Ebook: Dylan goes electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the night that split the sixties

"Elijah Wald's book reflects the many directions in which America's music scene evolved in those extraordinary years, 1963–1970—I can't recommend it enough."—George Wein, founder of the Newport Folk Festival

On the evening of July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival backed by an electric band and roared into a blistering version of "Maggie's Farm," followed by his new rock single, "Like a Rolling Stone." The audience of committed folk purists and political activists who had hailed him as their acoustic prophet reacted with a mix of shock, booing, and scattered cheers. It was the shot heard round the world—Dylan's declaration of musical independence, the end of the folk revival, and the birth of rock as the voice of a generation—and one of the defining moments in twentieth-century music.

In Dylan Goes Electric! Elijah Wald explores the cultural, political, and historical...