Title: Magic circles : the Beatles in dream and history /
Authors: McKinney, Devin.
Publisher: Harvard University Press,
Year: 2003
Subjects: Beatles; Rock musicians England Biography; Music Social aspects; Rock music England History and criticism; Rock music United States History and criticism
Abstract: "In Magic Circles Devin McKinney uncovers the secret history of a generation and a pivotal moment in twentieth-century culture. He reveals how the Beatles enacted the dream life of their time and shows how they embodied a kaleidoscope of desire and anguish for all who listened - hippies or reactionaries, teenage fans or harried parents, Bob Dylan or Charles Manson. The reader who dares to re-enter the vortex that was the Sixties will appreciate, perhaps for the first time, much of what lay beneath the social trauma of the day." "Delving into concerts and interviews, films and music, outtakes and bootlegs, Devin McKinney brings to bear the insights of history, aesthetics, sociology, psychology, and mythology to account for the depth and resonance of the Beatles' impact. His book is also a multifaceted appreciation of the group's artistic achievement, exploring their music as both timeless expression and visceral response to their historical moment."--Jacket.
Contents: Rude noises from the bog : the Beatles in Liverpool and Hamburg -- Ascension/sacrifice : a hard day's night and help! -- Meat : the Beatles in 1966 -- The unintelligible truth : the Beatles and the counterculture -- O.P.D. / Deus est vivus : the Beatles and the death cults -- Fantasy into flesh : a life and an afterlife.