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More copies of this ISBNThis title in other editionseBook editions4th of July, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Landby Daniel Wolff
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:The story of the boardwalk town Bruce Springsteen made famous-and a quintessential portrait of small-town American democracy. When Bruce Springsteen called his first album Greetings from Asbury Park, he introduced a generation of fans to a fallen seaside resort town that came to represent working-class American life. But behind this archetypal small-town landscape lies a complicated past. Starting with the town's founding as a religious promised land, music journalist and poet Daniel Wolff plots a course through 130 years of entwined social and musical history, touching on John Philip Sousa, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, and Frankie Lymon on the way to the town Bruce was born to run from. Out of the details of local history-the boardwalk in the Gilded Age; the celebrities who passed through, from Stephen Crane to Martin Luther King; sensational murder trials; the birth of Mob control; and a devastating mid-century "race riot"-emerges a universal story of one small town's fortunes. Told with grace and full of fascinating detail, Daniel Wolff's tour across thirteen decades of the Fourth of July in Asbury Park captures all the allure and heartbreak of the American dream reduced to blight and decay, with gentrification as the one hope for a return to its glory days. Daniel Wolff is the author of You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke, which won the Ralph J. Gleason Award for best music book of 1995. His collaborations with photographer Ernest C. Withers include The Memphis Blues Again and Negro League Baseball. He was nominated for a 2003 Grammy for his linear notes to The Complete Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers. His journalism has appeared in Vogue, the Nation, and Doubletake, and his poetry in the Paris Review, the Partisan Review, and the Threepenny Review. To a generation of rock 'n' roll fans, Bruce Springsteen made Asbury Park into a symbol of the “runaway American dream.” But Springsteen didn't invent the darkness at the edge of this fallen seaside town. 4th of July, Asbury Park reveals the rich and fascinating past behind Asbury Park's archetypal landscape. "This is the history of a place that never existed," music journalist and poet Daniel Wolff begins. "This is a history of the promise land." Starting with the town's paradoxical founding as a religious amusement park, Wolff plots a course and musical history. John Philip Sousa, Stephen Crane, Count Basie, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are just a few of the legendary figures who passed through the town Springsteen was born to run from. From the sensational details of murder trials, Mob control, and "race riots" emerges a universal story of small-town America. Told with the grace and pull of a rock 'n' roll anthem, Daniel Wolff's tour of Asbury Park captures all the allure and heartbreak of that long ride from glory days to gentrification. "Anyone familiar with Bruce Springsteen's music knows about the role place plays in his work, and no place more than Asbury Park, New Jersey, a seaside resort town that has seen many ups and downs and for Springsteen exists in imagination as well as reality. In this luminous history of Springsteen's Asbury Park, journalist, biographer, and poet Wolff tells the story of a promised land. This Asbury Park somehow inspired hope in people like Springsteen, who were able to see beyond its often shabby exterior to what once was and could be again. Asbury Park was also the hometown of Springsteen's fellow outsider, author Stephen Crane (1871-1900), who saw it as symbolic of both a still-young nation's ideals and the hypocrisy of late-nineteenth-century America. Contradictions are a part of Asbury Park's history. Established to honor Francis Asbury, the pioneer of American Methodism, the city was envisioned by founder James Bradley as a resort town. Despite its small size, it has embraced many paradoxical visions—model religious community, beach town, haven for music from ragtime to rock—and represented freedom, fun, and democracy, though also Northern racism, violence, and corruption. Writing about the idea of a place, Wolff creates popular history at its best. Springsteen fans will love it, and so will anyone interested in American social history."—Booklist (starred review) "Wolff weaves into his narrative the musical heritage of Sousa, Sinatra and Bill Haley to underscore the social changes affecting the town over time. Asbury Park's current renewal efforts are mired in troubles—but the song Wolff hears there is still one of hope."—Publishers Weekly Book News Annotation:Music journalist Wolff tells the history of Asbury Park, New Jersey
through successive portraits of the town as it existed on succeeding
Fourths of July (and one American Day). His narrative, which
frequently references the music of Asbury Park's native son, Bruce
Springsteen, and other balladeers of Americana, echoes the words of
another of the city's native sons, writer Stephen Crane, who said:
"From the very beginning, Asbury Park was a symbol of the nation's
hopes and hypocrisy." Wolff describes the semi-utopic origins of the
city; the imageries of the American dream that were used to promote
tourism to the town; and the class, race, and ethnic divisions that
frequently gave the lie to both.
Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Synopsis:"Wonderfully evocative...a grand, sad story of racism and real estate, political hardball and seaside pleasure-seeking."--A.O. Scott, New York Times Book Review When Bruce Springsteen called his first album Greetings from Asbury Park, he introduced a generation of fans to a fallen seaside resort town that came to represent working-class American life. Starting with the town's founding as a religious promised land, music journalist and poet Daniel Wolff plots a course through Asbury Park's 130 years of entwined social and musical history, in a story that captures all the allure and heartbreak of the American dream. Synopsis:The story of the boardwalk town Bruce Springsteen made famous-and a quintessential portrait of small-town American democracy. When Bruce Springsteen called his first album Greetings from Asbury Park, he introduced a generation of fans to a fallen seaside resort town that came to represent working-class American life. But behind this archetypal small-town landscape lies a complicated past. Starting with the town's founding as a religious promised land, music journalist and poet Daniel Wolff plots a course through 130 years of entwined social and musical history, touching on John Philip Sousa, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, and Frankie Lymon on the way to the town Bruce was born to run from. Out of the details of local history-the boardwalk in the Gilded Age; the celebrities who passed through, from Stephen Crane to Martin Luther King; sensational murder trials; the birth of Mob control; and a devastating mid-century "race riot"-emerges a universal story of one small town's fortunes. Told with grace and full of fascinating detail, Daniel Wolff's tour across thirteen decades of the Fourth of July in Asbury Park captures all the allure and heartbreak of the American dream reduced to blight and decay, with gentrification as the one hope for a return to its glory days. About the AuthorDaniel Wolff is the author of You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke, which won the Ralph J. Gleason Award for best music book of 1995, and he was nominated for a Grammy for his liner notes for a recent Sam Cooke box set. His journalism has appeared in Vogue, the Nation, and Doubletake, and his poetry in the Paris Review, the Partisan Review, and the Threepenny Review. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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