Audrey recommends: Positively 4th Street by David Hajdu
Genre: Nonfiction
Reading level: Adult
Summary: Hajdu expertly captures a brief window of the Folk Revival movement between 1960-1966.
Audrey says: I couldn’t put this book down. Hajdu writes nonfiction like a novel, turning the lives of Richard Fariña, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Mimi Baez into a compelling narrative. He can take you into the infinitesimal interpersonal drama among these creative personalities, and then zoom out to show the nationwide shift from rock n’ roll teenyboppers to folk revival hippies. He uses suspense and foreshadowing brilliantly, keeping the story engaging even if we know how it ends. Most of all, Hajdu treats his subjects as people. He neither excuses their behavior nor condemns them for it. They lie, they take credit for others’ work, they chase partners who are too young for them, they let their egos get in the way of their relationships, but moreover, they are human.
Check it out before the new Bob Dylan movie, A Complete Unknown, comes out in December!
This title is available at Foster Public Library or via the eZone as an ebook or audiobook.
