Here Beside the Rising Tide

Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, and an American Awakening

De: Jim Newton

Narrado por: Jim Newton

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A MULANEY READS PICK • A kaleidoscopic history of the Grateful Dead that explores the American counterculture through the life of iconoclastic frontman Jerry Garcia, and his merry band

“By writing this book, Jim Newton informs the rest of the world what Deadheads have known for years: that Jerry Garcia was more than a world-class musician, he was an American icon.”—Trixie Garcia

In 1965, in Palo Alto, Jerry Garcia opened a dictionary to a fable in which an appreciative soul repays the generosity of a traveler, a “gift of the grateful dead.” After a traumatic car accident that injured him and killed a close friend, Garcia had resolved to build his life around music. He had practiced relentlessly and caromed across the northern California folk and bluegrass scene. He had gathered up some fellow musicians and formed a band.

Now they had their name.

Following the history of the Grateful Dead means tracking American cultural history through a period of radical reconsideration. The Dead played at the Acid Tests and the Human Be-In and Woodstock, at the occupation of Columbia and the Bail Ball for People’s Park. They performed at the base of the Pyramids during a lunar eclipse, at Madison Square Garden to defend the rainforests, in San Francisco to sound the alarm over AIDS and at Huey Newton’s birthday party. For three decades, the band explored the meaning and limits of freedom.

The radical message of the Dead, to reject the mainstream and build a bohemian community, radiated across the world, manifesting itself in art, music, business, and politics. Here Beside the Rising Tide tells the story of those disparate shafts of light, putting Garcia into a broader context while tracing his eventful life.

Nearly a century after his birth, Garcia’s influence stretches onward, expressed in guitar licks and a gentle way of life, one of excellence and gratitude, chasing freedom, living moment to moment, guided by song—the gift of the Grateful Dead.

fantastic

The appreciation of the birth/growth of the Dead along with the political side of the times was a great listen!

Wonderful, intelligent, well written

Wonderful, intelligent, well written and insightful. That said- the quality of the recording is rather - very poor. It’s unfortunate.

Excellent!

Long time deadhead. This ties the evolution of the Dead to the social upheaval of the times. Well researched and comprehensive. I’m about half way through and I can’t put it down. I’m surprised I’m the first reviewer of this extraordinary biography!

The cultural context of JG and the Dead

Lots of bios out there, this was a sadder/realer take on Garcia and his demons a put all in a social and cultural context that was interesting

Jerry’s life

Extremely informative and enlightening. For me it fills in many gaps in the life and times of Jerry and the dead.