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A review by jjupille
No Simple Highway: A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead by Peter Richardson
5.0
I will eventually write a longer review of this, but I really enjoyed it. I have read most of the Grateful Dead books, so I can't say I learned a tremendous amount of new material about the GD itself, though there were a few nuggets from Richardson's work in the Grateful Dead Archives that were new to me. He also does a great job of exploiting materials from the canon that I had forgotten about.
Beyond the GD, I learned a bunch about the surrounding context, especially the SF avant-garde/&c. scene in the 1950s-1960s. This is excellent cultural history.
Richardson writes wonderfully - I am indeed quite jealous of his considerable talent in this regard. He weaves in amazing amounts of material, is super smart and creative and engaging, finds all kinds of interesting balance and contrast in things that have long been familiar to me, either quite precisely or rather vaguely, and has generally just put together a mighty fine read.
Oh yeah, I loved his referencing style.
Overall, a very fine piece of work, a great addition to your library and well worth your time to read.
Beyond the GD, I learned a bunch about the surrounding context, especially the SF avant-garde/&c. scene in the 1950s-1960s. This is excellent cultural history.
Richardson writes wonderfully - I am indeed quite jealous of his considerable talent in this regard. He weaves in amazing amounts of material, is super smart and creative and engaging, finds all kinds of interesting balance and contrast in things that have long been familiar to me, either quite precisely or rather vaguely, and has generally just put together a mighty fine read.
Oh yeah, I loved his referencing style.
Overall, a very fine piece of work, a great addition to your library and well worth your time to read.