Working on a Dream: The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen

(Paperback)

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For almost four decades, Bruce Springsteen's music has directly inspired, influenced, and uplifted millions of devoted fans, who hold a special place in their hearts and minds for his work. Springsteen's rise to the top of American music coincided with the triumph of American conservatism, and the veneration of marketplace values above democratic principles and humanistic priorities. Springsteen has consistently summoned his creative power and artistic vision to indict these political developments and demand the cultivation of a more compassionate and progressive society. And yet his often harsh critique of the status quo and radical ideas for reform have either been ignored or misunderstood, as a result of his "All American" image and his narrative storytelling style. On nearly every major issue-poverty, racism, urban decay, war, and peace- Springsteen's music has offered a unique vision for moving forward with the agenda of creating the "country we carry in our hearts"-as he called it in an op-ed for the New York Times. Filled with provocative analysis of Springsteen's best known hits and his most obscure songs, comparisons to other important works of American culture-ranging from The Sopranos to Edward Hopper-and a wealth of information about the last fifty years of American politics, culture, and society, Working On a Dream is a powerful and engaging study of this songwriter and performer's art. David Masciotra shows how Springsteen's music darkly comments on the increased isolation of Americans, and calls for a return to community living and values, based on compassion, empathy, and tolerance. He illustrates how Springsteen has forced listeners to wrestle with the facts of rising poverty rates in the world's richest nation, of wars with questionable justification, and of the continued mistreatment of racial minorities, arguing that Springsteen does this by emphasizing the suffering that everyday people - usually ignored in mainline political discussions - endure on a daily basis. By using Springsteen's life and music to shine a light on the dark recesses of America's most important political and social trials and conflicts- race, religion, and working class hardship-Working on a Dream connects readers with the power, purpose, and promise of Springsteen's extraordinary and enduring music.

Reviews

Masciotra's readings are insightful, even brilliant at times. ...Masciotra argues in Working on a Dream, by way of painstaking dissections of Springsteen's lyrics, his stories are in the deepest sense about a nation that systematically subverts itself: undermines its communities, isolates citizens from one another, exercises its power recklessly, and destroys the sense of solidarity that is so crucial to a healthy society. * In These Times *
Make no mistake about it, Masciotra is a complete Springsteen devotee, but even if you are not a fan there is still much of interest in this finely detailed and intensely written volume.Generally adopting a thematic rather than a strictly chronological or biographical approach, Masciotra anchors his politics firmly to the left and finds the love, anger, despair and hope so often present in Springsteen's work an invaluable guide to both understanding and changing the lot of those presently either despised or rendered invisible in the heart of the American dream....Unlike the all too clever, intentionally shallow and gossip-obsessed rubbish that we generally get, this is musical journalism definitely worth reading. * The Morning Star *
The book leaves you with hope that music can challenge people and even change situations. * Reviewed in - wait for it - Families First magazine, Sept/Oct 2010 (UK) *
Exemplary beyond any literary doubt and quite possibly the finest Springsteen book I've ever read. -- David Marx * David Marx Reviews website, http://davidmarxbookreviews.wordpress.com *

Author Bio

David Masciotra is a cultural critic, political commentator, and public lecturer. He is the author of Mellencamp: American Troubadour and Working On a Dream: The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen. He writes regularly for Salon and AlterNet/. He has also written for the Washington Post, Atlantic, and Los Angeles Review of Books.