Carly Simon, Carole King and Joni Mitchell remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Together they changed a decade and altered the lives of a generation. Carole King is the product of New York City's lower-middle-class; Joni Mitchell is a grand-daughter of farmers; and, Carly Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper-crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, every girl who came of age in the late 1960s, when - to paraphrase one of their songs - the earth moved. Their stories trace the arc of the now-mythic era known a 'the Sixties'."Girls Like Us" is an epic treatment of these three exceptional women who dared to break tradition and become what few had been before them - confessors in song, rock superstars, adventurers of heart and soul. Yet it is also an evocative and utterly engrossing portrait of this explosive period; a time of ferment and discord, of upheaval and radically changing values. Award-winning journalist and bestselling author, Sheila Weller presents a full and balanced portrayal of each woman, enriched by vivid anecdotes told by dozens of their intimates, many speaking for the first time. Meticulously researched and superbly written, "Girls Like Us" is as much a portrait of a political and social scene as it is a compelling biography of three much-loved musicians.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
 Trade In this Item for up to £1.55
Trade in Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon---and the Journey of a Generation for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £1.55, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Learn more
|
Book Description
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
An unfailingly entertaining read...and a riveting story
-- Mojo Magazine, May 2008
'Eminently readable...a racy read..about the boyfriends, break-ups and breakdowns of its subjects' -- Sean O'Hagan, Observer Books, 13th April 2008
'Let's get one thing clear right from the start - this is a fabulous book...Girls Like Us unfold with drama and panoramic detail'
-- Caitlin Moran, The Sunday Times
'The book charts this trio's rocky marriages, their struggles with success and, perhaps most poignantly, their fading with age.' -- Sheryl Garratt, Mail on Sunday, 13th April 2008
'Weller has picked her subjects because of their different demographic appeal, the better to tell her social history...[she]has done them - and girls like us- proud' -- Saturday Telegraph, 19th April 2008
'Weller skilfully weaves together the disparate lives of these three, very different women into a colourful portrait.' -- Metro Life, 23rd April 2008
A new book, Girls Like Us, tells the fascinating story of how three great female songwriters of the same generation, Carly Simon, Carole King and Joni Mitchell...reflected the changes to women's lives in their very different, personal yet universal songs. Where were our girls?'
-- Terence Blacker, The Independent 23rd May 08 The Independent 23rd May 08 The Independent 23rd May 08 The Independent 23rd May 08 The Independent 23rd May 08 Terence Blacker, The Independent, 23rd May 2008
This is a fabulous book...Girls Like Us unfolds with drama and panoramic detail.
-- Caitlin Moran, The Times, Saturday 3rd May 2008
`Eminently readable'
-- The Observer
`the book charts this trio's rocky marriages, their struggles with success and , perhaps most poignantly, their fading with age.' -- Mail on Sunday --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
-- Mojo Magazine, May 2008
'Eminently readable...a racy read..about the boyfriends, break-ups and breakdowns of its subjects' -- Sean O'Hagan, Observer Books, 13th April 2008
'Let's get one thing clear right from the start - this is a fabulous book...Girls Like Us unfold with drama and panoramic detail'
-- Caitlin Moran, The Sunday Times
'The book charts this trio's rocky marriages, their struggles with success and, perhaps most poignantly, their fading with age.' -- Sheryl Garratt, Mail on Sunday, 13th April 2008
'Weller has picked her subjects because of their different demographic appeal, the better to tell her social history...[she]has done them - and girls like us- proud' -- Saturday Telegraph, 19th April 2008
'Weller skilfully weaves together the disparate lives of these three, very different women into a colourful portrait.' -- Metro Life, 23rd April 2008
A new book, Girls Like Us, tells the fascinating story of how three great female songwriters of the same generation, Carly Simon, Carole King and Joni Mitchell...reflected the changes to women's lives in their very different, personal yet universal songs. Where were our girls?'
-- Terence Blacker, The Independent 23rd May 08 The Independent 23rd May 08 The Independent 23rd May 08 The Independent 23rd May 08 The Independent 23rd May 08 Terence Blacker, The Independent, 23rd May 2008
This is a fabulous book...Girls Like Us unfolds with drama and panoramic detail.
-- Caitlin Moran, The Times, Saturday 3rd May 2008
`Eminently readable'
-- The Observer
`the book charts this trio's rocky marriages, their struggles with success and , perhaps most poignantly, their fading with age.' -- Mail on Sunday --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Sheila Weller is a bestselling author and award-winning magazine journalist. She is the author of seven books, two of them New York Times bestsellers. Senior contributing editor at Glamour, contributor to Vanity Fair, and former contributing editor of New York, Sheila Weller is a six-time winner of the Newswomen's Club of New York Front Page award. She lives in New York City. www.girlslikeusthebook.com
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I'm a woman of the 60's and it all rang true. I think we all wanted to be these three women when we were younger, and the stories behind the music, plus the real-life tales of each woman's challanges to free herself from stiffling conventions kept me reading it straight through. The evocation of each woman's personality and her particular challenges was keen - I felt I knew them by the time the book was finished (and could so relate to so much of what they went through). You also got a chance to revisit the times ....How I had forgotten so many details: What we wore, what concerned us, how small a space a young woman had to move around in, how much she had to do on her own. These women's music expressed the exhilleration and the pain of charting a new course, and by the end of the book I wanted to hug them (and listen to their magnificent albums all over -- and over -- again)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Ms. Felicia Davis-burden
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
This wonderful book gives us the fascinating and often sad braided biographies of three remarkable artists. Carly, Joni and Carole: Contemporaries and creative 'Sisters'.
The Music Business and all its obstacles are thrown into sharp relief. The chapter on Carly Simon's first months in the studio in the mid-sixties makes disturbing reading. The sexual bylaws Carly would often use to her advantage, she learnt through jarring humiliation. She conquered all this and more, all the while journalising her experiences in her song-writing.
Carole King rivalled Joni Mitchell in her tangled personal life. She showed her naturally compassionate nature - and considerable balls, I think - in accepting her husband Gerry Goffin's adultery and child with another woman into her life, while bringing up their two children and working full-time as a songwriter and musician in New York's legendary Brill Building. Carole would go on to enrapture her fellow singer/songwriters as a resident of Laurel Canyon, California. Her album 'Tapestry' is still a high-watermark of her profession, and still a wonderful album the listener can return to; like the embrace of an old and trusted friend.
As for troubled, feisty, self-absorbed, passionate, ambitious and always confrontational Joni...
Read all about it. Sheila Weller's book is an absorbing, beautifully detailed history of three women, a tumultuous personal history and a powerfully evocation of a heady era. I cannot recommend it enough!
The Music Business and all its obstacles are thrown into sharp relief. The chapter on Carly Simon's first months in the studio in the mid-sixties makes disturbing reading. The sexual bylaws Carly would often use to her advantage, she learnt through jarring humiliation. She conquered all this and more, all the while journalising her experiences in her song-writing.
Carole King rivalled Joni Mitchell in her tangled personal life. She showed her naturally compassionate nature - and considerable balls, I think - in accepting her husband Gerry Goffin's adultery and child with another woman into her life, while bringing up their two children and working full-time as a songwriter and musician in New York's legendary Brill Building. Carole would go on to enrapture her fellow singer/songwriters as a resident of Laurel Canyon, California. Her album 'Tapestry' is still a high-watermark of her profession, and still a wonderful album the listener can return to; like the embrace of an old and trusted friend.
As for troubled, feisty, self-absorbed, passionate, ambitious and always confrontational Joni...
Read all about it. Sheila Weller's book is an absorbing, beautifully detailed history of three women, a tumultuous personal history and a powerfully evocation of a heady era. I cannot recommend it enough!
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A powerful and moving rendering of a hugely important moment in the history of feminism
15 May 2008
By Anne Elliot
Format:Hardcover
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having been a young woman in the '70s and a child in the '60's this graphic account of the developments in the '60's filled in the gaps for me. The three singer/songwriters are described with warmth, generosity and a clarity that captured my imagination and sent me back to their music, I closed the book with a huge respect for their ground breaking work, something I'd previously taken for granted. I think that Sheila Weller has done a brilliant job processing the information she had and analysing it in terms of the period. The only weakness is in some of the writing which descends into the style of a rather unskilled rock journalist. However, this is not always the case and at many points the writing is clear and unpretentious. This book is worth reading for anyone interested in why we, as women, are where we are today and have the freedoms we do.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 215 reviews
3.8 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
