Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet
Tempo: A Scarecrow Press Music Series on Rock, Pop, and Culture offers titles that explore rock and popular music through the lens of social and cultural history, revealing the dynamic relationship between musicians, music, and their milieu. Like other major art forms, rock and pop music comment on their cultural, political, and even economic situation, reflecting technological advances, psychological concerns, religious feelings, and artistic trends of the times. Like other major musical artists, Bruce Springsteen’s work has reflected, revealed, and reacted to modern American realities over the course of his forty-year career.

Since releasing his first record in 1973, Springsteen has sold more than a hundred million albums worldwide, played thousands of concerts, and won Grammy, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Academy awards. More importantly, however, he is one of the few twentieth-century singer-songwriters to serve as the voice of his generation, a defining artist whose works reflect the values, dreams, and concerns of many Americans. In Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet,Donald L. Deardorff II explores the works of “The Boss,” defining the exact nature of Springsteen’s cultural influence.

With the release of seventeen studio albums, Springsteen’s influence and popularity spans multiple generations. Deardorff classifies and explains Springsteen’s remarkable reception as it evolved from small beginnings in the Jersey shore bars of the 1970s to worldwide fame today. This book thoughtfully considers the trenchant commentary Springsteen’s albums make on the mythology of the American Dream, working-class concerns, the changing character of American masculinity, the relationship between Americans and their government, the importance of social justice, and the evocation of an American spirit.

Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet will appeal to more than just Springsteen fans. It describes Springsteen as an apt critic of his own culture, whose music paints literary portraits that uncover the realities of an American society constantly evolving, while striving toward its own betterment.
1116460078
Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet
Tempo: A Scarecrow Press Music Series on Rock, Pop, and Culture offers titles that explore rock and popular music through the lens of social and cultural history, revealing the dynamic relationship between musicians, music, and their milieu. Like other major art forms, rock and pop music comment on their cultural, political, and even economic situation, reflecting technological advances, psychological concerns, religious feelings, and artistic trends of the times. Like other major musical artists, Bruce Springsteen’s work has reflected, revealed, and reacted to modern American realities over the course of his forty-year career.

Since releasing his first record in 1973, Springsteen has sold more than a hundred million albums worldwide, played thousands of concerts, and won Grammy, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Academy awards. More importantly, however, he is one of the few twentieth-century singer-songwriters to serve as the voice of his generation, a defining artist whose works reflect the values, dreams, and concerns of many Americans. In Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet,Donald L. Deardorff II explores the works of “The Boss,” defining the exact nature of Springsteen’s cultural influence.

With the release of seventeen studio albums, Springsteen’s influence and popularity spans multiple generations. Deardorff classifies and explains Springsteen’s remarkable reception as it evolved from small beginnings in the Jersey shore bars of the 1970s to worldwide fame today. This book thoughtfully considers the trenchant commentary Springsteen’s albums make on the mythology of the American Dream, working-class concerns, the changing character of American masculinity, the relationship between Americans and their government, the importance of social justice, and the evocation of an American spirit.

Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet will appeal to more than just Springsteen fans. It describes Springsteen as an apt critic of his own culture, whose music paints literary portraits that uncover the realities of an American society constantly evolving, while striving toward its own betterment.
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Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet

Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet

by Donald L. Deardorff II
Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet

Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet

by Donald L. Deardorff II

Hardcover

$63.00 
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Overview

Tempo: A Scarecrow Press Music Series on Rock, Pop, and Culture offers titles that explore rock and popular music through the lens of social and cultural history, revealing the dynamic relationship between musicians, music, and their milieu. Like other major art forms, rock and pop music comment on their cultural, political, and even economic situation, reflecting technological advances, psychological concerns, religious feelings, and artistic trends of the times. Like other major musical artists, Bruce Springsteen’s work has reflected, revealed, and reacted to modern American realities over the course of his forty-year career.

Since releasing his first record in 1973, Springsteen has sold more than a hundred million albums worldwide, played thousands of concerts, and won Grammy, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Academy awards. More importantly, however, he is one of the few twentieth-century singer-songwriters to serve as the voice of his generation, a defining artist whose works reflect the values, dreams, and concerns of many Americans. In Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet,Donald L. Deardorff II explores the works of “The Boss,” defining the exact nature of Springsteen’s cultural influence.

With the release of seventeen studio albums, Springsteen’s influence and popularity spans multiple generations. Deardorff classifies and explains Springsteen’s remarkable reception as it evolved from small beginnings in the Jersey shore bars of the 1970s to worldwide fame today. This book thoughtfully considers the trenchant commentary Springsteen’s albums make on the mythology of the American Dream, working-class concerns, the changing character of American masculinity, the relationship between Americans and their government, the importance of social justice, and the evocation of an American spirit.

Bruce Springsteen: American Poet and Prophet will appeal to more than just Springsteen fans. It describes Springsteen as an apt critic of his own culture, whose music paints literary portraits that uncover the realities of an American society constantly evolving, while striving toward its own betterment.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780810884267
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date: 12/01/2013
Series: Tempo: A Rowman & Littlefield Music Series on Rock, Pop, and Culture
Pages: 218
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Donald L. Deardorff II has taught courses in American literature and literary criticism at Cedarville University in Ohio since 1996. He is the author of several books on American masculinity and sports in American culture.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Timeline xi

Introduction: The Land of Hope and Dreams xxxi

1 Adam Raised a Cain: Biographical and Musical Influences 1

2 Those Romantic Young Boys: Reviving the Quest in the 1970s 23

3 Streets of Fire: Working-Class Heroes 45

4 Boys Try to Look So Hard: Reinventing Masculinity 67

5 I Had a Brother at Khe Sahn: Redefining Patriotism in an Age of War 87

6 It Ain't No Sin to Be Glad You're Alive: Social Justice 107

7 Deliver Me from Nowhere: Redemptive Myth 125

8 The Ministry of Rock 'n' Roll 143

Further Reading 159

Further Listening 163

Index 171

About the Author 175

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