Rating: 
Summary: I Am He As John Is Me, but I don't think we're all together
Review: The title, the front and back cover, the inner and outer dust jacket flaps, they grabbed me. References to sociology, psychology, sexuality, and even physics. This book will undoubtedly assist me to ascertain just why The Beatles seem to matter so much...Was it just the time that I grew up in, or are they a musical force which will transcend not only generations, but centuries, milleniums? Written by someone from a younger generation, I'll be able to get a more "objective" analysis! I had high hopes. They were dashed. Mr. McKinney gets credit for adventuring into heady places. Places more interesting than, "Mr. Epstein liked the sound and looks of the boys and..." But these places full of potential were not realized, as Mr. McKinney's pretty words meandered like a restless wind inside a letter box. One stumbles onto nuggets and kernels. Provacative pieces of the puzzle. Mr. McKinney illustrates how The Beatles reflect society and influence it. (Yes, but how, why, and ultimately, why do we care?) Mr. McKinney draws upon Freud & portrays The Beatles as a manifestation of the audiences' wishes & desires, as well as pushing their audience to wish & desire. (So did Frank Capra & Lenny Bruce and, for some, John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.) I continued to eagerly pour through each chapter's poetic imagery of toilet associations, on holes in the universe a la Einstein & Socrates, up to and including the comparing and contrasting of John Lennon & Charles Manson... I still continued to hold out hope in searching for The Meaning of The Beatles. But, as the pages chock full of swirling
thoughts/reveries/cultural lore went by, the more I came instead upon the The Meaning of Mr. McKinney. Revolution #9 as a masterpiece? McCartney as complex as Lennon? The Beatles creating The Sixties and being crushed by The Sixties because of the inability of its inhabitants to integrate demands for peace with feelings of rage? Not everyone from the Sixties was either a member of The Silent Majority nor a flag burning, drug-crazed, free-love hippie.
I could march with my high school to demonstrate against the Vietnam War, until it was time for me to fulfill my obligations by reporting for my 2:00 PM shift as a 16 year-old stockboy in Alexander's Department Store in The Bronx, New York, 1968. That makes me a Day Tripper or just more reflective of the millions of teens & some adults who admired the Beatles? Then came the final chapter, which I recommend be read first. An enjoyable autobiographical account of Mr. McKinney's interest in the Sixties! Much less pressured in delivery. More relaxed with his audience. Less need for a dictionary. Now it makes sense! That's what the book should have been about! It would have been both more interesting and possibly more significantly revealing. The title for which could have been: "The Beatles and Me: Search for Identity".
Rating: 
Summary: Rather McKinney's inner sanctum
Review: When it comes to reading about the Beatles, I waste no time. Devin McKinney's account of the most influential band of the twentieth century took my fancy, and the title itself jumped out at me with the words Dream and History. Of all the books that have been published lately that attempt to pose a critical analysis, something told me I just had to sink my teeth into this recent installment into the never-ending analysis of the Beatles' music and existence. I was somewhat bewildered of what I got out of this book. After eading the book's dustjacket, I was enticed to read on because it suggested critical historical analysis. However, it is merely literary criticism. McKinney's account appears more like an extended Rolling Stone article meshed in with his personal psyche and his love for the Beatles -- his dream of a period long passed as placed on paper. He doesn't analyze any new material, but rehashes Beatle myths that have been presented time and time again, such as the Paul is dead rumor, the Charles Manson connection, and the notorious Beatles' butcher album cover and how they have had an affect on society during the 1960s. The only difference here is that McKinney relates it to his generation X. He recycles bits and pieces of true and myth, and never quite answers the neverending questions he asks through out the book. If McKinney was attempting to bring full circle to his understanding of how the Beatles were both truth and myth, only he or maybe other readers may be able to see the bigger picture because I did not. This book throws in much information that will get baby boomers reminiscing about their counterculture and student demonstrations because McKinney does not leave those important tidbits out -- what would a book about the 1960s be without those references? However, for those who have an interest in the Beatles and were not born during this period, this book will lend insight to that rock and roll circus that probably will never die. If you want to know the the major philosophical, spiritual, mystical connection of this book, and what it has to do with these references: toilet, the vision of a 15 year-old girl, reference to Milan Kundera and circles, and the most important theme, the 'Yellow Submarine', I recommend this book. For better results, whip out your turntables and play Sgt. Pepper backwards!
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