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A review by reading_and_wheeling
Barefoot in Babylon: The Creation of the Woodstock Music Festival, 1969 by Bob Spitz
4.0
Barefoot in Babylon is a concise history of how the Woodstock Music and Art Fair came to be. This being the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, it seemed like the perfect time to give this one a go.
The book is thoroughly researched and packed with a lot of details of what went on behind the scenes. It's written in a way that keeps the readers attention and makes you feel like you are in the room with John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Michael Lang, and Artie Kornfeld on February 6, 1969 when the idea is pitched by Lang and Kornfeld to Roberts and Rosenman, and you're with them every step of the way until the festival closes. You are taken on the rollercoaster ride of the planning, negotiations with various entities, setbacks, and victories that Woodstock Ventures endured to put on the now iconic festival and at the festival itself listening to the music and experiencing the atmosphere.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of this period of time or lived it, is a fan of the music, or wants to learn more about Woodstock itself and all that went in to putting it together. I found it to be completely fascinating. I was amazed by all the things these four went through in putting Woodstock together and seeing it through to the end. The author does an excellent job of giving you a lot of information, but in a way that doesn't overwhelm the reader.
My appreciation to NetGalley, Bob Spitz, and Penguin Group Dutton for gifting me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The book is thoroughly researched and packed with a lot of details of what went on behind the scenes. It's written in a way that keeps the readers attention and makes you feel like you are in the room with John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Michael Lang, and Artie Kornfeld on February 6, 1969 when the idea is pitched by Lang and Kornfeld to Roberts and Rosenman, and you're with them every step of the way until the festival closes. You are taken on the rollercoaster ride of the planning, negotiations with various entities, setbacks, and victories that Woodstock Ventures endured to put on the now iconic festival and at the festival itself listening to the music and experiencing the atmosphere.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of this period of time or lived it, is a fan of the music, or wants to learn more about Woodstock itself and all that went in to putting it together. I found it to be completely fascinating. I was amazed by all the things these four went through in putting Woodstock together and seeing it through to the end. The author does an excellent job of giving you a lot of information, but in a way that doesn't overwhelm the reader.
My appreciation to NetGalley, Bob Spitz, and Penguin Group Dutton for gifting me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.