cover image Long Time Gone

Long Time Gone

David Crosby, Carl Gottlieb. Doubleday Books, $18.95 (489pp) ISBN 978-0-385-24530-2

Crosby, founder of the 1960s rock group the Byrds and, later, leader of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, tells in excruciating detail the story of his rise to fame and subsequent depraved life as a slave to drugs. His fast-paced narrative is punctuated by the explanatory text of his long-time friend, screen writer, director and actor, Carl Gottlieb, as well as by the recollections of other friends, lovers and associates. In a milieu dominated by rock'n'roll, sex and drugs, Crosby descended to a hell of addiction that ended only after his arrest on gun and narcotics charges and forced detoxification in a Texas jail. Now drug-free for over two years, Crosby is able to write candidly about his 14 years of addiction, seemingly sparing us none of the horrors. It is a harrowing tale. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)