When the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Bob Dylan in 2016, a debate raged. Some celebrated, while many others questioned the choice. How could the world's most prestigious book prize be awarded to a famously cantankerous singer-songwriter who wouldn't even deign to attend the medal ceremony? In 'Why Bob Dylan matters', Harvard Professor Richard F. Thomas answers this question with magisterial erudition. A world expert on Classical poetry,...

"Listening to Bob Dylan seeks to reposition music and musical performance as central, essential aspects of Bob Dylan's art. Countering the tendency on the part of many scholars, journalists, fans, and casual listeners to regard Dylan primarily or even exclusively as a poet, or as a writer of lyrics, Starr presents Dylan's work as a complete package and a personal, unique synthesis of words, music, and performance. Starr aims to provide an unpretentious...

"Several years ago, a treasure trove containing some 6,000 original Bob Dylan manuscripts was revealed to exist. Their destination? Tulsa, Oklahoma. The documents, as essential as they are intriguing--draft lyrics, notebooks, and diverse ephemera--comprise one of the most important cultural archives in the modern world. Along with countless still and moving images and thousands of hours of riveting studio and live recordings, this priceless collection...