Bob Dylan in America by Sean Wilentz

I was very interested in this book and my wife picked it up for me as a gift. She is ever so thoughtful like that. It is never hard to buy me a gift, just get me a book. Sean Wilentz is a very good author of historical biography and such and I have enjoyed his work.

With his love of Dylan and his music this should have been a match made in heaven. It was not.

Wilentz did what he advised he would do but in the book he took snapshots of various times in Dylan's career and some sections were frankly just about as interesting as those times in Dylan's career.

A whole chapter about Blind Willie McTell and Delia and the history behind the songs was most likely more than I or about anyone needed.

The book does have value. The tracing of Dylans roots back to Aaron Copland the the folk singers of the 1940's was very good and informative.

Perhaps the best sections were the chapter on the making of Blonde on Blonde as well as the section on the Rolling Thunder Revue period of 1975. There were sections early in the book where I could not put it down.

Maybe Wilentz made the perfect metaphor for Bob. After the first 15 years there is much less to be excited about. It should be noted that those first 15 years however were the greatest period of any songwriter in the rock and roll era.