The Grateful Dead Reader

"What a Long, Strange Trip It Was: a comprehensive, thoughtful anthology depicting the phenomena and foibles encompassing the 30-odd year `unending tour' of the Grateful Dead...A satisfying and thought-provoking compendium of countercultural commentary."--Kirkus Reviews "This anthology of interviews, profiles, lyrical analyses, concert reviews and essays, which examine the Grateful Dead as a cultural phenomenon, were chosen, says editor Diana Spaulding, 'for their ability to capture, to evoke and sometimes even to explain something about the unexplainable phenomenon of the Grateful Dead.' Pieces range from Richard Meltzer's free-for-all rave review of Terrapin Station to Robert Hunter's touching elegy/poem for Garcia written shortly after the latter's death."--Relix "This compilation of interviews, reviews, book excerpts, and letters presents a remarkably full-bodied profile of The Dead, including a 1967 interview with twenty-four-year-old Jerry Garcia, a 1975 letter from Dead lyricist Robert Hunter on the meaning of the band, and a 1995 eulogy for Garcia published in The New Yorker a week after the frontman's death."--American Way "This is a fine and loving collection of the best that has been written about one of the best bands the Bay Area produced."--San Jose Mercury News "What a Long, Strange Trip It Was: a comprehensive, thoughtful anthology depicting the phenomena and foibles encompassing the 30-odd year `unending tour' of the Grateful Dead...A satisfying and thought-provoking compendium of countercultural commentary."--Kirkus Reviews "An engaging, thoughtfully selected collection of the best writing about the Grateful Dead's remarkable journey, by some of its savviest critics--Ralph Gleason, Richard Melzer, Robert Christgau, Blair Jackson, Steve Silberman--as well as 'insiders' like Robert Hunter, Dennis McNally, David Gans, and Alan Trist. A must-read for anyone interested in the Grateful Dead, '60s counter-culture, or the achievements of American popular music."-- Fredric Lieberman, Professor of Music, U.C. Santa Cruz "At last a literary road map for the long strange tripster in us all."--Wavy Gravy "Grateful Dead literature is approaching Beatles-lit in volume, and this gathering about the band and its fans attests to how vast and dedicated the nation of the Deadheads is.... A must for Dead-heavy collections, the book is also a nice addition to any popular culture collection."--Booklist