Sean Wilentz

A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, reading Sean Wilentz' Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to a great Dylan song

Among those who write regularly about Dylan, Wilentz possesses the rare virtues of modesty, nuance and lucidity. If I may extend the Moby-Dick metaphor just a little here, Wilentz is a whale watcher rather than a whale hunter. He is content to observe rather than possess

Wilentz combines his deep musical knowledge with the skills of a fine historian to write one of the most important, insightful and revelatory books about America, its culture and its people as interpreted through the works of one of its greatest artists

All the American connections that Wilentz draws to explain the appearance of Dylan's music are fascinating, particularly at the outset the connection to Aaron Copland. The writing is strong, the thinking is strong - the book is dense and strong everywhere you look

Bob Dylan in America is vital reading

Wilentz is at his best... From the shelves full of Dylan books this and one other...are the ones to read. This is also one to look at

Sean Wilentz makes us think about Bob Dylan's half-century of work in new ways.  Combining a scholar's depth with a sense of mischief appropriate to the subject, Wilentz hears new associations in famous songs and sends us back to listen to Dylan's less familiar music with fresh insights. By focusing on the parts of Dylan's canon that most move him, Wilentz getsstraight to the heart of the matter. If you thought there was nothing new to say about Bob Dylan's impact on America, this book will make you think twice

Bill Flanagan, Editorial Director: MTV Networks

Sean Wilentz's beautiful book sets a new standard for the cultural history of popular music in America

Unlike so many Dylan-writer-wannabes and phony 'encyclopedia' compilers, Sean Wilentz makes me feel he was in the room when he chronicles events that I participated in.  Finally a breath of fresh words founded in hardcore, intelligent research

Al Kooper, musician, record producer and Bob Dylan collaborator

Writing about Bob Dylan's music, and fitting it into the great crazy quilt of American culture, Sean Wilentz sews a whole new critical fabric, part history, part close analysis, and all heart. What he writes, as well as anyone ever has, helps us enlarge Dylan's music by reckoning its roots, its influences, its allusive spiritual contours

Jay Cocks, screenwriter for THE AGE OF INNOCENCE and THE GANGS OF NEW YORK

It throws up a wealth of unexpected connections.

Did you know Bob Dylan loves Eileen Aroon? One of the many facts in Bob Dylan in America.

The result is a broad and brilliantly illuminating appreciation of Dylan as both performer and songwriter up to the present day

A brilliantly written and groundbreaking book about Dylan's music – now the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2016 – and its musical, political and cultural roots in early 20th-century America 
 
Growing up in Greenwich Village in the 1960s Sean Wilentz discovered the music of Bob Dylan as a young teenager. Almost half a century later, now a distinguished professor of American history, he revisits Dylan's work with the critical skills of a scholar and the passion of a fan. 
 
Drawing partly on his work as the current historian-in-residence on Dylan's official website, Sean Wilentz provides a unique blend of biography, memoir and analysis in a book which, much like its subject, shifts gears and changes shape as the occasion demands.

Sean Wilentz

Praise for Bob Dylan In America

A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, **reading Sean Wilentz' Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to ...**

Among those who write regularly about Dylan, Wilentz possesses the rare virtues of modesty, nuance and lucidity. If I may extend the Moby-Dick metaphor just a little here, Wilentz is a whale watcher rather than a wh ...

Wilentz combines his deep musical knowledge with the skills of a fine historian to write one of the most important, insightful and revelatory books about America, its culture and its people as interpreted through th ...

A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, **reading Sean Wilentz' Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to ...**

Among those who write regularly about Dylan, Wilentz possesses the rare virtues of modesty, nuance and lucidity. If I may extend the Moby-Dick metaphor just a little here, Wilentz is a whale watcher rather than a wh ...

Wilentz combines his deep musical knowledge with the skills of a fine historian to write one of the most important, insightful and revelatory books about America, its culture and its people as interpreted through th ...

A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, **reading Sean Wilentz' Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to ...**

Among those who write regularly about Dylan, Wilentz possesses the rare virtues of modesty, nuance and lucidity. If I may extend the Moby-Dick metaphor just a little here, Wilentz is a whale watcher rather than a wh ...

Wilentz combines his deep musical knowledge with the skills of a fine historian to write one of the most important, insightful and revelatory books about America, its culture and its people as interpreted through th ...

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Praise for Bob Dylan In America

A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, reading Sean Wilentz' Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to ...

Among those who write regularly about Dylan, Wilentz possesses the rare virtues of modesty, nuance and lucidity. If I may extend the Moby-Dick metaphor just a little here, Wilentz is a whale watcher rather than a wh ...

Wilentz combines his deep musical knowledge with the skills of a fine historian to write one of the most important, insightful and revelatory books about America, its culture and its people as interpreted through th ...

A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, reading Sean Wilentz' Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to ...

Among those who write regularly about Dylan, Wilentz possesses the rare virtues of modesty, nuance and lucidity. If I may extend the Moby-Dick metaphor just a little here, Wilentz is a whale watcher rather than a wh ...

Wilentz combines his deep musical knowledge with the skills of a fine historian to write one of the most important, insightful and revelatory books about America, its culture and its people as interpreted through th ...

A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, reading Sean Wilentz' Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to ...

Among those who write regularly about Dylan, Wilentz possesses the rare virtues of modesty, nuance and lucidity. If I may extend the Moby-Dick metaphor just a little here, Wilentz is a whale watcher rather than a wh ...

Wilentz combines his deep musical knowledge with the skills of a fine historian to write one of the most important, insightful and revelatory books about America, its culture and its people as interpreted through th ...

A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, **reading Sean Wilentz' Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to ...**

A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, **reading Sean Wilentz' Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to ...**

A panoramic vision of Bob Dylan, his music, his shifting place in American culture, from multiple angles. In fact, **reading Sean Wilentz' Bob Dylan in America is as thrilling and surprising as listening to ...**