It Ain't No Sin to Be Glad You're Alive : The Promise of Bruce Springsteen: Alterman, Eric: 9780316038850: Amazon.com: Books

Buy new:

$38.90

+ No Import Fees Deposit & $8.64 Shipping to Netherlands Details

Arrives: Friday, Sep 24

Deliver to Netherlands

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

Secure transaction

Sold by ATY LLC and Fulfilled by Amazon.

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Share <Embed>

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

Follow the Author

It Ain't No Sin to Be Glad You're Alive : The Promise of Bruce Springsteen Hardcover – October 1, 1999

by Eric Alterman (Author)

38 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

—

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$38.90

$27.03

$0.56

"Please retry"

$15.80

$3.49

Enhance your purchase

Print length

282 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Little Brown & Co
Publication date

October 1, 1999
Dimensions

5.5 x 1.25 x 7.75 inches
ISBN-10

0316038857
ISBN-13

978-0316038850
See all details

Special offers and product promotions

Amazon Business: Make the most of your Amazon Business account with exclusive tools and savings. Login now

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little Brown & Co; 1st edition (October 1, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 282 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316038857
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316038850
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.5 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.25 x 7.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,580,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,479 in Pop Artist Biographies
- #4,841 in Popular Music (Books)
- #7,026 in Rock Band Biographies

Customer Reviews:
38 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Customer reviews

5 star		66%
4 star		10%
3 star		11%
2 star		4%
1 star		11%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Until the tour starts up again, this will have to do.

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 1999

Verified Purchase

The perfect balance of scholarship and heart, this book looks at Bruce Springsteen's music in the context of life at the end of the 20th century. The author makes no secret of being a fan--a long term, dedicated, would do almost anything to see him type of fan. But this is not a fawning, hero worshipping treatise. Bruce, the fallible human being, the two legged mortal, just like the rest of us, is examined here. Happily, the book is about the music, and deals with the personal aspects of his life only when commenting on how they influence his song writing and performance. Anyone in search of salacious celebrity gossip should look elsewhere. But if the soundtrack of your life begins with Greetings From Asbury Park and ends with 18 Tracks (and the wait for the next release), you will read things that make you laugh, reflect, appreciate, and be glad that you--and Bruce--are alive.

3 people found this helpful

A good introduction

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2005

Verified Purchase

This book serves as a good introduction to learning about Bruce Springsteen and his music, his band, and career. But it is by no means a great literary masterpiece. In fact, it is not literary, at all. What it is is a good way to learn about Bruce. However, I have found the best way to learn about Bruce is to listen to his interviews, watch his concerts, listen to his albums, read articles in unbiased magazines, and read his lyrics. Bruce is not an intellectual on par with some of the great minds of today, whoever they are, but he does have something to say and he tends to do it well. His meat and potatoes are in his live performances. That is where you'll find the real Bruce Springsteen. When on stage and behind a telecaster, he is simply unbeatable, even at age 54.

Alterman does a good job of laying the basics down. That is about it. One has to be care when reading about Springsteen because people either love him or they don't get it and then they try to tear him down. Most people who don't like Bruce and write about him are simply too negative and their lack of understanding what he is all about becomes evident. Also, writers who knock Springsteen usually have an axe to grind about some other issue, such as Springsteen replacing Dylan or some other crap that doesn't matter. Saying things like "fans ought to get a life," is a good example of that. People who really like Bruce, like Alterman, tend to soft pedal the questionable aspects of his career, and their worship of him comes through like glossy paint.

I'm still waiting for the definitive biography of Bruce Springsteen, this is not it.

One person found this helpful

Perfectly Captures the Fan Experience

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2009

Verified Purchase

I picked up this book when I first discovered the music of Bruce Springsteen. I was immediately taken by the way Alterman described his own experience as a fan. Everything that I was feeling and lacked the language for was perfectly described: all of the admiration, all the of the love and all of the indescribable feelings that I had were perfectly explained and outlined within this book. He very eloquently explains why Springsteen's music resonated and still resonates with so many of us. He analyses songs and without sounding too trite or pretentious, explains why the songs and their lyrics affect us the way that they do.

In addition, as a fan I was able to learn a lot about the man that I had recently come to admire as an artist. I learned about his upbringing, influences, recording process and began to piece together the man that I come to know as a very important figure in rock culture and in my own life. In coupling a biography with his own personal stories Alterman helps to tell the story of Springsteen while also shedding light on what the life of a fan is and the effect that he has on so many people in America and across the world. Sure sometimes it might sound like he's gushing but if you're a Springsteen fan you feel like he's right there with you.

2 people found this helpful

Torn Cover not in description

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2020

Verified Purchase

Book was described as being used in good shape with no tears. The cover is torn.

For family of fans

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2000

Verified Purchase

Notwithstanding a few glaring factual errors, Alterman accomplishes what no other writer has: he explains the rational (in the view of this Bruce nut) near-religious ferver and devotion of Bruce Springsteen's core fans. I want my wife to read this book, so she might understand why I drop everything and fly around the country every few years to see a 50 years old man and his close friends sing and play for three hours a night. The stories are largely derived from Dave Marsh's hagiographies, but the book works.

8 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2012

Verified Purchase

A decent timeline of Bruce from Freehold to the reunion tour. Interesting to connect the dots to what world events were about to take place and the inspiration for The Rising and beyond. An easy read from the perspective of a long-time fan. In places the author loses eloquence for the sake of details, but those instances are limited.

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2012

Verified Purchase

This book is well researched, well written and fun to read. I learned much more about Bruce on the human vs. superstar side.

A slow starter that's really worthwhile in the end

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2002

I thought that the book took a while to get going. The first few chapters are largely just a restatement of the basic facts of the Springsteen story. These facts are well known and Altman doesn't add that much. In fact throughout the book he relies, heavily, on widely available secondry sources like Springsteen's book Songs which is a pity because Altman's own insights are always very interesting. But the book definitely does improve a lot as Altman gets into his stride. It's great strength is the way that the author, mainly in the second half or two thirds of the book, is able to make sense of Springsteen's work in a political and social context without ever being reductive or simplistic about ideas like class and manhood. In fact Altman always uses theory as an aid to see more clearer and is not, like most academic writers, blinded by theory. Altman is also really good at explaining the deep meaning that Springsteen's work has for his listeners.
The book should have been a lot longer, it always feels as if Altman is just scratching the surface. But the second half of the book does have enough of Altman's valueable insights to make it, in the end, an exciting and inspiring read.
I started off a little frustrated but ended up moved.

One person found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Lin Davies

A highly readable analysis of Bruce Springsteen's cultural significance.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

Although this has biographical content it is primarily an analysis of Bruce Springsteen's work, placing it in the wider context of American music, politics and general culture in the last three decades of the 20th century. Alterman makes no secret of the fact that he is a lifelong Springsteen fan but his assessment is fair and unbiased. He quotes widely from BS himself, from various involved personnel, and from music critics and social commentators and builds an in depth and absorbing portrait of a man whose devotion to his art and to his fans comes before all else.
He critiques all the albums up to and including 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' giving his decided opinions about which tracks he considers great and which weak, thus allowing the reader the fun of agreeing or disagreeing with him. And through all this, although a great deal has happened since this book was published, he makes a good attempt at explaining the importance of Bruce Springsteen, not only to American music but to American life as a whole - and to how America sees itself.
I also enjoyed the often amusing anecdotes relating Alterman's own experiences as a Springsteen fan who would go to almost any lengths to see his hero.
Thoroughly recommended.

Dona

Someone who gets Springsteen

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 29, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is not just a personal (warm and affectionate but in no way reverential) account of how Springsteen's work impacted on the author's life - it is also a brilliant study on the historical, social, cultural and political background to Springsteen's work. It discusses the role history and class have in Springsteen's ongoing development and the significance of his work in the wider context of contemporary America. At long last an author that understands Springsteen because he understands his politics and consequently doesn't leave anything out. You won't find the level of biographical detail you get by the biographers, but you do get deep insights and a thought-provoking, very well written argument on why exactly Springsteen is so special. If you've never read much about Springsteen, start from this book. If you are a fan, read it - it's a good span above most other books.

2 people found this helpful

Jan Atle Steinsland

Item received as expected. All ok.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

Item received as expected. All ok.

Noel Carroll

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2016

Verified Purchase

Excellent book and great service.

as97hkg@brunel.ac.uk

Makes you believe promise of Bruce Springsteen.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 17, 1999

Verified Purchase

This is a book truly written by a Bruce Springsteen fan. If you are a fan yourself, you will find yourself nodding along in agreement, as you read most points in Alterman's book. It does not canonize Springsteen or have huge paragraphs on his personal life, it is more of a close, personal study of his music - which is what the real fans exalt, not the man himself. It is not as piercing or as exploratory as say, Jim Cullen's "Born In The USA" study but it is not meant to be. It is virtually, a fan sharing the impact of Springsteen's music on his life, and it is something every other true fan can relate to. Non-believers may not enjoy it on such a level, but they should find it is an interesting and somewhat inspiring account of the promise of Bruce Springsteen's music.

20 people found this helpful

See all reviews

Get to Know Us

Make Money with Us

Amazon Payment Products

Let Us Help You

English $USD - U.S. Dollar United States

© 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates