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Title: Magic Circles : The Beatles in Dream and History by Devin McKinney ISBN: 0-674-01202-X Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.83 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Ignore "Absolute Garbage"
Comment: I've read dozens and dozens of books on the Beatles, and this one is certainly the best. While the second half of the book loses its way--the author does warn the reader of a new direction--and certainly the book suffers from some "cultural criticism run amok", The Beatles have never received such an intellectual love letter. Shawn H. accuses the author of writing the book only to make a name for himself, when in his own review he casually mentions that he'll be teaching a course on the Beatles, committing the very crime of which he accuses the author. Magic Circles is the most thoughtful and intelligent analysis of the Beatles and interpretation of their story I've yet to read. Hopefully this book is the first of many other similar analyses. This book correctly recognizes that the Beatles exist outside the scope of normal history and other legends; they are biblical in stature.
Rating: 3
Summary: I Am He As John Is Me, but I don't think we're all together
Comment: The title, the front and back cover, the inner and outer dust jacket flaps, they grabbed me. References to sociology, psychology, sexuality, and even physics. This book will undoubtedly assist me to ascertain just why The Beatles seem to matter so much...Was it just the time that I grew up in, or are they a musical force which will transcend not only generations, but centuries, milleniums? Written by someone from a younger generation, I'll be able to get a more "objective" analysis! I had high hopes. They were dashed.
Mr. McKinney gets credit for adventuring into heady places. Places more interesting than, "Mr. Epstein liked the sound and looks of the boys and..." But these places full of potential were not realized, as Mr. McKinney's pretty words meandered like a restless wind inside a letter box. One stumbles onto nuggets and kernels. Provacative pieces of the puzzle. Mr. McKinney illustrates how The Beatles reflect society and influence it. (Yes, but how, why, and ultimately, why do we care?) Mr. McKinney draws upon Freud & portrays The Beatles as a manifestation of the audiences' wishes & desires, as well as pushing their audience to wish & desire. (So did Frank Capra & Lenny Bruce and, for some, John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.)
I continued to eagerly pour through each chapter's poetic imagery of toilet associations, on holes in the universe a la Einstein & Socrates, up to and including the comparing and contrasting of John Lennon & Charles Manson... I still continued to hold out hope in searching for The Meaning of The Beatles. But, as the pages chock full of swirling
thoughts/reveries/cultural lore went by, the more I came instead upon the The Meaning of Mr. McKinney. Revolution #9 as a masterpiece? McCartney as complex as Lennon? The Beatles creating The Sixties and being crushed by The Sixties because of the inability of its inhabitants to integrate demands for peace with feelings of rage?
Not everyone from the Sixties was either a member of The Silent Majority nor a flag burning, drug-crazed, free-love hippie.
I could march with my high school to demonstrate against the Vietnam War, until it was time for me to fulfill my obligations by reporting for my 2:00 PM shift as a 16 year-old stockboy in Alexander's Department Store in The Bronx, New York, 1968. That makes me a Day Tripper or just more reflective of the millions of teens & some adults who admired the Beatles?
Then came the final chapter, which I recommend be read first. An enjoyable autobiographical account of Mr. McKinney's interest in the Sixties! Much less pressured in delivery. More relaxed with his audience. Less need for a dictionary. Now it makes sense! That's what the book should have been about! It would have been both more interesting and possibly more significantly revealing. The title for which could have been: "The Beatles and Me: Search for Identity".
Rating: 5
Summary: Unique, extraoridinary book
Comment: I take great exception with the previous review stating this book is "garbage". I also fail to notice where this book is anything short of a loving Valentine to the Beatles. If one reads the book thorougly, all four band members are rendered brightly. McKinney's insights are not only personal - they are unlike anything I've read on the Beatles. His grasp of history - especially useful for those who did not experience the 60's first hand - is wondrous and I learned countles new facts about the band. And I have been a fan for three decades. This book challenges and inspires the reader to look deeper than ever before at the wonder that is the Beatles. From individual songs to albums to myths, this book explores every facet of the Beatles. All in all, a must-read for anyone who loves the Beatles or the time in history they inhabited, represented and changed.
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Title: Lennon Legend by James Henke ISBN: 0811835170 Publisher: Chronicle Books Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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Title: The Beatles Are Coming: The Birth of Beatlemania in America by Bruce Spizer, Walter Cronkite ISBN: 0966264991 Publisher: Four Ninety-Eight Productions Llc Pub. Date: December, 2003 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title: The Beatles Box by Alan Clayson ISBN: 1860749593 Publisher: Sanctuary Publishing Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Ticket to Ride by Larry Kane, Dick Clark ISBN: 0762415924 Publisher: Running Press Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Once there was a way...Photographs of the Beatles by Harry Benson ISBN: 0810946432 Publisher: Harry N. Abrams Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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