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The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait

Name: The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait
Author: Daniel Mark Epstein
ISBN: 9780061807336

by Daniel Mark Epstein

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Overview

Through the lens of four seminal concerts, acclaimed poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein offers an intimate, vivid, and comprehensive portrait of Bob Dylan. Beginning in 1963, Epstein revisits Dylan's early struggles to find artistic direction; his transition from folk icon to rock star; and his secluded family life and divorce. A breathtaking account of Dylan's Never Ending Tour and his contemporary studio sessions brings us full circle, revealing how Dylan revived a flagging career and accepted his role as the éminence grise of rock and roll today.

Drawing on new interviews with those closest to Dylan—including Maria Muldaur, Nora Guthrie, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott—The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a singular take on an artist who has transformed generations and continues to inspire and surprise today.

Synopsis

Drawing on new interviews with those closest to Dylan—including Maria Muldaur, Nora Guthrie, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott—The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a singular take on an artist who has transformed generations and continues to inspire and surprise today.

About the Author, Daniel Mark Epstein

Daniel Mark Epstein has written more than fifteen books of poetry, biography, and history, including the award-winning Lincoln and Whitman and The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage, named one of the top ten books of the year by the Wall Street Journal and Chicago Sun-Times.

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Editorials

Rob Fitzpatrick

"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."

Tim Martin

"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."

James Kaplan

"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."

Dave Moyer

"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."

US Weekly

"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."

Library Journal

Bob Dylan certainly has left an indelible mark on American society. After listening to this book, you might feel that his many laurels don't easily fit Minnesota's little Bobby Zimmerman. Dylan was a poet and an expert at weaving his guitar/harmonica skills into his songs, but what did anyone really know about him off-stage? Epstein is convinced that Dylan deserves his high place in the cultural pantheon and seems willing to overlook his many flaws. Forgoing the usual chronological sequence, Epstein focuses on Dylan's most iconic concerts to introduce the turning points in his life, and the result is a disjointed, rambling, oddly readable book that will both please and infuriate Dylan devotees. Here is where the audiobook, read in a mature and consistent voice by Bronson Pinchot, may be the better choice. Audie Award winner Pinchot has the skill to keep the narrative flowing where a reader might be wondering if they missed a chapter somewhere. ["This minor work is only mildly recommended to well-informed readers interested in what the interviewees have to say about (Dylan's) character and private side," read the review of the HarperCollins hc, LJ 3/1/11.—Ed.]—Joseph L. Carlson, Vandenberg Air Force Base Lib., Lompoc, CA