Review
------
From Publishers Weekly:
The legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan matures from “feckless,
foolish poseur” to calculating, canny poseur in this gleefully
-etched biography. New York Times scribe McDougal (The Last
Mogul) chronicles Dylan’s project of “‘building a character that
will sell’” by transforming himself from a middle-class Jewish
boy with nice parents in Minnesota into an ersatz orphaned carnie
and hallucinatory folk-rock oracle (and later into a
country-western balladeer and born-again Christian). Along the
way, he argues, Dylan stole the personas and stylings of other
entertainers, and plagiarized tunes, words, and paintings
(sometimes copyrighting them as originals). Amid makeovers and
appropriations, the truly authentic constants of Dylan’s
character in this critical portrait are a hard-nosed drive to
succeed, self-centered betrayals of s, incessant
misrepresentations, and voracious appetites for booze, drugs, and
women. McDougal eschews gushing exegeses of lyrics and other
stes of Dylanolatry; while he acknowledges a body of great
music and perceptively analyzes its resonance, he’s happier
tossing jibes. (“A tale told by an idiot-savant on PCP” is his
review of Dylan’s novel Tarantulas.) Few of his revelations are
novel, but McDougal presents his caustic indictment with energy
and panache. (May)
From Kirkus Reviews:
"The biographer of Lew Wasserman, Jack Nicholson and Otis
Chandler returns with a sometimes-scholarly, sometimes-snarky
life of the songwriting and singing legend."
McDougal leaves few doubts about his seriousness in this long
account of Robert Zimmerman, who grew up in the small town of
Hibbing, Minn. Many pages feature footnotes, some of which are
substantial, others adding but a dollop of color. The author’s
admiration for Dylan’s artistic accomplishments is patent―in the
preface, he compares him with Shakespeare, Twain and
Dickens―though he does not hesitate to blast Dylan for shoddy
performances, weak records, personal coldness (even cruelty),
drug and alcohol abuse, and a serial sex life that would make
Casanova’s grave glow green. McDougal’s work is starkly
traditional: He begins with family background and marches
steadily forward in 4/4 time, showing how this small-town kid
went to New York City and eventually owned it to the core. It was
“Blowin’ in the Wind,” writes the author, that him to fame,
distancing him from the many other wannabes in Greenwich Village,
but Dylan later abandoned protest songs (and, soon, his acoustic
guitar) and spent the next decades in a continual reinvention―of
his music and his persona. But patterns emerged: He eventually
wore out even the most indulgent of wives; he abruptly dropped
business acquaintances and fellow musicians; he wished always to
have the spotlight on him; he “borrowed” lyrics and images for
his paintings; and he remained intensely private, probably
realizing that too much exposure would remove the “mystery.”
McDougal offers engaging details about the major records, as well
as Dylan’s books and films. He even finds some good things to say
about Dylan’s dreadful performance in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett
and Billy the Kid.
Richly detailed, though the author places Dylan on a higher shelf
in the cultural library than history may permit.
"Whether you agree or disagree with the author, you will likely
never read a book as purely entertaining about Dylan."―Tom
Waldman, nohoartsdistrict.com
Praise for Five Easy Decades: How Jack Nicholson Became the
Biggest Movie Star in Modern Times
"Dennis McDougal is a rare Hollywood reporter: honest, fearless,
nobody's fool. This is unvarnished Jack for Jack-lovers and
Jack-skeptics but, also, for anyone interested in the state of
American culture and celebrity. I always read Mr. McDougal for
pointers."―Patrick McGilligan, author of Jack's Life and Alfred
Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light
Praise for Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise and Fall of
the L.A. Times Dynasty
"A great freeway pileup--part biography, part dysfunctional
family chronicle, and part institutional and urban history, with
generous dollops of scandal and gossip."―Hendrick Hertzberg, The
New Yorker
"McDougal has managed to scale the high walls that have long
protected the Chandler clan and returned with wicked tales told
by angry ex-wives and jealous siblings." ―The Washington Post
Praise for The Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA and the Hidden
History of Hollywood
"Real glamour needs a dark side. That is part of the
fascination of Dennis McDougal's wonderful book."―The Economist
"Thoroughly reported and engrossing . . . the most noteworthy
trait of MCA was how it hid its power." ―The New York Times Book
Review
"Over the years, I've read hundreds of books on Hollywood and the
movie business, and this one is right at the top." ―Michael
Blowen, The Boston Globe
Read more ( javascript:void(0) )
About the Author
----------------
Dennis McDougal, writer for the Los Angeles
Times and the New York Times, has won more than fifty awards for
his hard-nosed coverage of the entertainment industry. He is the
bestselling author of eleven books, including The Last Mogul: Lew
Wasserman, MCA, and the Hidden History of Hollywood and Five Easy
Decades: How Jack Nicholson Became the Biggest Movie Star in
Modern Times. His book Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise
and Fall of the LA Times Dynasty was produced as a two-hour PBS
documentary.
Read more ( javascript:void(0) )
