What does America tell us about Bob Dylan - and what does Dylan s work tell us about America? 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 a leading historian as well as the passion of a fan. Drawn in part from Wilentz's essays written as 'historian-in-residence' of Dylan's official website, Bob Dylan in America is a unique blend of fact, interpretation and critical attachment. It traces the jagged arc of a mercurial artist, through thrilling highs and (more cursorily) crushing lows. It discusses Dylan's debt to Aaron Copland and the Beats to Blind Willie McTell and the protest movement. It places Dylan's work in its wider historical and artistic contexts and shows how deeply attuned he is to American history and culture.

Author Biography

Sean Wilentz is Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the American Revolutionary Era at Princeton University. He is the author of The Rise of American Democracy, which received the coveted Bancroft Prize, and most recently The Age of Reagan. He has also received a Deems Taylor Award for musical commentary and a Grammy nomination for his liner notes to Bootleg Series, Vol. 6- Bob Dylan, Live 1964- The Concert at Philharmonic Hall.