Bob Spitz – författare

A GROUNDBREAKING RECKONING WITH THE WORLD'S GREATEST ROCK 'N' ROLL BAND FROM THE AWARD-WINNING, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF CLASSIC HISTORIES OF THE BEATLES AND LED ZEPPELIN.AN OBSERVER BEST BIOGRAPHY OF 2026A NEW YORK TIMES MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026'Epic' THE TIMES'Electrifying' OBSERVER'The definitive (and debauched) history of the band' TELEGRAPH‘Colourful and authoritative … both forensic and poetic' NEW YORK TIMES‘Magisterial... For anyone who loves or even likes the Stones, it’s indispensable’ LOS ANGELES TIMES ‘You won’t look at the Stones the same way again' WALL STREET JOURNAL‘A treasure trove for Stones fans’ KIRKUS (starred review)‘Terrific . . . A work of music history to savor’ BOOKLISTLADIES AND GENTLEMEN … THE ROLLING STONESWhat left is there to say about the Stones?A hell of a lot, it turns out . . .You think you know the story? Think again. Shorn of dulling layers of myth and received wisdom, an irresistible, clear-eyed portrait emerges of a band who, after sixty years, continue to break new ground and command our attention.And at the heart of it all is the remarkable, unique, fractious, codependent, alchemical bond between Mick and Keith, the Glimmer Twins. There’s been debauchery, decadence and death along the way. Not everyone survived the journey, but the band was always greater than the sum of its parts, laying down a trail of classic albums and landmark live performances in its wake.Drawing on decades of music industry experience and five years of dedicated research, critically acclaimed biographer Bob Spitz brings a fresh eye to the epic story of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world.In 2026 they remain in a league of their own. The Rolling Stones shows why.‘Colourful and authoritative … fond, voluble and diligent to a fault … Spitz is both forensic and poetic … celebratory and bittersweet’NEW YORK TIMES‘A magisterial work … he excels at presenting the Stones in glorious technicolour. . . Hundreds of books have been written about the Rolling Stones, but few sparkle quite like Spitz’s. For anyone who loves or even likes the Stones, it’s indispensable’LOS ANGELES TIMES ‘You won’t look at the Stones the same way again”WALL STREET JOURNAL‘A terrific biography . . . A must for every fan of the Stones and rock and roll, a work of music history to savor’BOOKLISTPRAISE FOR BOB SPITZ‘A treasure trove for Stones fans’ Kirkus‘Riveting ... startlingly well-reported and consistently engaging’ Boston Globe‘Irresistible … a captivating picture that hasn't been seen before’ New York Times‘Spitz researches like a historian and writes like a novelist’ Christian Science Monitor‘No other book captures it so well, understands so well...’ Greil Marcus‘Spitz delivers inside details and analysis with his well-known gift for storytelling’ People‘No biographer has dug as deeply or with such verve. . . Energetic and engaging’ Washington Post

“In this authoritative, unsparing history of the biggest rock group of the 1970s, Spitz delivers inside details and analysis with his well-known gift for storytelling.” —PEOPLEFrom the author of the iconic, bestselling history of The Beatles, the definitive account of arguably the greatest rock band of all time.Rock star. Whatever that term means to you, chances are it owes a debt to Led Zeppelin. No one before or since has lived the dream quite like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. In Led Zeppelin, Bob Spitz takes their full measure, separating myth from reality with his trademark connoisseurship and storytelling flair.From the opening notes of their first album, the band announced itself as something different, a collision of grand artistic ambition and brute primal force, of English folk music and African American blues. Spitz’s account of their artistic journey, amid the fascinating ecosystem of popular music, is irresistible. But the music is only part of the legend: Led Zeppelin is also the story of how the sixties became the seventies, of how innocence became decadence, of how rock took over. Led Zeppelin wasn’t the first band to let loose on the road, but as with everything else, they took it to an entirely new level. Not all the legends are true, but in Spitz’s careful accounting, what is true is astonishing and sometimes disturbing.Led Zeppelin gave no quarter, and neither has Bob Spitz. Led Zeppelin is the long-awaited full reckoning the band richly deserves.

From New York Times bestselling biographer Bob Spitz, a full and rich biography of an epic American life, capturing what made Ronald Reagan both so beloved and so transformational.More than five years in the making, based on hundreds of interviews and access to previously unavailable documents, and infused with irresistible storytelling charm, Bob Spitz's REAGAN stands fair to be the first truly post-partisan biography of our 40th President, and thus a balm for our own bitterly divided times.It is the quintessential American triumph, brought to life with cinematic vividness: a young man is born into poverty and raised in a series of flyspeck towns in the Midwest by a pious mother and a reckless, alcoholic, largely absent father. Severely near-sighted, the boy lives in his own world, a world of the popular books of the day, and finds his first brush with popularity, even fame, as a young lifeguard. Thanks to his first great love, he imagines a way out, and makes the extraordinary leap to go to college, a modest school by national standards, but an audacious presumption in the context of his family's station. From there, the path is only very dimly lit, but it leads him, thanks to his great charm and greater luck, to a solid career as a radio sportscaster, and then, astonishingly, fatefully, to Hollywood. And the rest, as they say, is history.Bob Spitz's REAGAN is an absorbing, richly detailed, even revelatory chronicle of the full arc of Ronald Reagan's epic life - giving full weight to the Hollywood years, his transition to politics and rocky but ultimately successful run as California governor, and ultimately, of course, his iconic presidency, filled with storm and stress but climaxing with his peace talks with the Soviet Union that would serve as his greatest legacy. It is filled with fresh assessments and shrewd judgments, and doesn't flinch from a full reckoning with the man's strengths and limitations. This is no hagiography: Reagan was never a brilliant student, of anything, and his disinterest in hard-nosed political scheming, while admirable, meant that this side of things was left to the other people in his orbit, not least his wife Nancy; sometimes this delegation could lead to chaos, and worse. But what emerges as a powerful signal through all the noise is an honest inherent sweetness, a gentleness of nature and willingness to see the good in people and in this country, that proved to be a tonic for America in his time, and still is in ours. It was famously said that FDR had a first-rate disposition and a second-rate intellect. Perhaps it is no accident that only FDR had as high a public approval rating leaving office as Reagan did, or that in the years since Reagan has been closing in on FDR on rankings of Presidential greatness. Written with love and irony, which in a great biography is arguably the same thing, Bob Spitz's masterpiece will give no comfort to partisans at either extreme; for the rest of us, it is cause for celebration.

It’s rare for someone to emerge in America who can change our attitudes, our beliefs, and our very culture. It’s even rarer when that someone is a middle-aged, six-foot three-inch woman whose first exposure to an unsuspecting public is cooking an omelet on a hot plate on a local TV station.  And yet, that’s exactly what Julia Child did.  The warble-voiced doyenne of television cookery became an iconic cult figure and joyous rule-breaker as she touched off the food revolution that has gripped America for more than fifty years. Now, in Bob Spitz’s definitive, wonderfully affectionate biography, the Julia we know and love comes vividly — and surprisingly — to life.  In Dearie, Spitz employs the same skill he brought to his best-selling, critically acclaimed book The Beatles, providing a clear-eyed portrait of one of the most fascinating and influential Americans of our time — a woman known to all, yet known by only a few.At its heart, Dearie is a story about a woman’s search for her own unique expression.  Julia Child was a directionless, gawky young woman who ran off halfway around the world to join a spy agency during World War II.  She eventually settled in Paris, where she learned to cook and collaborated on the writing of what would become Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a book that changed the food culture of America.   She was already fifty when The French Chef went on the air —  at a time in our history when women weren’t making those leaps.  Julia became the first educational TV star, virtually launching PBS as we know it today; her marriage to Paul Child formed a decades-long love story that was romantic, touching, and quite extraordinary. A fearless, ambitious, supremely confident woman, Julia took on all the pretensions that embellished tony French cuisine and fricasseed them to a fare-thee-well, paving the way for everything that has happened since in American cooking, from TV dinners and Big Macs to sea urchin foam and the Food Channel.  Julia Child’s story, however, is more than the tale of a talented woman and her sumptuous craft.  It is also a saga of America’s coming of age and growing sophistication, from the Depression Era to the turbulent sixties and the excesses of the eighties to the greening of the American kitchen.  Julia had an effect on and was equally affected by the baby boom, the sexual revolution, and the start of the women’s liberation movement. On the centenary of her birth, Julia finally gets the biography she richly deserves.  An in-depth, intimate narrative, full of fresh information and insights, Dearie is an entertaining, all-out adventure story of one of our most fascinating and beloved figures.From the Hardcover edition.

Bob Spitz takes his place... among the most able chroniclers of the many myths, poses and postures of the middle-class Jewish boy from Minnesota and his dogged and at times ruthless pursuit of superstardom.—Boston Herald"The great strength of this biography, apart from the massiveness of Spitz's research, is its respect for Dylan's talent, and an understanding of his social and musical talent."—London Sunday TelegraphBob Spitz is best known for Barefoot in Babylon, his eye-opening account of the Woodstock music festival. Before that, he represented Bruce Springsteen and Elton John, for which he was awarded four gold records. The author of hundreds of articles, Spitz has been published in Life, the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Mirabella, and the Washington Post. He lives in New York City with his wife and is currently at work on a novel and two books of nonfiction.

In the blink of an eye, Bob Spitz turned fifty, finished an eight-year book project and a fourteen-year marriage, had his heart stolen and broken on the rebound, and sought salvation the only way he knew how. He fled to Europe, where he hopscotched among the finest cooking schools in pursuit of his dream.Spitz hit the fabled cooking-school circuit in a series of idyllic European villages, and The Saucier's Apprentice is a chronicle of his exploits. Combining an outrageous travelogue with gastronomic lore, hands-on cooking instruction, hot-tempered chefs, local personalities, and a batch of memorable recipes, Spitz's odyssey recounts the transformation of a professional writer-and lifelong kitchen amateur-into a world-class cook.

From New York Times bestselling biographer Bob Spitz, a full and rich biography of an epic American life, capturing what made Ronald Reagan both so beloved and so transformational.More than five years in the making, based on hundreds of interviews and access to previously unavailable documents, and infused with irresistible storytelling charm, Bob Spitz''s REAGAN stands fair to be the first truly post-partisan biography of our 40th President, and thus a balm for our own bitterly divided times.It is the quintessential American triumph, brought to life with cinematic vividness: a young man is born into poverty and raised in a series of flyspeck towns in the Midwest by a pious mother and a reckless, alcoholic, largely absent father. Severely near-sighted, the boy lives in his own world, a world of the popular books of the day, and finds his first brush with popularity, even fame, as a young lifeguard. Thanks to his first great love, he imagines a way out, and makes the extraordinary leap to go to college, a modest school by national standards, but an audacious presumption in the context of his family''s station. From there, the path is only very dimly lit, but it leads him, thanks to his great charm and greater luck, to a solid career as a radio sportscaster, and then, astonishingly, fatefully, to Hollywood. And the rest, as they say, is history.Bob Spitz''s REAGAN is an absorbing, richly detailed, even revelatory chronicle of the full arc of Ronald Reagan''s epic life - giving full weight to the Hollywood years, his transition to politics and rocky but ultimately successful run as California governor, and ultimately, of course, his iconic presidency, filled with storm and stress but climaxing with his peace talks with the Soviet Union that would serve as his greatest legacy. It is filled with fresh assessments and shrewd judgments, and doesn''t flinch from a full reckoning with the man''s strengths and limitations. This is no hagiography: Reagan was never a brilliant student, of anything, and his disinterest in hard-nosed political scheming, while admirable, meant that this side of things was left to the other people in his orbit, not least his wife Nancy; sometimes this delegation could lead to chaos, and worse. But what emerges as a powerful signal through all the noise is an honest inherent sweetness, a gentleness of nature and willingness to see the good in people and in this country, that proved to be a tonic for America in his time, and still is in ours. It was famously said that FDR had a first-rate disposition and a second-rate intellect. Perhaps it is no accident that only FDR had as high a public approval rating leaving office as Reagan did, or that in the years since Reagan has been closing in on FDR on rankings of Presidential greatness. Written with love and irony, which in a great biography is arguably the same thing, Bob Spitz''s masterpiece will give no comfort to partisans at either extreme; for the rest of us, it is cause for celebration.

“Mr. Spitz feeds us every riveting detail of the chaos that underscored the festival.  It makes for some out-a-sight reading, man.”  The New York Times Book Review Celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2014, the Woodstock Music Festival defined a generation. Yet, there was much more than peace and love driving that long weekend the summer of 1969. In Barefoot in Babylon, journalist and New York Times bestselling author Bob Spitz gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Woodstock, from its inception and the incredible musicians that performed to its scandals and the darker side of the peace movement. With a new introduction, as well as maps, set lists, and a breakdown of all the personalities involved, Barefoot in Babylon is a must-read for anyone who was there—or wishes they were.

2007 Audie Award Winner for Non-Fiction, AbridgedEven before the Beatles hit the big time, a myth was created. This version of the Beatles legend smoothed the rough edges and filled in the fault lines, and for more than forty years this manicured version of the Beatles story has sustained as truth -- until now. The product of almost a decade of research, hundreds of unprecedented interviews, and the discovery of scores of never-before-revealed documents, Bob Spitz''s The Beatles is the biography fans have been waiting for. Never before has a biography of musicians been so immersive and textured. We are there in the McCartney living room when Paul and John learn to write songs together; backstage the night Ringo takes over on drums; in seedy German strip clubs where George lies about his age so the band can perform; and at the Ed Sullivan Show as America discovers the joy and the madness. From Shea to San Francisco, through the London night, on to India, through marmalade skies, across the universe-all the way to a rooftop concert and one last moment of laughter and music. It is all here, the highs and the lows, the love and the rivalry, the drugs, the tears, the thrill, the magic never again to be repeated. Bob Spitz''s masterpiece is, at long last, the biography the Beatles deserve.

A GROUNDBREAKING RECKONING WITH THE WORLD'S GREATEST ROCK 'N' ROLL BAND FROM THE AWARD-WINNING, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF CLASSIC HISTORIES OF THE BEATLES AND LED ZEPPELIN.AN OBSERVER BEST BIOGRAPHY OF 2026A NEW YORK TIMES MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026'Epic' THE TIMES'Electrifying' OBSERVER'The definitive (and debauched) history of the band' TELEGRAPH‘Colourful and authoritative … both forensic and poetic' NEW YORK TIMES‘Magisterial... For anyone who loves or even likes the Stones, it’s indispensable’ LOS ANGELES TIMES ‘You won’t look at the Stones the same way again' WALL STREET JOURNAL‘A treasure trove for Stones fans’ KIRKUS (starred review)‘Terrific . . . A work of music history to savor’ BOOKLISTLADIES AND GENTLEMEN … THE ROLLING STONESWhat left is there to say about the Stones?A hell of a lot, it turns out . . .You think you know the story? Think again. Shorn of dulling layers of myth and received wisdom, an irresistible, clear-eyed portrait emerges of a band who, after sixty years, continue to break new ground and command our attention.And at the heart of it all is the remarkable, unique, fractious, codependent, alchemical bond between Mick and Keith, the Glimmer Twins. There’s been debauchery, decadence and death along the way. Not everyone survived the journey, but the band was always greater than the sum of its parts, laying down a trail of classic albums and landmark live performances in its wake.Drawing on decades of music industry experience and five years of dedicated research, critically acclaimed biographer Bob Spitz brings a fresh eye to the epic story of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world.In 2026 they remain in a league of their own. The Rolling Stones shows why.‘Colourful and authoritative … fond, voluble and diligent to a fault … Spitz is both forensic and poetic … celebratory and bittersweet’NEW YORK TIMES‘A magisterial work … he excels at presenting the Stones in glorious technicolour. . . Hundreds of books have been written about the Rolling Stones, but few sparkle quite like Spitz’s. For anyone who loves or even likes the Stones, it’s indispensable’LOS ANGELES TIMES ‘You won’t look at the Stones the same way again”WALL STREET JOURNAL‘A terrific biography . . . A must for every fan of the Stones and rock and roll, a work of music history to savor’BOOKLISTPRAISE FOR BOB SPITZ‘A treasure trove for Stones fans’ Kirkus‘Riveting ... startlingly well-reported and consistently engaging’ Boston Globe‘Irresistible … a captivating picture that hasn't been seen before’ New York Times‘Spitz researches like a historian and writes like a novelist’ Christian Science Monitor‘No other book captures it so well, understands so well...’ Greil Marcus‘Spitz delivers inside details and analysis with his well-known gift for storytelling’ People‘No biographer has dug as deeply or with such verve. . . Energetic and engaging’ Washington Post