U2: At the End of the World
by Bill Flanagan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bill FlanaganEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1996-09-01
ISBN: 0385311575
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: Delta
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780385311571
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of U2: At the End of the World
Book Review: Unique
Summary: 4 Stars
Following the rise of the band, which seems from inception to have been intentionally interwoven with international politics, Flanagan shows us the motivation and vision of the group. It is strikingly different from your typical Behind the Music rockumentary. Contrary to the cover's description, quoted from the Boston Globe, "A wild ride," it doesn't reek of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It's interesting and curious, but the extravagancies are more along the lines of the band's brushes with greatness (meeting with Bill Clinton), rather than the band's parties. There is enough there to offend the pious Christian groupie (band members bet on the color of a woman's underwear), but the expletives are few and far between. There is drinking, but it's not glorified. This is not a book for teenagers. Opening at the fall of the Berlin wall, this is a book for those interested in U2's opinions.
I suspect it's selling better this year than it did when it was released, given Bono's nomination for the Nobel Prize and award of Time's man of the year.
Also notably subtle is the band's religiosity. It's definitely there. There are even allusions which would go over the head of the average Rolling Stone reader, as when it asserts that U2 has gone from Psalms to Ecclesiastes, dressing as the devil to chastise political leaders. But it's not overt. Bono at one point says that there are times when they have to draw their fish in the sand, and if people don't respond to it, they don't push it.
Flanagan is after a universal spirituality that is concerned with a cause more than a crusade. Perhaps the book will serve as an example for Christians whose primary goal was to spread the Christian faith without necessarily inviting anyone to church.
The sad downside of the book is ironically captured in the band's stage show. TV's spread across the stage remind the audience that they, we, are a culture that sees ourselves on the screen. U2 is no more immune to it than the rest of us. Although, obviously, it is their biography, there seems to be a twin glorification going on here. Flanagan may not admire the band as much as they seem to admire themselves. They seem caught in their own glow, and you wonder at times if they are as equally interested in their causes as their image of being someone with a cause. Perhaps it is all sincere, but then, Christians taking bets on women's [...] are hard to take seriously.
In the end, a definite must read for the fans, but little real literary merit to the book.
Summary of U2: At the End of the World
The most intimate and appreciative biography of the mega rock band U2 to date--by the author to whom the band gave complete access.When U2 took the stage for their three-year Zoo TV world tour in 1991, Bill Flanagan was there--in the bus, on the plane, in the recording studio and well after hours with the biggest rock band in the world. A tour that began to support the hugely successful Achtung Baby record and ended with a second, even more successful record, Zooropa, took U2 to the far reaches of the world, playing to over a hundred sold-out arenas in over forty cities.
U2 At The End Of The World takes you on the world tour and drops you off at the cultural intersection where rock stars meet politicians; where writers, directors, and models all wind up backstage with U2. You're there when the band meets Bill Clinton in a Chicago hotel room; when Salman Rushdie comes out of hiding to join the band onstage at Wembley Arena in London; when Frank Sinatra and Bono record their famous duet, "I've Got You Under My Skin." And finally, when the band performs their last Zoo TV concert in Tokyo in 1993 and nearly collapses from physical and mental exhaustion, you are there with them waiting for the end of the world. Augmented with sleek photos by renowned photographer Anton Corbijn, U2 At The End Of The World is the most definitive book on the band to date.
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