Based on interviews with family members, colleagues, lovers, and the previously silent William Burroughs, this unsparing yet even-handed biography guides the reader through the many personas, crises, and musical metamorphoses of David Bowie - also known as Davy Jones, the Laughing Gnome, Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke, a drug-addled grandfather of punk, actor, art aficionado, political activist, one of rock's most resonant icons, and a totem of modern pop culture. Nowhere else is the man and musician so convincingly deconstructed and so compellingly humanized.