Name: Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen
Author: Jimmy Guterman (Author)
ISBN: 9780306813979

Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen book cover

Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen

Author(s): Jimmy Guterman (Author)

Publisher: Da Capo Press
Publication Date: June 15, 2005
Edition: First Edition
Language: English
Print length: 256 pages
ISBN-10: 0306813971
ISBN-13: 9780306813979

Book Description

Over the course of a career now in its fourth decade, Bruce Springsteen has earned one of the most passionate, devoted followings in all rock 'n' roll. He's selling more records and concert tickets in his fifties than he sold in his twenties. Yet to many fans he remains an enigma. How has Springsteen produced such a consistent body of work and retained his currency while other top rock 'n' rollers have gone by the wayside? Jimmy Guterman, an accessible and entertaining music writer, has been writing about Springsteen since the late 1970s. In Runaway American Dream, he delves deep into dramatic and crucial moments from every phase of Springsteen's career, interpreting the songs and incisively commenting on the man and the culture at large to deliver a nuanced portrait of The Boss from the earliest days right up to Springsteen's 2005 album, Devils & Dust.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

As the subtitle makes clear, this is about Bruce Springsteen's music; its perspective is that of a selfroclaimed "literate fan." Throughout, Guterman addresses Springsteen's strength--his consistency--and weakness--his musical conservatism. Though the curtain rises on the controversial Vote for Change 2004 tour, when Springsteen and like-minded musicians crisscrossed the country for Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry, Guterman comments on Springsteen's body of work: the "friendliness" of Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., the optimism of Born to Run, and so forth. He discusses Bruce the Artist, who mostly pleases himself, and Bruce the Performer, everyman's favorite rock and roller, and how these "Two Bruces" have taken turns throughout his career, one releasing pure artistic statements, and the other blatantly commercial product. He dissects even such stinkers as Human Touch ("boring" and full of "genuinely not-good songs"), seeming surprised, indeed almost offended, that Springsteen could have a bad record in him. Still, Guterman points out, in almost every live performance, Springsteen lives up to impossibly high standards. A must for Bruce fans. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Examines just about every song Springsteen ever performed...[Guterman's] grasp of minutiae is mind-blowing." -- Washington Post Book World7/17/05

"Guterman is comfortably colloquial, and he's done his research; it's refreshing." -- Newsday 7/25/05

"With incisive depth, Guterman details Springsteen's strengths and weaknesses.... A thought-provoking work that's a must for fans of the Boss." -- Austin Chronicle 10/7/05

"[Guterman] has been reporting about Springsteen since the '70s...[His] group of essays details the singer's enduring cultural impact." -- People7/25/05