Bruce read this U.S. history textbook on the European leg of the River tour, and it had a profound effect on his thinking about U.S. politics.

ISBN: 0671790234 (paperback) [ Click here to buy this book. ]

Born on the Fourth of July: A True Story of Innocence Lost and Courage Found by Ron Kovic (1976, NY: Simon and Schuster Pocket Books, 224 pp.)

This book, source for the movie of the same name, was a major influence on the Born in the U.S.A. song and album.

ISBN: 0-671-68149-4 [ Click here to buy this book (1996 reissue) .]

Flannery O' Connor : The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor (current edition 1996, 555 pp.)

After the River tour ended in 1981 Bruce rented a house in Colt's Neck, New Jersey and spent a lot of time by himself. This book, read during that period, inspired songs that appeared on the Nebraska album.

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Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (current edition 1992, 619 pp.)

The movie version of Steinbeck’s masterpiece about a dustbowl family’s struggle to survive when forced off their land "on account of the economy" during the Great Depression has been a great influence on Bruce throughout his career and gave the title to the Tom Joad album.

(paperback) [ Click here to buy this book.]
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Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass by Dale Maharidge with introduction by Bruce Springsteen (1996, Hyperion, 208 pp.)

This book along with John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath greatly influenced Bruce's Tom Joad album. Bruce has been sighted with a copy of this book in his coat pocket.

ISBN: 0-7868-8204-2 (paperback) [ Click here to buy this book.]

The Americans by Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac (current edition 1998, 180 pp.)

This 1958 book of photographs inspired Bruce, and along with a Chuck Berry album cover resulted in the "look and feel" of theNebraska album cover.

ISBN: 3931141802 (hardback) [ Click here to buy this book. ]

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (current edition 1995, 581pp.)

This book about a black man who retreats to a hole beneath his basement and siphons off power from the electric company for thousands of light bulbs while he tries to come to grips with his past won the National Book Award in 1953 and was a must-read in the U.S. during the late 1960s. In 1998 Bruce read aloud part of this book to a group of children at The Count Basie Learning Center in Red Bank, New Jersey, and told them what the book meant to him. [Backstreets, Winter 1998, page 11.]

ISBN: 0679732764 (paperback) [ Click here to buy this book. ]
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Woody Guthrie: A Life by Joe Klein (current edition 1999, 480 pp.)

Bruce was given this book in the fall of 1980 and mentioned it often. In December 1980, Bruce began including Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" in the River tour concerts. Bruce also sang two of Woody's songs for the Tribute video for Guthrie and Leadbelly made in 1988. For information on the video click here.

ISBN: 0-3853-3385-4 (paperback) [ Click here to buy this book. ]