Bob Dylan Jewish roots, American soil

Biographer Freedman (Leonard Cohen) scrupulously dissects the historical and cultural influences that shaped Bob Dylan's music career. Born Robert Zimmerman to Jewish descendants of Eastern European immigrants, Dylan grew up in a small Midwestern mining town. He escaped at 18 for college in Minneapolis, where he honed his musical style at coffeehouses full of "dropouts, artists, beatniks." Freedman sees Dylan as profoundly influenced by the Beats, folk musician Woody Guthrie, and--despite an overt apathy to his Jewish roots, illustrated by his adoption of the name Bob Dylan at 19--his religious heritage, which informed the strong social consciousness expressed in songs like "Blowin' In the Wind." Though some of the author's other parallels are more tenuous--as when he suggests that 1964's "The Times They Are A-Changin' " illustrates how Dylan's "Jewish psyche had been moulded by ancestors preternaturally sensitive to impending change, to disasters, persecutions"--Freedman effectively situates Dylan in the cultural milieu of the '60s, showing how he helped make music a common social thread "that bound young people to their peers and distanced them from their elders." The result is a meticulous exploration of one of America's most influential musicians. (June)

Although there might seem little left to say about Nobel laureate Bob Dylan (b. 1941), Jewish popular culture expert Freedman (Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius) presents a comprehensive traversal of the folk-rock singer/songwriter's early creative years from 1958 to 1967. Focusing on Dylan's influences (Woody Guthrie, Beat poets, and his Jewish ancestry) and encompassing almost every musical and political touchstone during that decade for context, this book presents the musician's progress from rebellious teenager eking out a living in obscure Greenwich Village clubs to world traveling superstar. Freedman details Dylan's songs, albums, and personal and professional relationships, highlighting some of the more notorious incidents such as the dust-up over electric amplification at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. This title approaches Dylan from an intriguing perspective and demonstrates what made him unique and how he stood out from the crowd. Chapter notes help support his thesis. Disappointingly, the notoriously reticent Dylan did not participate in any interviews with the author. VERDICT This biography rewards Dylanists and those interested in the developing folk scene and cultural milieu of the 1960s.--Barry Zaslow