Bob Dylan In America

By: Sean Wilentz

Narrated by: Sean Wilentz

One of America’s finest historians shows us how Bob Dylan, one of the country’s greatest and most enduring artists, still surprises and moves us after all these years.

Growing up in Greenwich Village, Sean Wilentz discov­ered the music of Bob Dylan as a young teenager; almost half a century later, he revisits Dylan’s work with the skills of an eminent American historian as well as the passion of a fan. Drawn in part from Wilentz’s essays as “historian in residence” of Dylan’s official website, Bob Dylan in America is a unique blend of fact, interpretation, and affinity—a book that, much like its subject, shifts gears and changes shape as the occasion warrants.

Beginning with his explosion onto the scene in 1961, this book follows Dylan as he continues to develop a body of musical and literary work unique in our cultural history. Wilentz’s approach places Dylan’s music in the context of its time, including the early influences of Popular Front ideology and Beat aesthetics, and offers a larger critical appreciation of Dylan as both a song­writer and performer down to the present. Wilentz has had unprecedented access to studio tapes, recording notes, rare photographs, and other materials, all of which allow him to tell Dylan’s story and that of such masterpieces as Blonde on Blonde with an unprecedented authenticity and richness.

Bob Dylan in America—groundbreaking, comprehensive, totally absorbing—is the result of an author and a subject brilliantly met.

Another side of Bob Dylan

Not the typical tattle tale as the author delves deeply into Dylan's historical influences and extraordinary talent as a 'minstrel'. There are brief snippets of musical material throughout but what Wilentz really elicits is a desire to hear more; to listen carefully with nuanced ears and newly acquired insight so as to reevaluate the entire recorded legacy of a man arguably the most profound troubadour of the 20th and 21st centuries.

This is a serious work and as such, those seeking a peek behind Dylan's multiple personas, may not be satisfied the author can only provide exquisitely detailed signposts instead of pop punditry. However, musicians and poets alike -as well as anyone alive during Bob Dylan's life and times- may find this audiobook the closest we'll get to grasping Robert Zimmerman's true genius.

Great Historian's a Fan

Sean Wilentz took a break from the heavy writing that encompasses his role as professor and an eminent historian to write a fast-paced look at Dylan's career. What I really appreciate is that Dylan gets the due from academe that he deserves. Wilentz, a lifelong fan of Dylan, not only examines Dylan as writer, musician, performer but also delves into the origins of American folk (not excluding country, gospel, blues, etc.) music which influenced Dylan. This is a book which should be read by anyone who wants to know why Dylan has the iconic status that he has. Of special interest to me was how Dylan had the career renaissance after some fallow periods in the 1970s. Dylan had a personal transformation which he chronicled on two Christian-themed albums and then the late 1990s and early 2000s musical and literary triumphs (Time Out of Mind is one of the great albums of the decade and his book Chronicles is a masterpiece).

But not all is sunshine in this book. Wilentz takes a very hard look at the accusations of plagiarism that began to dog Dylan late in his career. Here I think Dylan is given the benefit of the doubt for the most part. And I think that that is fair. I do wish Dylan was a little more candid about his borrowings if that is what they are. And because Dylan was awarded the Nobel for literature I think maybe that finishes the story but it makes me wish there were some new thoughts from Wilentz about this controversy. Here, I am less sympathetic to Dylan. I am torn about whether he deserved it (both sides make compelling cases here) but I think that he has been very casual to the point of disrespect to the Academy about accepting it. Guess he's still a rebel at heart.

Anyway, enjoy this title. As an added bonus--Sean Wilentz reads his own book and does a marvelous job. I wouldn't mind hearing more from him as a narrator.

looking back

I am a music history fan, and found the Sean Wilenz book engrossing. Well read by Wilenz with bonus bits of relevant musical passages. Particularly of interest was the historical background of artists such as bluesman Blind Willie Mctel as well as the real life murder of Delia both of which influence Dylans' creativity on the album 'World Gone Wrong'. Was fascinated with the Bing Crosby influence, but then I am a contemporary of the poet/songwriter, and we grew up in the fifties with the crooner. I haven't followed Dylan's work over the years, but am ready to look again thanks to this book. Sean Wilenz has given me quite a list of songs and albums to review - maybe even the Christmas album!

A book for American history and Dylan buffs.

Not the best Dylan bio but then again it doesn't profess to be. This more a music and cultural history of different periods of Dylan's career. There is a lot of good information here but to me some of the historical non-Dylan info was a bit long-winded and could have been streamlined better. Still if you are a Dylan enthusiast you will want to read or listen to this (like I did) and for rock history teachers this would certainly be a good reference book.

American alchemist; recalibrating genius

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

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What was one of the most memorable moments of Bob Dylan in America?

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Did Sean Wilentz do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

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Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

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Any additional comments?

Four stars usually denotes a book of uniformly high calibre, though perhaps not truly exceptional. Bob Dylan in America deserves the rating, though parts of it are without doubt truly exceptional. The problem is that parts are verging on dull-as-ditchwater too. Unfortunately (or fortunately if, as I would implore, you persevere) the dullest parts are front-loaded, meaning many will be put off reading what turns out to blossom into one of the most perceptive reckonings of the great man's career to-date. Although more academic in tone (albeit very accessible, if a little dry) BDIA is something of a half-sibling to Greil Marcus's Invisible Republic (aka The Old, Weird America), in locating Bob Dylan's genius in his alchemical relationship to American history & cultural tradition. We all know by now that Bob Dylan is like a human jukebox, but Wilentz really opened my eyes to the depth & breadth of Dylan's reading, which comes to have special bearing on one of the final quarter of the book's main themes: originality. The second half of this book is among the most interesting things I've ever read on Dylan, American popular music & the creative process in general. Although subsequently of more interest to me having completed the book, the first quarter seemed a bit of a drag; so much so that I twice gave up on it to listen to something more engaging. Also, the passages on the making of Dylan's classic album's counterintuitively are among the least interesting (compared to what follows) to anyone who's already read Marcus, Shelton, Heylin etc and has heard the stories a hundred times before. Although not exactly a chore to hear again it seems a bit of a lengthy & unnecessary thematic digression in comparison to the exceptionally interesting and wholly original things Wilentz has to say about inspiration vs plagiarism in the context of Dylan's obsessions (again, off discussed, but I think this book has the most in-depth and enlightening analysis of this topic of any Dylan book), as well as his fascinating origin stories of some of the key songs that formed part of Dylan's (and the folk revival's, rock & roll's, hip-hop's...) psyche.

All said, the first half of this book is interesting, but dry. The second, is one of the truly essential pieces of writing about Bob Dylan and American popular (and esoteric) music. With that in mind, this is highly recommended.