FREE: Bruce by Peter Amer Carlin (hardback, 2012)

The listing, Bruce by Peter Amer Carlin (hardback, 2012) has ended.

this authorized biography of anthemic rocker Bruce Springsteen, music critic and unabashed Springsteen fan Carlin, who has also written about Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney, was able to obtain interviews with many of the musician’s closest friends and relatives. His access to, among others, Springsteen’s mother, sisters, early bandmates, and high-school pals makes for an unusually intimate portrait. Carlin provides detailed accounts of the musician’s personal and professional life, from his lower-working-class childhood in Freehold, New Jersey, to his social invisibility in high school, to his local and then regional popularity, and then worldwide stardom. Along the way, Springsteen battled depression, which also afflicted his father; eschewed drugs and alcohol; juggled numerous romantic entanglements; and worked tirelessly on his music and his stage presence, morphing from a shy loner to a mesmerizing performer of hours-long concerts. Like many highly creative people, he was fairly ruthless about allowing his music to dictate his direction, which sometimes led to dissension within the E-Street Band. Springsteen emerges from these pages as a hard worker and a painstaking musician who has never forgotten his working-class roots. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Published in conjunction with Bruce Springsteen’s worldwide tour in support of his latest album, this authorized biography is sure to draw plenty of off-the-book-page interest.