Greil Marcus was the first Records editor at Rolling Stone. His many books include Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ’n’ Roll Music (1975), Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century (1989) and The History of Rock ’n’ Roll in Ten Songs (2014). He lives in Oakland and teaches at Berkeley.
Praise for Mystery Train:
"His tinkering has kept it relevant through six editions, but his
writing and ideas have rendered it ageless. I’ve been reading it
for years; when I lent it to a friend I missed it so much I bought
a second copy. Mystery Train is more than rock criticism. It
explores the meaning of America through rock ’n’ roll. The chapter
on Robert Johnson opens with the end of The Great Gatsby. Woodrow
Wilson and D. H. Lawrence turn up in the Elvis section. A moment on
the Band’s debut album inspires this: 'You couldn’t ask for a more
perfect statement of the conviction that America is blessed, or of
the lingering suspicion that it is cursed.' The Marcus worldview —
the notion that pop culture matters as much as history and
literature — is perfectly distilled in the prologue, where he
connects the immortal sweep of art to Little Richard."—Manny
Fernandez, Houston bureau chief
"Mystery Train changed a lot of things for me. Most basically, it
plugged me into a lifetime’s worth of listening. Because of it, I
erased 'English lit' as my college major and inked in 'American
lit.' It remains the book I can’t help measuring critical writing
against...I plan to give a copy of Mr. Marcus’s book to each of my
children when they leave for college. It speaks intimately to a
part of the cultural heritage that, in my haphazard way, I’ve tried
to give them."–Dwight Garner, The New York Times
"Gets as close to the heart and soul of America and American music
as the best of rock 'n' roll." –Bruce Springsteen
“Perhaps the finest book ever written about pop music.” –Alan
Light, The New York Times Book Review, 2005
“Greil Marcus developed an ability to discern an art movement, or
an entire country, lurking inside a song.” –The New Yorker,
2004
“Probably the most astute critic of American popular culture since
Edmund Wilson.” –D.D. Guttenplan, London Review of Books, 2007
“The 1975 appearance of Greil Marcus’ first book, Mystery Train,
was an explosion as unexpected and indelible as the first records
Elvis Presley had cut almost exactly twenty years before.” –Mark
Rozzo, Los Angeles Times’ Book Review, 2006
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