Everyone knows the music. No band sells 100 million albums and remains adored for more than four decades without making an impact on the world. So why hasn?t anyone got round to telling the real story? Because, as Catch a Wave will prove, the story of the Beach Boys is about the way the American dream filters through popular culture and how the American appetite (for money and success) can destroy it. And in Catch a Wave the entire tale comes straight from the people who actually lived it. Written with the active cooperation of Brian Wilson, the book includes exclusive interviews with surviving Beach Boys Mike Love and Al Jardine, many of Wilson?s childhood friends and schoolmates, a rich variety of family members, all of his surviving collaborators and a vast array of other witnesses. As such, it will be the definitive book on the life and career of Brian Wilson.

Author Biography

Peter Ames Carlin is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, American Heritage and the Los Angles Times Magazine. Previously a senior writer for People in New York, he is currently a television critic and makes regular appearances on radio to discuss developments in popular culture.