Imagine: John Lennon - Hardcover

Solt, Andrew; Egan, Sam; Ono, Yoko; Wolper, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0026309106 ISBN 13: 9780026309103

Publisher: Macmillan Pub Co, 1989

Synopsis

Now in paperback -- the bestselling book that vividly portrays the beloved Beatle and generational icon

Imagine: John Lennon, authorized by Yoko Ono and drawn extensively from material in the late Beatle's personal archives, is more than a tribute to his timeless legacy. Rare film footage, photographs, and the words of family and friends -- plus a wealth of Lennon's own quintessential wit and candor -- paint a uniquely intimate portrait of the man behind the legend. Here is the poignant story of the tough Liverpool kid who conquered the world with his music, from childhood through dank Hamburg and Liverpool clubs to Beatlemania, from global fame and wealth to a never-ending search for fulfillment as an artist and a man. It charts his loves -- for his first wife, Cynthia; his sons, Julian and Sean; and his great collaborator Yoko Ono -- and his passions, art, music, and above all his work for peace.

From Lennon the performer, in spectacular shots by the world's top rock photographers, to Lennon the lover, father, and human being in intimate family photographs (many never-before published), Imagine captures the man who was the touchstone for his generation. Originally published as the companion to a film biography of Lennon, the book is a handsome tribute to his life and art, and will make an elegant gift for Beatles fans and all admirers of John Lennon's music and imagination.

About this title

From Library Journal:

Baird, daughter of John Lennon's mother Julia and her second husband, has written a memoir that comes as a revelation. She describes the warm, close-knit relationships in Lennon's extended family and his frequent visits to his extraordinary mother, who painted, sang, played banjo, and helped John learn the guitar but tragically died young. (Lennon lived at the time with his Aunt Mimi.) Baird thus presents a side of Lennon kept hidden from a public that usually saw only his outrageous creativity. Particularly revealing is her account of John's reaching back to his Liverpool family in his later years. A more penetrating book than Cynthia Lennon's A Twist of Lennon (Avon, 1986). Based on Lennon's personal archives, which Yoko Ono has opened for the first time, Imagine: John Lennon is the most personal, evocative portrait of Lennon yet produced in picture-book format. Family snapshots are combined with the works of major photographers and complemented by commentary from Lennon and the friends and family closest to him. Companion to a film by David Wolper that is being released simultaneously, Imagine would have had greater impact and depth had it not relied so heavily on the film but instead developed a more comprehensive text. Still, it is a powerful book, and the film may create heavy demand. Both books are highly recommended. This is the season for Lennon: Morrow published Albert Goldman's The Lives of John Lennon in September. Ed. Daniel J. Lombardo, The Jones Lib., Inc., Amherst, Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this pictorial biography of John Lennon, which includes 250-plus photos accompanied by quotes (Lennon's own and those of people who knew him) Lennon is all but canonized. We see him as a boy in his school uniform; as a teenage performer with George and Paul; with his first wife, Cynthia, and with their son, Julian; also with his and Yoko's son, Sean. There are snaps of Lennon on holiday with Ringo; Lennon playing pool and guitar; shots of the Beatles on stage with Ed Sullivan and practicing TM with the Maharishi; depictions of John and Yoko in bed, in studios and at home, in New York, London and Paris. The book deceivingly attempts to gentrify an iconoclastic, controversial, working-class hero and the counterculture he espoused, smoothing out the rough spotsand it is also the "exclusive tie-in to the major Warner Bros. motion picture of the same name," written and directed by the authors. 250,000 first printing; first serial to Rolling Stone; Literary Guild featured alternate
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan Pub Co
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0026309106
• ISBN 13: 9780026309103
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 255