I Don’t Want to Go Home: The Oral History of the Stone Pony

New York Times reporter Corasaniti debuts with an immersive chronicle of the music venue in Asbury Park, N.J., where Bruce Springsteen got his start. Beginning the account with the Stone Pony’s 1974 opening, Corasaniti pulls from hundreds of interviews with a diverse cast of characters, among them the bar’s original owner, Jack Roig; manager Butch Pielka; and Springsteen himself. The interviews touch on Roig’s impromptu decision to open the Stone Pony in the wake of the 1970s Asbury Park race riots, the venue’s shift from disco to rock and roll soon after it opened, Bruce Springsteen’s frequent shows there with the E Street Band in the ’70s, the venue’s 1991 closure as the local economy nose-dived and its reopening six months later, and the renaissance of Asbury Park in the past 15 years. Seamlessly stitching the interviews together, Corasaniti vividly portrays the “The House That Springsteen Built” as a microcosm of the changes occurring across blue-collar America over the past half century. Springsteen devotees and fans of ’70s and ’80s rock will be captivated. (June)