Lennon: the Man, the Myth, the Music%E2%80%94the Definitive Life

Is there room for another big biography of John Lennon, just a few years from Philip Norman's doorstopper, and four years from Bob Spitz's epic history of the Beatles? Journalist and NPR media critic Tim Riley (the author of previous books on the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Madonna) proves there is with this insightful, page-turning examination of Lennon's roots, his Beatle fame, his art, his manic personality and relationship with Yoko Ono, and the peace he finally seemed to find, only to have his life cut tragically short by a crazed gunman. By now, the broad strokes of Lennon's life have been largely sketched, and Riley doesn't veer far from that script%E2%80%94a volatile early childhood; the groundbreaking success of the Beatles; the crumbling of the group as personal ties frayed, business soured, and artistic paths diverged; and Lennon's erratic, activist post-Beatle life with Yoko Ono in America before he settled down to be the father he never had to son Sean. Riley makes his mark in the details. With an impressive array of sources, he soberly explores Lennon's many contradictions, ably separating myth from reality. The result is a book that at once enriches our appreciation of Lennon's larger-than-life genius and his mortality. (Sept.)