Bob Dylan in the Attic
The Artist As Historian

Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez (Author)

9781625346810

Paperback / softback, published 16 December 2022

192 pages
22.6 x 15.1 x 1.6 cm, 0.363 kg

Bob Dylan is an iconic American artist, whose music and performances have long reflected different musical genres and time periods. His songs tell tales of the Civil War, harken back to 1930s labor struggles, and address racial violence at the height of the civil rights movement, helping listeners to think about history, and history making, in new ways. While Dylan was warned by his early mentor, Dave Van Ronk, that, "You're just going to be a history book writer if you do those things. An anachronism," the musician has continued to traffic in history and engage with a range of source material—ancient and modern—over the course of his career.

In this beautifully crafted book, Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez makes a provocative case for Dylan as a historian, offering a deep consideration of the musician's historical influences and practices. Drawing on interviews, speeches, and the close analysis of lyrics and live performances, Bob Dylan in the Attic is the first book to consider Dylan's work from the point of view of historiography.