No direction home – the life and music of bob

Robert Shelton met Bob Dylan when the young singer arrived in New York. He became Dylan's friend, champion, and critic. His book, first published in 1986, was hailed as the definitive unauthorised biography of this moody, passionate genius and his world. Of more than a thousand books published about Bob Dylan it is the only one that has been written with Dylan's active cooperation.Dylan gave Shelton access to his parents Abe and Beatty Zimmerman - whom no other journalist has ever interviewed in depth; to his brother, David; to childhood friends from Hibbing; to fellow students and friends from Minneapolis; and to Suze Rotolo, the muse immortalised on the cover of Freewheelin' among others.No Direction Home took 20 years to complete and when it was finally published the book recieved widespread critical acclaim. Two decades on, Dylan's standing is higher than at any time since the 1960s and Shelton's book is now seen as a classic of the genre.This new edition, published to coincide with Dylan's 70th birthday on 24th May 2011, includes key images of Dylan throughout his incredible, enduring career, updated footnotes and bibliography, and a new, selective, discography.Robert Shelton was born in Chicago in 1926 and was on the staff of the New York Times for two decades until he came to Europe. Best known as the man who 'discovered' Bob Dylan, he was the principle chronicler of the 1960s US folk revival. His books include the Woody Guthrie collection Born To Win, The Face of Folk Music, The Country Music Story and The Electric Muse. He died in 1995.