Amazon.com (ISBN 0674218574, Hardcover)

Noted critic Greil Marcus contemplates the connections between history and popular culture in this thoughtful collection of essays. He writes about how the Beat Generation is marketed in a three-CD boxed set and ponders the meaning of John Wayne. He recounts his own personal discovery of the work of blues legend Robert Johnson, provoking the reader to consider how one small thing -- in this case an old phonograph record -- can profoundly change a life. And those who marvel at Marcus' ability for close analysis of the seemingly simple may marvel at his brilliant essay, "Dylan as Historian," which analyzes just one apparently simple yet deeply layered song, Bob Dylan's "Blind Willie McTell."