Read the Beatles: Classic and New Writings on the Beatles, Their Legacy, and Why They Still Matter

This book has been out for a few years now, and has obviously been reviewed. But it's such a great little book on the band that I thought I'd bring it to the attention of anyone who might've missed it so far. It's full of articles from the band's earliest days up through their breakup and the deaths of Lennon and Harrison. The editor, June Sawyer, has done a great job in putting the many disparate articles into a good, intelligent, flowing order. Also included is a 17 page Chronology beginning with Yoko Ono's birth (1933) and ending with Cirque De Soleil's tribute "LOVE" (2006), a 2 page map of Liverpool, a Forward by Astrid Kirchherr, a 16 page Discography, and an 8 pager Selected Bibliography.Through all the many pieces here--both from the period and newer articles--the reader will get a good feel for both the band and the era. While several books have done something similar, there's something about Sawyer's book that appeals to the fan in me. I've been listening to The Beatles since the days of vinyl and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" came over the AM radio. And I've read most of the relevant books on the group--some good, some not so good--and for some reason this book seems to get close to that whole period of exciting music, at least as good as the other good books on the band.When The Beatles (and other artists) exploded into people's consciousness it really was true that a group and/or a song could influence our generation. It was true too that you could sometimes walk through your neighborhood and hear the same album/songs playing through open windows. Or walk through your college dorm and hear the same music blasting out of people's rooms. I know its hard to believe in this day and age of "niche marketing", almost instant communication and with many "artists" getting their 15 minutes of fame with sometimes little real substance--but its true nonetheless. In those days music was more a part of a person's lifestyle--not simply a lifestyle choice--there was (and is) a difference. The Beatles (and others) really did have the capability to relate to and to carry people along through both the good and bad times.And that's what I found inside this great little book. It gives that kind of a vibe, that kind of feel for that era that's long since disappeared. Reading these articles you get a feel for people's attitudes towards both The Beatles, and rock'n'roll. There's an almost organic feel to many of these pieces (especially the older ones) that seems to shine a clear light onto The Beatles and rock music. I came away with a number of nostalgic feelings for those times, but I've tried hard not to let them interfere with how I view this good little book. To be able to read so many articles from many different magazines etc. really gives depth to this book. Its intelligently laid out and with the added Chronology, Bibliography, and Discography, Sawyer has done a good job in presenting the many articles on The Beatles. If I have any complaints, its that I feel this book would've been better served if originally published as a hardcover edition, to do it proper justice. But that's a small niggle.So, in the end, if you're a fan of The Beatles, and you aren't burnt out on all the many books on the band, and want to read a well thought out book full of period (and newer) articles--this is the book. This cool little book covers that period when rock music was "new" and had a sometimes profound influence on people, when r'n'r was unique and exciting and it was all happening--right now! This book can sit alongside any other good books on The Beatles in your library.

It's always interesting to read articles and excerpts from books that were published at the time something was happening rather than through the hindsight of research and reassessment. For that reason most of this book is an engaging compilation. It is divided into 2 parts. Part 1 is a chronological compendium of pieces following the typical progression in Beatles history. Some well known writers contribute, and it's nice to have the Maureen Cleave article that includes John's Beatles/Jesus remark that caused such a fuss. Easy to see why the American reaction took John by surprise. Part 2 has 5 chapters. The first four focus on each Beatle in the usual progression - John, Paul, George, and Ringo. That has become a worn out way to think of the individuals in this group. As usual John dominates. He gets 7 articles, Paul gets 3, George gets 4 (including one by Philip Glass which is cool), and Ringo 2. Why? I don't know. John is the self-proclaimed genius, the tortured one, the this, the that, but, love him as I do, much of John's chatter seems like self-mythologizing and he clearly had a gift for self-promotion. If there's genius here it is in the mix of these four musicians, so a little more balance in the chapters devoted to each Beatle would have been more interesting. The last chapter of Part 2 collects 9 short personal testimonials about the Beatles. I found this pretty uninteresting for the most part and Steve Earle contributes "The Ten Most Important Beatles Songs." Ugh. I closed the book before reading all these testimonials. Other readers might find them more engaging than I did and the pleasure of having the other articles collected here far outweigh, for me, the slight falling off of this last chapter. Books like this also save us the trouble of hunting down articles we hear about and want to look at. So thanks to editor June Skinner Sawyers for doing a lot of that work and pulling together a fine, and nicely priced, collection worth having,

Book was in very good condition. I read it in 2 ays! Lots of great memories of the Beatles and the 60's.

Having recently rediscovered The Beatles (as in, I had gone a few years and not listened to their music), it's amazing to me the number of people still writing about them. The fascination is itself, fascinating.This book is yet a different approach from many others: the writings of journalists and "observers" who covered the decade, both up close and from across the ocean, as well as some recent entries.One of the elements of this book that makes it worth reading is the sense that you are not prying this time...not delving into private moments or contributing to the guilty pleasures of fan gossip.This is a true journalistic, sometimes intellectual appraisal of what happened during those ten years in and around The Beatles: a time when the world was morphing from post war aesthetics and ethics into the mind blowing sixties and all that it encompassed for the generations to come.Keep this book on a table and just pick it up from time to time. It's not a straight read, so enjoy it at a leisurely pace while you listen to some Beatles' tunes...it's all good.

very good book