Shout!

Updated to include Paul McCartney's knighting and the deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison. Philip Norman's biography of the Beatles is the definitive work on the world's most influential band—a beautifully written account of their lives, their music, and their times. Now brought completely up to date, this epic tale charts the rise of four scruffy Liverpool lads from their wild, often comical early days to the astonishing heights of Beatlemania, from the chaos of Apple and the collapse of hippy idealism to the band's acrimonious split. It also describes their struggle to escape the smothering Beatles' legacy and the tragic deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison. Witty, insightful, and moving, Shout! is essential reading not just for Beatles fans but for anyone with an interest in pop music.

Philip Norman has an international reputation as a chronicler of pop music and culture. Shout!, his groundbreaking biography of The Beatles, first published in 1981, has been continuously in print ever since. He went on to write definitive biographies of the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Buddy Holly, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Sir Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and, most recently, George Harrison. Also an award-winning writer of fiction, he was one of Granta's first Top 20 Young British Novelists.