The Rough Guide to Nirvana (Rough Guide Sports/Pop Culture Series)

Library Journal

The "Rough Guides" series of books used to focus primarily on travel destinations, but in recent years the publisher has begun expanding its offerings to include books on music, popular culture, technology, and science. Seattle music journalist Gaar's (She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll; Green Day: Rebels with a Cause) contribution to the series is this concise guide to Nirvana—a band that came to define the style of music labeled "grunge." Gaar, who personally interviewed many of those involved with Nirvana's story, traces the band's history from its early years to the untimely and tragic death of its leader, Kurt Cobain, covering the music they recorded, both in the studio and live, and everything else written or filmed about them (including musical tributes or covers of their songs). Each chapter of the book ranges in length from 12 to 15 pages and contains at least one or two sidebars that provide additional information about a particular aspect of the group's career, a definition of grunge, or musical influences such as, for example, Leadbelly and Sonic Youth. The book also contains numerous photos of the band members. BOTTOM LINE Insightful, well documented, and well written, this book gives the full story of Nirvana that grunge music fans are sure to embrace. A nice addition to the reference music collection of any library, public or academic.—Diane Fulkerson, Univ. of West Georgia Lib., Carrollton