It Ain't No Sin To Be Glad You're Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen

By David E. Thigpen

Marveling at songs that "grabbed your soul out of your body and scrubbed it clean before putting it back," Alterman finds literary power and lessons to live by in Springsteen's work. Part biography, part lyrical deconstruction and part fan letter, Alterman's book locates the singer-songwriter's strength in his ability to connect the small struggles of the common man with the broad political and social forces that engulf us, and to do so with a human touch.

--By David E. Thigpen