The Man Who Sold the World
Peter Doggett
The Man Who Sold the World
No artist offered a more incisive and accurate portrait of the troubled landscape of the 1970s than David Bowie. Through his multi-faceted and inventive work, he encapsulated many of the social, political and cultural themes that ran through this most fascinating of decades, from the elusive promise of scientific progress to the persistent fear of apocalypse that stalked the globe. In The Man Who Sold The World: David Bowie and the 1970s, cultural historian Peter Doggett explores the rich heritage of the artist's most productive and inspired decade, and traces the way in which his music reflected and influenced the world around him.
3.7 out of 5 based on 3 reviews
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Omniscore:
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| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Biography, Music, Stage & Screen |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
432 |
| RRP |
£20.00 |
| Date of Publication |
September 2011 |
| ISBN |
978-1847921444 |
| Publisher |
Bodley Head |
| |
No artist offered a more incisive and accurate portrait of the troubled landscape of the 1970s than David Bowie. Through his multi-faceted and inventive work, he encapsulated many of the social, political and cultural themes that ran through this most fascinating of decades, from the elusive promise of scientific progress to the persistent fear of apocalypse that stalked the globe. In The Man Who Sold The World: David Bowie and the 1970s, cultural historian Peter Doggett explores the rich heritage of the artist's most productive and inspired decade, and traces the way in which his music reflected and influenced the world around him.
Reviews
The Sunday Times
Rob Fitzpatrick
"… an astonishing and absorbing work that expertly unpicks this explosively creative time in Bowie’s life … Ultimately, Doggett’s insight and enthusiasm should send you back to the music. If you do so, the book will ensure you experience something entirely new. Just reading about the “fleet-footed, sneeringly confident” Sweet Head (1971) or even the wrongly transcribed Swahili lyrics of 1978’s African Night Flight had me eager to re-engage with the songs."
09/10/2011
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The Financial Times
Peter Aspden
"Intelligent and readable … the difference between Bowie’s self-manufacturing and that of The X Factor generation, says Doggett, is that Bowie used artifice and irony as weapons in his exploration of deeper social and political issues."
14/10/2011
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The New Statesman
Toby Litt
"To work properly, it must be placed beside the title of the book to which it is an explicit sequel, Ian MacDonald's Revolution in the Head: the Beatles's Records and the Sixties … Although Doggett tries, he can't quite manage to do the same for the coked-up Seventies. His cultural history is less nuanced than MacDonald's, and it seems that he finds very little in the decade worth the redemption of clarity."
10/10/2011
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