Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music

Greil Marcus's study of American rock 'n' roll is justly regarded as one of the most accomplished examples of contemporary music writing. Using a handful of artists -- a brace of bluesmen, The Band, Sly Stone, Randy Newman and Elvis Presley -- Marcus illuminates and interprets the American Dream in rigorous prose, touching on myth, landscape and oral tradition. The result is an invigorating and wholly original study -- here in its revised, sixth edition -- that remains a high watermark in cultural criticism.