Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful narrative, questionable thesis
Review: From 1961-66, the Baez sisters, Bob Dylan and Richard Farina came of age, befriended one another, fell in and out of love, raised hell, traipsed the globe on a shoestring budget like college students, drank, got high...and produced some of the most durable music (and, in Farina's case, one of the most underappreciated novels) of their generation. Hajdu captures that half-decade in 300 pages of remarkably seamless prose, painting a vivid picture of four young artists whose intertwining paths left an indelible mark on the work they produced.Although he appears most interested in Joan Baez and her family, Hajdu produces an impressive amount of information on all four of his subjects. Dylan fans especially are likely to be surprised at some of the details of their hero's early career, such as his first appearance on a studio recording (it wasn't Harry Belafonte's "Midnight Special," as has often been reported) and the somewhat disputed origin of his stage name. Baez, meanwhile, is portrayed for once as a human being with strengths and weaknesses of her own, rather than strictly as a victim of Dylan's misogyny (though this too is acknowledged, as well it should be). Best of all, Richard and Mimi Farina are both researched and profiled just as carefully as Baez and Dylan despite being far less famous outside the realm of hardcore folk music fans. The book, like its subjects, is not without its shortcomings. For one thing, Hajdu's vision of the four and their importance is a bit sweeping. Baez may have been the first protegee of the folk revival to achieve commercial success, but she was hardly the first folk artist to have a hit record (or even the first of the rock era). Dylan was the movement's biggest name in songwriting, but hardly the only one; Hajdu sprinkles the names of others throughout the book (Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Paul Simon, Judy Collins, Eric Andersen and a list too long to complete here) without really acknowledging their place relative to those of his four subjects. His sly allusions to their works (i.e. "Dylan acted as if he and the social activists in the folk community never had met") are by turns amusing and tiresome. Also, his practice of phrasing all quotations in the past tense makes it impossible to differentiate between contemporary interview material and decades-old remarks without consulting the endnotes, unless the speaker is a person the reader knows to be dead. Speaking of which, Hajdu tells his nonfictional story novel-style, not revealing the post-1966 fate of his subjects until the end of the book. For those of us who already know why any story of this quartet would have to stop that year, the efforts at suspense can be slightly offputting. These, of course, are minor criticisms. For any fan of the folk music of the 1960s - especially those who weren't lucky enough to have been in Cambridge or Greenwich Village at the time - this book is a fascinating and welcome look inside a place and time that left a great mark on music history.
Rating: 
Summary: Positively Excellent
Review: Hajdu is simply a wonderful writer and researcher and his skills are a perfect fit with his aim here -- to illuminate the (re)birth of popular folk music and the (tortured) birth of folkish rock through the Baez sisters and their charismatic men, Bob Dylan and Richard Farina. Hajdu's first book, a biography of Billy Strayhorn, touched on every worthwhile element of a creative person's life. Here, he rounds up four creative people who exchanged any number of sparks between them, musical and sexual and otherwise. It is always interesting, often fascinating, sometimes maddening, never dull. It is the kind of pop-culture book we need more of: thoughtful and smart and generous in every direction.
Rating: 
Summary: Positively Fourth Street
Review: Having grown up with Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, i read eagerly this thin volume and came away thinking, is that all there is? Whether due to lack of information or lack of scholarship, this book does not deliver anywhere near the depth of its hype.
Rating:
Summary: like a rolling stone
Review: I don't remember who recommended this book to me but I'm glad I gave it a chance. While I'm a casual Bob Dylan fan, I was unfamiliar with the Baez sisters and Richard Farina and I found it captivating. A very quick read for me. David Hajdu paints the early 60's folk scene, in rich detail, through the lives of these extraordinary musicians and poets. You really get a feel of the subculture and the importance of the music and the words these artist used to represent their views of the world. I enjoyed it so much that I'm sorry its finished. I might read it again someday - it was such a joy. Now - time to acquire all of this influential music!
Rating:
Summary: It's what we wanted to know at time.
Review: I loved this book, relished every word. This is a period book and it appeals to me. At 59 I watched Elvis on Ed Sullivan and fell into Rock 'n Roll like millions others. But it became tiresome and Folk was a wonderful diversion, as was jazz. More, folk was a gentle way to awaken my innocent, self-absorbed, mind. Joan was the leader of the pack. When I heard Dylan I could not stand him until my cousin said "listen to the words." I was hooked and bought his previous album the next day. I was a full-time student working very hard with little spare time, no TV, and almost no disposable income. All of it went to Dylan albums. Half the fun was the anticipation of the next one; they were all so different. For me Dylan shocked me out of naivity in a way Joan Baez could never do. But I never left folk music, nor jazz, and never felt Dylan betrayed us when he went to a rock style. Mimi and Richard Farina were enigmatic, almost unknown, but I remember being very curious about them.
What was missing was any useful information on my heros. I was totally taken in by them all, deeply impressed and envious of their writing and guitar playing ability. I wanted to know more about them. Almost 40 years later Hadju came through.
The book is not gossip. It describes the lives of four people who made a huge impact on my life and on that of millions of others. Largely due to their music our generation awoke from the '50s, found an alternative to tepid, commercial rock, understood that "cruel wars" were the fact (as opposed to us simply being WWII heros), that there really were "masters of war" on their way to waging another one, that racisim was far more ugly than I understood, and I was receiving the benefits of industrial imperialism exploiting poverty in other countries (like bananas and who knows what else).
I wanted to know about my heros. Hadju told me. Thank you David Hadju!
Rating:
Summary: What A Story
Review: I loved this story about four sixties icons. It's romantic, affectionate, exciting, well-written, evocative, and manages -- despite the scores of books on the subject -- to make the period seem totally fresh. Reading Hajdu's vibrant descriptions of New York's Greenwich Village during the early days of folk made me hanker for a time when the world must have seemed full of promise and limitless possibilities to the many bright young people making hay while the sun was shining, and whose artistic output was simply stunning. It was a time of great change, a lot of it good, and driven by people who cared very deeply about this country and the human community (and also by those who simply saw opportunities and took them). There are a million stories between the covers of this book, and the people who figure here -- good and bad -- are all tremendously exciting to read about. In Positively 4th Street, Hajdu does a wonderful job of producing balanced portraits of his four central characters. He's chosen to write about them especially for a very good reason: the story of their intersecting lives is a great one. Bob Dylan comes off just as you expect; he's enigmantic, a creep at times, cranky, flaky, pretentious, but often likable and always interesting. The passages covering the Newport Festival, when Dylan supposedly angered the crowd by strapping on an electric guitar, is smartly explained; the crowd wasn't angry at him for going electric inasmuch as they were probably mad at him because he wasn't very good. It is a refreshingly logical account of that event, carefully researched, and absolutely devoid of hero-worship. Baez is talented, tightly-wound, insecure, competitive, jealous, and -- if it's possible -- as self-involved as Bob Dylan, but also generous, sweet, earnest, and honest. You feel for her when she gets involved with Dylan, knowing as she does that she will ultimately get hurt. Mimi Baez, the younger sister, is the ingenue in this tale. She is gorgeous, also musically talented, and very young, raw, and delicate. She doesn't stand a chance when she meets (who I consider to be the most interesting character in this story) the poet/writer/musician Richard Farina. I won't give away any more about him as he's got to be read to be believed. Hajdu does an excellent job in painting vivid and affectionate portraits of all four. They are human beings first and last. Dylan and Baez may have achieved freak status because of their fame, but that doesn't stop Hajdu from treating them as equally as their lesser known co-pilots. The only thing missing in this tale, as far as content is concerned, is Farina's first wife, Carolyn Hester, an early folk songstress. We're given the beginning of her story, but never get the ending. She drops out of sight after Farina falls for Mimi. This is too bad because she is a compelling character in her own right. As far as copy-editing, I found there was an overuse of the semi-colon; I'm guilty of that as well; I don't really mind all that much. I will be reading this book again and that's the highest praise I can give any book. Thanks for the great read.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging and Informative
Review: I read a few passages from this four-way biography and was immediately hooked; it's bursting with fascinating information about the Baez sisters, Dylan, Richard Farina, and the music industry. The writing is highly readable and perceptively attuned to psychological issues, yet restrained enough to avoid excessive speculation or overreaching. There's plenty of juicy trivia for music aficionados, but even if you don't follow that scene, the four outrageously charismatic protagonists, and the poetic irony of their triumphs and tragedies, should be ample material to hold your interest. Couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging and Informative
Review: I read a few passages from this four-way biography and was immediately hooked; it's bursting with fascinating information about the Baez sisters, Dylan, Richard Farina, and the music industry. The writing is highly readable and perceptively attuned to psychological issues, yet restrained enough to avoid excessive speculation or overreaching. There's plenty of juicy trivia for music aficionados, but even if you don't follow that scene, the four outrageously charismatic protagonists, and the poetic irony of their triumphs and tragedies, should be ample material to hold your interest. Couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: An honest(not nasty)look at Baez/Dylan/Farina goings-on
Review: I read this one over the holidays, actually in 2-3 days. It's really hard to put down, and tells the story of these 4 creative folks very beautifully, fleshing out their private stories more fully than, say, "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" (another 5-star effort which, however, covers many more artists than these 4). Many of the overly opinionated reviews from periodicals cited here by Amazon read alot more nastiness into Hadju's depiction than he actually puts in there. Though he lets you see and sense his inclinations, I feel like he shoots way more straight than they do, offering up a wealth of intimate details and just enough explanatory material, but without overly slamming the humans about whom he is writing. This writing style/strategy eases the reader's entry into and journey through the story he's telling much more effectively, than does, say, that of Mark Brend (see his well-researched but often unnecessarily harsh "American Troubadours: Groundbreaking Singer-Songwriters of the 60s").
Rating:
Summary: Positively ... a let down
Review: I really wanted to like this book. I wanted to learn about the folk scene during the early Dylan, Baez, Farina years (before discovering the folk scene in the middle to late 60's myself). Instead, I found a lot of mush ... Joanie thought she was unattractive (in retrospect hard to believe, really .. positively!); Bobby was/is an opportunist; Farina making it with established folkies, or their sisters, just to advance his career; and Mimi ... oh Mimi ... you were the only pure one ... at least according to Hajdu! Close to a tabloid biography of the times. It did, however, re-spark my interest in the period music. That's worth something!
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