About 150 black and white photos, most of Bruce performing. These include the well known shots reproduced later by other books and some unique ones. In addition to band members, people photographed with Bruce include Lester Bangs [noted music critic], Susin Shapiro and Greg Mitchell from Crawdaddy, David Sancious and other early band members, Patti Smith, Eddie Floyd, Robert Gordon, Southside Johnny, manager Mike Appel, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Jimmy Lovine, Dick Wingate and others in the music business. Alphabetical list with brief notes on over one hundred songs written by Bruce. Chronological list of shows from November 12, 1972 through January 1, 1979. [Note: A more complete list is found in Charles Cross's Backstreets: Springsteen: The Man and His Music..] No source notes or index.

Like Jon Landau, Dave Marsh's career was given a major boost by his meeting Bruce Springsteen. Considered the unofficial authorized biographer of Bruce, his two biographies [BTR and Glory Days] are a must-have set along with fanzine editor Charles Cross's book. Marsh's biography is told in the vernacular, but it is deeper than similar biographies about Bruce—Marsh looks at the influence of film and other cultural phenonmenon on Bruce's songs, analyzes the lyrics, traces the early bands and shows from the Jersey shore up to the New York City clubs and then the tours, and looks behind the scenes at Bruce's recording process. For those interested in the recording, this book (or its successor editions) would make a great double gift set with Bruce's video documentary, "Blood Brothers."

ISBN: 0-385-15443-7 (paperback) [ Check our list of links to buy. ]

Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story by Dave Marsh (1981, NY:Dell Publishing Co.,pocketbook size, 300 pp.)

This update [see above for original edition review] has far fewer photos than the original, but adds two chapters that cover events such as Bruce's motorcycle injury when riding with Joyce Heiser, his writing of "Roulette" and involvement with the MUSE concert, the creation of "The River" album and Bruce's introduction of the "train" metaphor at the end of the shows on the 1980 tour. [See 1979 edition for more information about this book.]

ISBN: 0-440-10694-X (paperback) [ Click for an out-of-print book search.]

Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story by Dave Marsh (1996, NY: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 268 pp.)

This is the same as the 1981 edition, but with an added preface called "Out in the Street" which talks about the history of rock books in general and Marsh’s first biography of Springsteen in particular.

ISBN: 1-56025-102-6 [ Click here to buy this book.]

Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition by Jim Cullen (1997, NY: HarperCollins, a little larger than pocket-sized paperback, 254 pp.)

The cover has collage of photos of Bruce performing amidst a spotty-looking American flag, an indication of the nature of the content inside. Most of the small black and white photos are of American "model men" with whom Bruce is compared. A couple are of iconographic album covers. Those of Bruce show him playing with Clarence, driving a car, and "unplugged" in Asbury Park in 1996. Eighteen pages of source notes refer not just to the chapter but to the page number. Has a nine page chronology and a nine page selective discography. Has an index, mostly of personal names and song titles. This work, by a fan who had never met Bruce, is not a biography. Instead, it "explores a series of myths, symbols, and words in American culture, and the ways in which Springsteen's music clarifies, revises and reinterprets them (p. xvi)."

ISBN 0-092911-1 (paperback) [ Click here to buy this book.]

Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stone Files: The Ultimate Compendium of Interviews, Articles, Facts, and Opinions from the Files of Rolling Stone by the editors of Rolling Stone with an introduction by Parke Puterbaugh (1996, NY: Hyperion, 353 pp.)

Nice black-and-white front and back cover and spine shots of a brooding Bruce and his lower face and chest, but no pictures inside. [See the magazine itself for photos, or see Humphries' Springsteen: Blinded by the Light for b&w cover photos from Rolling Stone, and Sweeting's Bruce Springsteen: Visions of America for the color ice-skating cover.) Seven page discography and videography. No index. Articles and Random Notes columns are replicated in chronological order. These are, of course, some of the best known rock critics who wrote about and interviewed Bruce between 1973 and 1996. "Watch for him; he's not the new John Prine," warned Lester Bangs in 1973, while Mikal Gilmore's essay on the "Ghost of Tom Joad" album closes the book.

ISBN: 0-7868-8153-4 (paperback) [ Click for an out-of-print book search.]

Down Thunder Road: The Making of Bruce Springsteen by Marc Eliot with the participation of Mike Appel, Springsteen's former producer/manager (1992, NY: Simon and Schuster, 382pp.)

Color cover shot of Bruce in black leather jacket and 17 pages of small black-and-white photos from the early years up to 1990. Each chapter is headed by a photo of ephemera like a ticket or backstage pass. Besides Bruce, photos include posters and billboards, Mike Appel, Jon Landau, Bruce's girlfriend Karin Darvin, Suki Lahav, Patti Scialfa and other E Street Band members, and Bruce with "Fats" Houston, Southside Johnny, Sting, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. Instead of using footnotes for quotes, the book has fourteen pages of source notes at the end that are listed by page number. Each page number is followed by the quote(s) on that page, and the source(s) of the quote(s). The book contains an index which could have used more subheadings and fewer strings of page numbers after topics. There is a wealth of interesting biographical and career material in the numerous commentaries by Mike Apple, court transcripts, and financial data included in this book. The book also serves as a fascinating journey into the shadow side of human psychology, and the reader will have to decide for her/himself whether Bruce is the one who is unmasked in this unauthorized Springsteen biography.

ISBN: 0-671-78933-3 (hardback) [ Click for an out-of-print book search.]

Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s by Dave Marsh (1987, NY:Pantheon Books, 478 pp.)

About 55 black and white photos of unusual things like Bruce on a train in Toyko, Jon Landau playing on stage, Chuck Plotkin at the piano, zany antics from the show like Nils in giant cowboy hat, Nils flipping, Bruce being dragged by Father Time, looking on a map of Mesopotamia for "Paradise by the C", spouting water like Old Faithful, Clarence in Santa Claus suit, and Clarence and Bruce kissing. Photos include Bruce with Pam Springsteen (sister), with Billy Joel and Cyndi Lauper, on the street with Julianne Philips, with Arthur Baker, with workers at charitable causes he supports, signing a life-size Born to Run cover poster, and at Slane Castle, Dublin. Has index [but be aware that every topic, no matter how trivial, is indexed and that some page references are off by a page.]

Similar in style to Marsh's earlier book, Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story, this one focuses on the Born In the USA period of Bruce's career. Unlike most of the biographies published in this heyday of Bruce's fame, Marsh's is a more convincing look at what was going through Bruce's mind at the time. Known as the unofficial official Springsteen biographer, Marsh has had more access to information and he uses it well to examine Bruce's songs and career. As with the earlier biography, Marsh analyzes lyrics, presents the details of the recording and video-making processes, follows the business decisions and the tour, and speculates about things fans would like to know, e.g., what Bruce had in common with Julianne Philips, Bruce's first wife. Marsh discusses movies, books, songs and other influences on Bruce, while at the same time maintaining a very immediate feel that involves the reader in the action. This would make a good gift combo with Bruce's "Video Anthology/1978-88" video for a new fan.

ISBN: 0-394-54668-7 (paperback) [ Click for an out-of-print book search.]

 

It Ain't No Sin to Be Glad You're Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen by Eric Alterman (1999, Boston, NY, London: Little, Brown & Co., pocket-sized hardback, 281 pp.)

Has ten black and white photos of Bruce, most of him performing. No index. There is a two-page note on sources. In his introduction, Alterman, a political journalist and contributing editor of "Rolling Stone," says that he requested to meet Bruce when Bruce was being interviewed on the Charlie Rose show. Alterman didn't want to gush, so he played it cool. Alterman writes that this book is what he wanted to say to Bruce. Actually this book, like so many others is a combined biography and analysis of Bruce's music with lots of secondhand quotes by Bruce. The difference from many others is that this book covers Bruce's career from its beginning through the 1999 E-Street Band reunion tour.

ISBN: 0-316-03885-7 (hardback) [ Click here to buy this book.]

Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-On Collision of Rock and Commerce by Fred Goodman (1996, NY and Toronto: Random House, 431 pp.)

Eight pages of small black-and-white photos of the major players discussed in the book include three of Jon Landau and two of Bruce. Has a good index. This is the expose of the rock music business by a former Rolling Stone editor. It can be read in conjunction with Down Thunder Road, the book about Bruce's first manager, Mike Appel.

0-8129-2113-5 (hardback) [ Click here to buy the book in paperback.]

Rhythm and Resistance: The Political Uses of American Popular Music by Ray Pratt (1990, Washington, DC and London: The Smithsonian Institute).

Chapter eight, "Springsteen: From the Emptiness of Flight to the Burden of Belonging" pp. 175-197. No photos, just the essay on the topic in the title. Pratt cites comments by many other writers such as Robert Hilburn, Greil Marcus, Kurt Loder and Bruce himself to analyze the politics in Bruce's music. Pratt looks at Bruce's music both as a commodity of giant corporations and as a commentary on those and other social institutions. Pratt uses surveys of fans and writings on rock and roll in general to look at Bruce's significance to society. The rest of the book looks at some populist themes in popular music and examines different kinds of popular music, e.g., gospel, blues, folk, rock, and women's music. Pratt concludes his book with a chapter on the possibilities of political liberation in popular music.

ISBN: 1-56098-351-5 (paperback) [ Click for an out-of-print book search.] [ Click here to buy the book in hardback.]

Rock Lives: Profiles and Interviews by Timothy White (1990, NY: Henry Holt, pocketbook sized, 807 pp., Bruce's biography is on pages 646-653.)

One small black and white photo, no footnotes, personal names index. This is an odd little book. It discusses individuals and not groups; for example each of the Beatles except Ringo. It is divided into three sections: Pioneers, Pilgrims, and Progeny. The first group includes the likes of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc. The second group is Bob Dylan's era. Bruce is listed under Progeny along with Sting and Elvis Costello. White was an editor of Crawdaddy, an early punk/rock magazine that wrote about Bruce. According to White, Bruce hung out with Peter Knobler and Greg Mitchell and other Crawdaddy staff at Yankees games. White describes Bruce in those days as eccentric and taciturn. This biography is half and half music and personal details. The music descriptions are full of pithy sound bites--White calls the Greetings album "folk-based English rock and starchy blue-eyed soul." White labels "Backstreets" "Independence Day" and "Racing in the Streets" as Bruce's three most "trite or claustrophobic" songs. There is much too much emphasis on cars. On the other hand, White argues that the Tunnel of Love album and Bruce's divorce from Julianne enabled Bruce "to literally begin his life and career again," raising an interesting point about Bruce's constant need to reinvent himself and his music. Most of the personal section is about Bruce's marriages.

ISBN: 0805018611 (paperback) [ Click here to buy this book. ]

Springsteen by Frank Moriarty (1998, NY: Griedman/Fairfax Publishers, coffee-table size book, 120 pp.)

About 100 professional photographs, over half in color. These include a lot of full page and two-page shots beginning with the first E-Street Band up to the mid-1990's. Photos include album covers in color, Bruce and Patti with Bruce's mother Adele, John Hammond, early as well as later E Street Band members, MUSE and Amnesty International concerts, Bruce with Karen Darvin, Julianne Philips, Mitch Ryder, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Chuck Berry Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Mick Jagger, Tom Petty, and Southside Johnny, Bruce with fans, Bruce's Rumson NJ house, Bruce with Patti and their child, Bruce alone, Patti alone. Has list of albums and a brief (three page) index. The chapter names are from song and album titles in non-chronological order while the narrative is strictly chronological biography of Bruce's life and career. Moriarty is a musician and rock writer, but this book is not the typical rock biography with analysis of song lyrics or discussion about motives and feelings. It just tells the story, or what some refer to as the myth, of Bruce Springsteen.

ISBN: 1-56799-652-3 (hardback) [ Click here to buy this book.]

Springsteen by Robert Hilburn (1985, NY: Rolling Stone Press, coffeetable-size, 256 pp.)

Color cover photos of Bruce onstage. Inside are about 115 black- and-white and 20 color photos, quite a few showing the joyousness of the concerts. Many photos cover two pages. Bruce with Ronnie Spector, with Jackson Browne and Tom Pettty, with Bette Midler and Ed Sciaky (disk jockey), with a bear, with a bandaid on his face, with a girl on a tandem bicycle, with the fellow who won MTV's be-a-roadie-for-a-week award, the actual roadies for the band, and Bruce's mom waving a finger in his face. For those who wish to see what kind of socks Bruce wears, there's one of him playing ball in shorts. There are also two shirtless shots and a butt shot as he goes over the end of the stage. No index. Hilburn is music critic for the Los Angeles Times and a well-known rock writer. His is a simple, straight-ahead biography which includes quotes from Hilburn's own interviews and meetings with Bruce, Jon Landau, and others close to Bruce. Like Dave Marsh, Hilburn describes and interprets lyrics and suggests musical influences on Bruce's career, but he does not go as deep.

ISBN: 0-684-18456-7 (hardback) [ Click for an out-of-print book search.]

Springsteen: Point Blank: A New Biography by Christopher Sandford (1999, Great Britain: Little, Brown & Co., Da Capo Press in the U.S., 446 pp.)

Has 16 pages of color photos, old and new, of band members, Julianne Philips, other musicians with such as Sting, Yassour D'Our, and Mick Jagger, and of Bruce with his lawyers. Has a 9 page chronology, a good, but brief index, and 7 pages of source notes. This is the first biography that emphasizes Springsteen, the man. The author is critical of the mythology surrounding Bruce and achieves a depth that previous biographies fail to reach. A lot of personal as well as career details are included and the book is elliptical and interpretive rather than a chronological account of Bruce's life. Besides Springsteen, Sandford has written books about Jagger, Clapton, Cobain, Bowie, and Sting.

ISBN: 0-306-80921-4 [ (paperback) Click here to buy this book.]

Tajfun Zvani Bruce ("Typhoon" Bruce) by Dragan Todorovic (1989, Beograd, Yugoslavia, pocket-size, 166+ pp.)

A nice close-up color shot of Bruce's face on the cover. He's looking thoughtful. At the end this book are nineteen black and white photos (some with no half-tones). Most are well-known shots. However, the last few photos are unusual ones: Bruce and Clarence in Budapest, two shots of a wavy-haired Bruce singing, and Bruce with the Amnesty International musicians Sting, Tracy Chapman, Peter Gabriel, Yassour N'Dour and two others. No index. Includes a list of 170 songs by Bruce (official and unofficial) roughly in alphabetical order and table of contents in the back. This appears to be the first book writen about Bruce in Yugoslavian. For those who cannot read the language, this book can be collected as an example of Bruce's ever-widening influence in the world or, given the low price, as a novelty item. Lyrics from over twenty of Bruce's songs have been translated from English into Yugoslav. It is interesting to see how the songs look in this new form. The author is a music journalist who apparently is telling readers about Bruce's life and analyzing his music. [I base this conclusion on the English and Russian words I recognized in the text.] Some of the chapter titles that caught my eye are:"Robin Hoodsteen...,"Eksplozija" "Pola Miliona Dolara Za Snimanje', "Tajfun" and "Bruce Presley?" For more information or to order a copy click below....

ISBN: 86-7017-021-3 [ Click here to buy this book. ]

Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning Among Springsteen Fans by Daniel Cavicchi (1998, England: Oxford University Press, 222 pp.)

The only photo is the black and white one of Bruce being held up by fans on the cover. Has four pages of footnotes and 11 pages of references. Has a good index which suffers from long strings of page numbers after the topics. This is a much talked about book by fans, many of whom are quoted in the book. Cavicchi teaches American history and culture at the Rhode Island School of Design and is a fan himself. Cavicchi finds a positive meaning in the act of music fandom in general and Springsteen fandom in particular. This is a good book to pair as a gift with the video, Greetings from the Parking Lot: The Springsteen Fanomenon. [Click here to see review of this video.]

ISBN: 0-19-512564-9 (paperback) [ Click here to buy this book.]
[ Click here to buy the book in hardback.]