Joan Baez

Elizabeth Thomson has interviewed Joan Baez numerous times over the course of forty years and was present at the recording of Ring Them Bells. A contributor to The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, she is also the revising editor of Robert Shelton's classic biography, Bob Dylan: No Direction Home, has been a Visiting Fellow of the Open University Sixties Research Group, and is the author of several books. She is the founder and Executive Producer of The Village Trip, a festival celebrating the history and culture of Greenwich Village, New York City.

"I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that this is a book destined to become the definitive word on the life and times of Joan Baez; put it on your list of this year's essential reads. What we get with this book is something more than a standard biographical approach to documenting an artist's career. All the career information you might want is there, along with a comprehensive discography, filmography and bibliography, but Thomson's book is more insightful than just providing simple biographical data. This book offers us an opportunity to discover the person behind the legend...[Thomson] has interviewed Joan Baez herself a number of times over a forty-year period and also draws on a variety of other interviews with long-time associates and friends, both from the world of music and from wider afield...The illustrations and photos embellish the book beautifully and it is a triumph."