Customer Reviews

An Ideal for Living: An History of Joy Division

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This book is of its time, and as such, it is an excellent read, with superb b & w pictures. New Order were still a very new band, yet Joy Division were already a legendary band when this book was written. My favorite parts of the book are the essays that are about Joy Division directly and/or allude to the band. I believe "An Ideal For Living" is the best book on Joy Division. It was the first JD book I ever bought, and it still holds up well. The choice of photos and the layout of the book really suit Joy Division/early New Order's visual ethic, as well.
It gets to the point: the music, artwork,and gigs, while leaving out most of the sensationalism which still surrounds Ian Curtis' suicide. However, the book does somehow capture the mystery and tragedy of Ian Curtis.

It describes incredibly detailed the birth and the growing up of this great band, a few years almost day-by-day (not to mention the very nice pitures).

This is an amazing book, an incredible compilation of small facts, written and put together as a diary, almost day by day, while those kids were having their - day in day out - time of their lives. It is a book for those who love Joy Division and wish to get closer to the atmosphere they breathed, through a very detailed text. Sometimes, it seems like a live transmission from the past.