Beatlemania - 50th Anniversary

January 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles first album in the United States and the release of Bob Dylan's album "The Times They are A'changin'." Visit our display on the main floor of the library for books about this musical experience including:

Beatles vs. Stones by John McMillian: In the 1960s the two biggest bands in the world—the lovable Beatles and the bad-boy Rolling Stones—waged an epic battle. “The Beatles want to hold your hand,” wrote Tom Wolfe, “but the Stones want to burn down your town.” Both groups liked to maintain that they weren’t really “rivals”—that was just a media myth, they politely said—but on both sides of the Atlantic, they plainly competed for commercial success and aesthetic credibility. In Beatles vs. Stones, John McMillian gets to the truth behind the ultimate rock ’n’ roll debate.

When They Were Boys: The True Story of the Beatles' Rise to the Top by Larry Kane: This is the story of the Beatles’ harrowing rise to fame: focusing on that seven-year stretch from the time the boys met as teenagers to early 1964, when the Fab Four made their momentous first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. From the boys’ humble beginnings in Liverpool, to the cellars of Hamburg, When They Were Boys includes stories never before told, including the heartbreaks and the lucky breaks.

Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years, Volume 1 by Mark Lewisohn: Mark Lewisohn uses his unprecedented archival access and hundreds of new interviews to construct the full story of the lives and work of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. This first volume of a planned trilogy documents lesser-known aspects of their early years in Liverpool and Hamburg, the role of American music in shaping their ambitions and the establishment of their early careers.