The book begins in Berkeley in 1968, and ends with a piece on Dylans show at the University of Minnesotahis very first appearance at his alma materon election night 2008. In between are moments of euphoric discovery: From Marcuss liner notes for the 1967 Basement Tapes (pop musics most famous bootlegged archives) to his exploration of Dylans reimagining of the American experience in the 1997 Time Out of Mind. And rejection; Marcuss Rolling Stone piece on Dylans album Self Portraitoften called the most famous record review ever writtenbegan with What is this shit? and led to his departure from the magazine for five years. Marcus follows not only recordings but performances, books, movies, and all manner of highways and byways in which Bob Dylan has made himself felt in our culture. Together the dozens of pieces collected here comprise a portrait of how, throughout his career, Bob Dylan has drawn upon and reinvented the landscape of traditional American song, its myths and choruses, heroes and villains. They are the result of a more than forty-year engagement between an unparalleled singer and a uniquely acute listener.