Synopses & Reviews
The Beatles: Literary Anthology recounts the group's mercurial rise from the British Merseybeat scene; the "British invasion" that made them iconic figures in the USA; the experimentation with song structure and sound-recording technique that re-defined pop music forever; their embracing of psychedelic drugs, hippie utopianism and pacifism, amidst the social changes of the mid-to-late 1960s; the band's acrimonious split, and the disparate, sometimes tragic post-Beatles paths followed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The strange extremes of a career virtually unparalled in terms of mass-media fame are also examined in thought-provoking articles: the American Far Right's conspiracy theory that marked the Beatles as agents of Communism; the "Paul is Dead" myth, and the cryptographic reading of Beatles trivia that inspired it; the attempts of Lennon, with all his human failings, to live with his absurdly messianic status; the insane "messages" that the Manson Family girls deciphered from the lyrics of The White Album; the obsessions of disturbed Beatles fan Mark Chapman, and his tragic attempt to steal a little of Lennon's celebrity.
Synopsis
Spanning 40 years, The Beatles Literary Anthology compiles accounts of the Beatles by mainstream reporters, rock journalists, cultural commentators, acquaintances, and friends, including Greil Marcus and Geroge Melly. This extensive collection recounts the groups rise from the Merseybeat music scene; the British invasion that made them icons in the U.S.; their experimentation with song structure and sound-recording technique that redefined pop music; their embracing of psychedelic drugs and pacifism; and the separate paths band members followed after their acrimonious breakup. The Beatles influence on the baby boom generation is also acknowledged in essays by writers on both sides of the pop-culture divide. Conveying the excitement of youth culture during the great social changes of the 1960s, the writers underscore the extremes of a career virtually unparalleled in mass-media history.