Long Walk Home

Reflections on Bruce Springsteen

Edited by Jonathan D. Cohen and June Skinner Sawyers

Rutgers University Press

Bruce Springsteen might be the quintessential American rock musician but his songs have resonated with fans from all walks of life and from all over the world. This unique collection features reflections from a diverse array of writers who explain what Springsteen means to them and describe how they have been moved, shaped, and challenged by his music.

Contributors to Long Walk Home include novelists like Richard Russo, rock critics like Greil Marcus and Gillian Gaar, and other noted Springsteen scholars and fans such as A. O. Scott, Peter Ames Carlin, and Paul Muldoon. They reveal how Springsteen’s albums served as the soundtrack to their lives while also exploring the meaning of his music and the lessons it offers its listeners. The stories in this collection range from the tale of how “Growin’ Up” helped a lonely Indian girl adjust to life in the American South to the saga of a group of young Australians who turned to Born to Run to cope with their country’s 1975 constitutional crisis. These essays examine the big questions at the heart of Springsteen’s music, demonstrating the ways his songs have resonated for millions of listeners for nearly five decades.

Commemorating the Boss’s seventieth birthday, Long Walk Home explores Springsteen’s legacy and provides a stirring set of testimonials that illustrate why his music matters.

Long Walk Home: Reflections on Bruce Springsteen at 70 offers a comprehensive, timely overview of Springsteen’s life and work. The eminently qualified essayists in Sawyers and Cohen’s anthology astutely address Springsteen’s achievement in terms of the artist’s evolving legacy, with a valuable accent upon exploring his lasting contributions to twentieth- and twenty-first- century popular music and culture. Kenneth Womack, author of Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles

Rutgers Univ. Press to celebrate Springsteen’s birthday with ‘Long Walk Home’ book,' by Jay Lustig NJ Arts

A killer collection of Boss studies and stories, as varied as Springsteen's own body of work and a fitting tribute to the man — at 70, both an American legend and an artist as vital as ever. Christopher Phillips, Editor of Backstreets.com

Taken together, the 26 essays in Long Walk Home give readers a rich understanding of why the Boss matters so profoundly to his audience; how each of us has been moved, challenged, and shaped by Springsteen's music. Roxanne Harde, co-editor of Walking the Line: Country Music Lyricists and American Culture

Long Walk Home: Reflections on Bruce Springsteen did something I wouldn’t have thought possible: it deepened my appreciation for the artist by broadening my understanding of his relevance and influence. I’d long known that Bruce had wide, diverse, international appeal. Now I have a better understanding of why. Highly recommended. E Street Shuffle

Rutgers Professor Reflects on Springsteen's Legacy ahead of ''The Boss's'' 70th Birthday,' by Cynthia Medina
https://news.rutgers.edu/qa/rutgers-professor-reflects-springsteens-legacy-ahead-bosss-70th-birthday/20190730#.XVavqehKiUm Rutgers Today

Springsteen at 70: Remembering When The Boss Rocked New Brunswick' by TAP into New Brunswick
https://www.tapinto.net/towns/east-brunswick/articles/springsteen-at-70-remembering-when-the-boss-rocked-new-brunswick-8 TAP into New Brunswick

In a collection as carefully compiled as a Springsteen album, Cohen and Booklist contributor Sawyers celebrate the Boss at 70....For more than four decades, Springsteen’s music has been part of our popular music and culture and will continue to be, long after his final album is released. As this compilation illustrates, his 'Glory Days' are far from over. Booklist

Celebrating Bruce at 70,' by Tammy La Gorce New Jersey Monthly

Dermot Bolger: 'As Bruce turns 70, I thank him for giving voice to my world,'' excerpt from Long Walk Home
https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/dermot-bolger-as-bruce-turns-70-i-thank-him-for-giving-voice-to-my-world-38496573.html Irish Independent

Springsteen at Seventy,' by Wesley Stace
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/09/21/springsteen-at-seventy/ New York Review of Books

The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen And The Wide Divide,' excerpted from A.O. Scott's piece in Long Walk Home
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/23/762803629/the-ties-that-bind-bruce-springsteen-and-the-wide-divide NPR Books

Why Bruce Springsteen is the soundtrack of the 2020 primary,' by Jonathan D. Cohen
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/09/23/why-bruce-springsteen-is-soundtrack-primary/ Washington Post

Rutgers Professor Reflects on Springsteen's Legacy for ''The Boss's' 70th Birthday,' by Cynthia Medina
https://news.rutgers.edu/qa/rutgers-professor-reflects-springsteens-legacy-ahead-bosss-70th-birthday/20190730?utm_source=newsletterutm_medium=emailutm_campaign=rutgerstoday#.XYmJOOdKjq0 Rutgers Today

Relatable passages and...excellent writing. Newark Star-Ledger

Bruce Springsteen Is Jew-ish: He may be Catholic, but to many fans—including this one—his lyrics speak to a different creed,' by Eric Alterman
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/bruce-springsteen-almost-jewish/599146/ The Atlantic

Growing Up With Bruce Springsteen: I wouldn’t be the man I am without him,' by Eric Alterman
http://www.publicseminar.org/essays/growing-up-with-bruce-springsteen/ Public Seminar

That’s the greatest joy of Long Walk Home—the little details from fan’s lives, intersecting with moments of historical and artistic significance. Third Coast Review

Contributor Lou Maser interview on 'One-on-One with Steve Adubato'
http://steveadubato.org/bruce-springsteen-s-impact-on-music-history.html One-on-One with Steve Adubato

The book nods to Springsteen’s international, intercultural popularity and success....The most thought-provoking essays in Long Walk Home are by writers who are not from the stereotypical Springsteen fan base. Times Literary Supplement

E Street Radio' SiriusXM interview with contributors Daniel Wolff Lauren Onkey E Street Radio - SiriusXM

The expanding field of Springsteen Studies is fascinating, and includes stellar volumes written by many of the contributors to this collection. Kudos to co-editors Jonathan D. Cohen (managing editor of ‘'BOSS: The Biannual Online-Journal of Springsteen Studies') and June Skinner Sawyers (editor of ‘Racing in the Streets: The Bruce Springsteen Reader’) for giving Springsteen fans an extraordinary new addition to that canon. Long Walk Home is worthy of its subject and a timely reminder of Springsteen’s promise in the 1999 anthem 'Land of Hope and Dreams' that 'dreams will not be thwarted/ faith will be rewarded.' Charleston Post & Courier

Local Leaders Never Stop Reading' by Amanda Capps
http://www.greenvillebusinessmag.com/2020/03/05/299879/local-leaders-never-stop-reading Greenville Business Magazine

Long Walk Home endeavors to examine the impact the art and the artist have had on individual people around the world. The book fulfills this mission admirably. Individual contributions are of uniformly high quality. The collection as a whole is an engaging read that will interest scholars and fans alike. Prudence Jones, BOSS: The Biannual Online-Journal of Springsteen Studies

JONATHAN D. COHEN received his PhD in history from the University of Virginia. He is the managing editor of BOSS: The Biannual Online-Journal of Springsteen Studies and the coeditor of All In: The Spread of Gambling in Twentieth-Century United States (2018).

JUNE SKINNER SAWYERS has published extensively on Bruce Springsteen, including Racing in the Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader (2004) and Workingman: The Faith-Based Politics ofBruce Springsteen (2014). Born in Glasgow, she currently teaches humanities courses at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

Introduction: Why Springsteen?
           Jonathan D. Cohen and June Skinner Sawyers

Part I   Springsteen Stories
1          Growing Up with Bruce Springsteen
Eric Alterman

2          How Bruce Springsteen Made a Middle-Aged Woman Believe in the Magic of Rock and Roll
Nancy S. Bishop

3          From the Backstreets to the Badlands: My Springsteen Journey
            Deepa Iyer

4          The Ripple Effect
            Frank Stefanko

Part II Springsteen, Politics, and American Society
5          The Role of the Popular Artist in a Democratic Society
Jefferson Cowie and Joel Dinerstein

6          Starting a Fire: Bruce Springsteen’s Political Journey from “Born in the U.S.A.” to “American Skin (41 Shots)”
Gillian G. Gaar

7          Springsteen’s American Dream
Louis P. Masur

8 At the River
Paul Muldoon

9          The Ties That Bind
A. O. Scott

Part III Springsteen Live
10        Live at the Roxy
Greil Marcus

11        The Magic Circle
Wesley Stace

12        Twist and Shout
David L. Ulin

Part IV Springsteen the Artist
13        Brilliant Disguise: The Completely True Fictional Adventures of Bruce Springsteen
Peter Ames Carlin

14        Interview with Martyn Joseph by Irwin H. Streight

15        This Train: Bruce Springsteen as Public Artist
Colleen J. Sheehy

16        Born to Write: Bruce Springsteen, Flannery O’Connor, and the Songstory
Irwin H. Streight

17        Ten Great Springsteen Moments (and Five Iconic Concerts)
Kenneth Womack

Part V Springsteen, Sex, Race, and Gender
18        Our Butch Mother, Bruce Springsteen
Natalie Adler

19        Springsteen’s Women: Tougher Than the Rest
Gina Barreca

20        Shackled and Drawn
Lauren Onkey

21        American Skin: Springsteen and Blackness
Elijah Wald

Part VI Springsteen and Aging
22        Summer’s Fall: Springsteen in Senescence
Jim Cullen

23        Work and Play: Mid-Life Music
Daniel Wolff

Part VII           Springsteen beyond Borders
24        Bruce Springsteen’s River in Dublin
Dermot Bolger

25        The Boss in Bulgaria
Richard Russo

26        We Take Care of Our Own
Wayne Swan

Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Index

Related Titles