Rose & The Briar Death, Love And Liberty in the American Ballad

A devastatingly original work that plunges into the emotional heart of the American psyche. Praised by Robbie Robertson of The Band as "a classic--a ticket to ride," "The Rose & the Briar" assembles an astonishing group of writers and artists--Paul Muldoon, Stanley Crouch, R. Crumb, Jon Langford of the Mekons, Sharyn McCrumb, Luc Sante, Joyce Carol Oates, Dave Marsh, and more than a dozen other novelists, essayists, performers, and critics--to explore the ineffable power of the American ballad. From "Barbara Allen" through "The Wreck of the Old 97" to contemporary ballads by Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, "The Rose & the Briar" is, as Geoffrey O'Brien hailed in the "Los Angeles Times Book Review," "a book full of internal echoes and provocative coincidences," featuring "historical investigation, shamanistic trance-journey, memoir, novella and cartoon," where "names and costumes change, soldiers become cowboys, demon lovers become backwoods murderers...the voices are unmistakably distinct but they share a common ground." 25 illustrations.Marcus, Greil is the author of 'Rose & The Briar Death, Love And Liberty in the American Ballad', published 2005 under ISBN 9780393328257 and ISBN 0393328252.