Bono Autobiography: 40 Songs, One Story

Surrender

'A brilliant, very funny, very revealing autobiography-through-music. Maybe the best book ever written about being a rockstar' CAITLIN MORAN 
_______________________________________________________________ 
 
Bono - artist, activist and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2 - has written his autobiography: honest and irreverent, intimate and profound, Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he's lived, the challenges he's faced and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him. 
 
'When I started to write this book I was hoping to draw in detail what I'd previously only sketched in songs. The people, places, and possibilities in my life. Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me. Growing up in Ireland in the seventies with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept. A word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book. I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist. Surrender is the story of one pilgrim's lack of progress ... With a fair amount of fun along the way.' - Bono 
 
As one of the music world's most iconic artists and the cofounder of organizations ONE and (RED), Bono's career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, Bono's autobiography, he picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was 14, to U2's unlikely journey to become one of the world's most influential rock bands, to his more than 20 years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Writing with candour, self-reflection, and humour, Bono opens the aperture on his life - and the family, friends and faith that have sustained, challenged and shaped him. 
 
Surrender's subtitle, "40 Songs, One Story," is a nod to the book's 40 chapters, which are each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created 40 original drawings for Surrender which will appear throughout the book.

This is Bono at his best: thoughtful, reflective, revealing a wisdom that his rock-star persona covers up ... At the root of it all you don't doubt his decency or integrity

A rattling good yarn ... characteristically expansive, but it whizzes by ... Bono has storytelling verve and a genuine desire for self-examination and is enthusiastic about praising others, often at his own expense. ... [a] generous, energetic book

Bono's memoir bares his soul ... Has any rock superstar written a more revealing biography? He deftly balances the comical and profound and packs anecdotes with cameos by the rich and famous, from Frank Sinatra to Pope John Paul II

Beautifully evoked, a mixture of Joycean exuberance and Chandleresque irony ... most revealing are the intimate personal experiences that shaped him and his chaotic creative process. Punctuating it all is the music. Each chapter uses a U2 song to pull us down memory lane

A rewarding read about a loss-fuelled life lived to the full ... What makes much of this book so exciting and interesting, is that the sadness is overwhelmed by a desperate, frenzied desire to use life more richly since it has proved to be so fragile. Sadness is replaced here by an extraordinary and breathless zeal for friendship but also for love ... Surrender is, in its own generous way, a book written by an Irishman to tell his mother how much he misses her, to tell his mates how much he rates them, and to let his wife and children know how much he loves them

Bono's honesty will win over his harshest critics ... the U2 frontman's memoir is a trumph ... Honest, witty, informative and beautifully written. Surrender will surely join the ranks of the great rock memoirs

Bono's prose is electrifyingly good. Not confected memories, but the messy, sometimes bathetic minutiae of lived experience, emotions remembered but only truly understood with hindsight and vocabulary that comes much later

Will engage and entertain you, full of extraordinary anecdotes and people from Sinatra and Johnny Cash to Pope Benedict and presidents.

Catherine Meyer, author and founder of WEP

A brilliant, very funny, very revealing, autobiography-through-music. Maybe the best book ever written about being a rockstar

Music lovers will enjoy a trip back to the days when mosh pits were sweaty and radio play was all important, while some readers may well be surprised by the level at which Bono's activism goes far beyond photo opportunities. Meanwhile the U2 fans, the die hards, will pore over it, and relish the opportunity to follow Bono into his home ... Surrender is the closest most of those fans will ever come to having a pint with the man himself and they'll find him very entertaining company. In many ways this book is a 'thank you' to them, too.

A well-written, insightful deep dive into one of the most intriguing and insistent voices of our time

I was really moved...There are stories in this book that are just unbelievable...an incredible read

Surrender soars whenever the spotlight comes on...open and honest, with language that can be witty and distinctive

Honest and direct...This is the rare rock star memoir written by a rock star who, you get the impression, could have been a writer...Bono has a gift for making even the unattainable seem relatable

Bono confesses his fears and failings in this likeable and self-aware memoir...the U2 frontman has written the kind of A-list memoir that befits both the singer in a  planet sized band and a clout wielding activist....Surrender gives him a different voice, showing an unsually driven man doing what he can, no matter the arena.

An often humble retelling of one of rock's most gilded careers ... Bono orbits a rarefied stratosphere - Nelson Mandela, Diana, Princess of Wales, Bill Clinton, Pope John Paul II, Bill Gates and Mikhail Gorbachev all make an appearance - that could have made for a never-ending parade of backslapping. But as he tells of these encounters, he subtly, cleverl, positions himself as the subordinate party. It sums Bono up, a man who doesn't see parameters, only opportunities. Surrender is a riveting account of a life spent chasing them down.

An engaging read, vividly evoking growing up in Dublin, family, friends and the tragedy of his mother's death.

Heartfelt...I expected a remarkable story but I didn't expect to be so charmed by the storyteller

Bono's new memoir, Surrender, elevates the audiobook into an art form. Not only does Bono have a gorgeous speaking voice, gentle, self-deprecating and warm...I don't know why anyone would read Surrender when you can lose yourself in this soundscape

Action-packed...the U2 singer's memoir resounds with the clang, bang, smash of VIP name-dropping, but is undercut with constant admissions of the writer's uncoolness and capacity for cringe...storytelling is undercut with mediations on music and musicians, culture and politics, faith and family, all in a prose style Bono watchers will recognise from his interviews

The most intellectually engaging rock memoir since Bob Dylanb's Chronicles

Exceeds expectations, revealing the U2 singer not to be the earnest preacher of Live Aid legend but a man blessed with wry self-knowledge

A terrific memoir, not just of the strangeness of rock stardom but more importantly of the ordinary aspects of life: grief, loss, love, his complex relationship with his father. You come for the celebrity but stay for the familiarities that are explored with tenderness and grace

Honest, thoughtful, human and often very funny...Surrender amounts to a fascinating song of experience

Bono's memoir brings you behind the curtain for a peek at his extraordinary life

The lead singer of U2, Bono was born Paul David Hewson in Dublin. He met The Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton at school and in 1978, U2 was formed. The band released their first album, "Boy," on Island Records in 1980 and to date have released a total of 14 studio albums that have sold 157 million copies worldwide. Heralded by Rolling Stone as "a live act simply without peer," the band's record-breaking 360° Tour (2009-2011) remains the highest-grossing concert band tour of all time. U2 have won numerous awards, including 22 Grammys, more than any other duo or group, as well as an Academy Award nomination and the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award. In 2005, U2 was inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. 
 
Alongside his role in U2, Bono is a ground-breaking activist. A leader in Jubilee 2000's Drop the Debt campaign, he next took on the fight against HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty, co-founding sister organizations ONE and (RED). ONE is a movement of millions of people dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease. With ONE, Bono has lobbied heads of state and legislatures all around the world, helping to ensure the passage of programs, such as the U.S. PEPFAR AIDS program, that have helped to save tens of millions of lives over the past 20 years. (RED) - which partners with companies to raise public awareness about, and corporate contributions for, the AIDS crisis - has to date generated more than $700 million for the Global Fund to treat and prevent AIDS in Africa. Since 2020, ONE and (RED) have also been fighting COVID-19 and its impact on the developing world. 
 
In 2016, Bono cofounded The Rise Fund, a global impact fund investing in entrepreneurial companies driving positive social and environmental change in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals. 
 
Bono has received a number of awards for his music and activism, including the Freedom of the City of Dublin (with U2), Chile's Pablo Neruda Medal of Honour, the Legion D'Honneur from the French Government, an honorary British knighthood, the Fulbright Association Prize for International Understanding and TIME Magazine's Person of the Year (along with Bill and Melinda Gates). He lives in Dublin with his wife Ali Hewson.

Bono - artist, activist and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2 - has written his autobiography: honest and irreverent, intimate and profound, Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he's lived, the challenges he's faced and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him. 
 
'When I started to write this book I was hoping to draw in detail what I'd previously only sketched in songs. The people, places, and possibilities in my life. Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me. Growing up in Ireland in the seventies with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept. A word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book. I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist. Surrender is the story of one pilgrim's lack of progress ... With a fair amount of fun along the way.' - Bono 
 
As one of the music world's most iconic artists and the cofounder of organizations ONE and (RED), Bono's career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, it's Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was 14, to U2's unlikely journey to become one of the world's most influential rock bands, to his more than 20 years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Writing with candour, self-reflection, and humour, Bono opens the aperture on his life - and the family, friends and faith that have sustained, challenged and shaped him. 
 
Surrender's subtitle, "40 Songs, One Story," is a nod to the book's 40 chapters, which are each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created 40 original drawings for Surrender which will appear throughout the book.

Bono

An updated and abridged edition of Bono’s bestselling memoir, including a new introduction by the author, Stories of Surrender is an unforgettable love story, a tribute to fatherhood, friendship, faith and music. Honest, irreverent, and intimate, it’s a backstage pass to a frontman's remarkable life, from Bono’s childhood in Dublin to the rise of U2. A companion to the Apple Original Film of his critically acclaimed solo theatre show, Stories of Surrender is a luminous autobiography of one of the great voices of our time. 
 
Bono: Stories of Surrender, An Apple Original Film is streaming on Apple TV+ this May. 
 
‘Bono – the guy that wants to save the world. One of the Dubliners. Rock star poet. Lovable rogue. You have to appreciate his commitment to social causes – always pushing for change, always trying to fix things. Good for him. Most people don’t even bother. Trying to change the world and maybe transcend it. Singing for a world too obsessed with noise to listen. Searching for redemption like all of us are – and he seems to be aware of the depths of that search. He knows the distance between the soul and the public square. He’s got guts that guy. Bravo Bono.’ Bob Dylan 
 
‘A brilliant, very funny, very revealing, autobiography-through-music. Maybe the best book ever written about being a rockstar.’ Caitlin Moran 
 
‘Surrender is a rich and honest book, rich because of its honesty. If you want to know the man behind the shades, read this book. He’s worth getting to know.’ Salman Rushdie

Bono

Praise for Bono: Stories of Surrender

This is Bono at his best: thoughtful, reflective, revealing a wisdom that his rock-star persona covers up ... At the root of it all you don't doubt his decency or integrity

A rattling good yarn ... characteristically expansive, but it whizzes by ... Bono has storytelling verve and a genuine desire for self-examination and is enthusiastic about praising others, often at his own expense. ...

Bono's memoir bares his soul ... Has any rock superstar written a more revealing biography? He deftly balances the comical and profound and packs anecdotes with cameos by the rich and famous, from Frank Sinatra to P ...

This is Bono at his best: thoughtful, reflective, revealing a wisdom that his rock-star persona covers up ... At the root of it all you don't doubt his decency or integrity

A rattling good yarn ... characteristically expansive, but it whizzes by ... Bono has storytelling verve and a genuine desire for self-examination and is enthusiastic about praising others, often at his own expense. ...

Bono's memoir bares his soul ... Has any rock superstar written a more revealing biography? He deftly balances the comical and profound and packs anecdotes with cameos by the rich and famous, from Frank Sinatra to P ...

This is Bono at his best: thoughtful, reflective, revealing a wisdom that his rock-star persona covers up ... At the root of it all you don't doubt his decency or integrity

A rattling good yarn ... characteristically expansive, but it whizzes by ... Bono has storytelling verve and a genuine desire for self-examination and is enthusiastic about praising others, often at his own expense. ...

Bono's memoir bares his soul ... Has any rock superstar written a more revealing biography? He deftly balances the comical and profound and packs anecdotes with cameos by the rich and famous, from Frank Sinatra to P ...

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