrie’s daughter Nora Guthrie, Ramblin’Jack Elliott, Pete Seeger, Maria Muldaur, John P.Hammond, and many others, Epstein crafts a vivid and unforgettable portrait ofthe inimitable poet and performer. Readers of Christopher Ricks’ Dylan’s Visions of Sin , the Dylanautobiography, Chronicles , or Sean Wilentz’s Dylan inAmerica , as well as fans enthralled by expository musician stories, such asKeith Richards’ Life and PattiSmith’s Just Kids , will be captivatedby Epstein’s unprecedented and incisive look at Bob Dylan, music’s mostineffable creator. “Epstein, an accomplished poet and biographer, is one of the better stylists to tackle the Dylan story. . . . A musician himself, Epstein is particularly good on tunings and chord progressions, on where Mr. Dylan’s capo is placed in each song and the sound his harmonica makes clicking into its holder.” - David Yezzi, Wall Street Journal “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.” - Rob Fitzpatrick, Sunday Times (London) “Even [Dylan] might approve of the mission that inspires the most recent crop of writing about him: to ‘celebrate the impossibility of pinning down Bob Dylan’. . . . That means exploring the desire for change that drove Dylan from the start and still consumes him . . . as Epstein understands in his biography.” - John Dickerson, Slate “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 “Offers a portrait that explodes the semi-hostile cliché of much unauthorized biography. New interviews and photographs add depth to an account distinguished by a fine sensitivity to all aspects of Dylan’s art, from the personal to the music’s history.” - Tim Martin, Telegraph (London) “Brilliant―that Daniel Mark Epstein is both a poet and a biographer stands him in good stead in this penetrating, compassionate (but utterly clear-eyed), beautifully written portrait of Bob Dylan as an artist and a man. Among the very best writing about Dylan, ever.” - James Kaplan, author of Frank: The Voice “In The Ballad of Bob Dylan , Daniel Mark Epstein does what few have been able to do at all, much less this well: capture that spirit, and in so doing, somehow manage to get closer to the essence of an American icon.” - Dave Moyer, New York Journal of Books “Plenty of good works explore Dylan’s massive musical corpus but Epstein surpasses them in exploring Dylan’s personal relationships. . . . Bob Dylan needs a poet, not a biographer. . . . Epstein is the poet Dylan deserves.” - W. Scott Poole, PopMatters “ The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait , by the poet, biographer and translator Daniel Mark Epstein, begins with an account of a solo Dylan concert the author attended on Dec. 14, 1963. It’s a beautiful thing, how he brings this evening back to life.” - Jim Windolf, New York Times Book Review “Epstein is not essentially a hagiographer, and . . . he remains essentially clear-eyed about his subject’s achievements and failings. The Dylan that emerges in these pages is by turns ambitious, seductive, single-minded, generous, cruel, witty, kind, gnomic, blunt, and charismatic. . . . The accumulation of detail gives texture to Epstein’s depiction of Dylan as a performer, which in turn buttresses his often perceptive analysis of the songs, both as texts and as performed works. . . . Epstein has a knack for sharp, indelibly etched character sketches. . . . Epstein’s skills as an interviewer serve up a few unforgettable passages.” - Webster Younce, National Review “A galvanizing interpretation of Dylan’s many masks and achievements. . . . Illuminates the complex symbiosis between Dylan’s theatricalized personas and ever-evolving art.” - Booklist “Raptly observant. . . . Historian and poet Epstein ( The Lincolns ) 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 22-year-old folkie; in 1974, the bristling 30-something rocker; in 2009, the hoarse old man growling at Fate. It’s a canny approach, given that Dylan’s mythmaking―the middle-class son of a Minnesota appliance-store owner, he romantically styled himself a wandering orphan―outran the prosaic reality. . . . Will entrance hardcore Dylanophi