Can't Buy Me Love by Jonathan Gould

Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America, by Jonathan Gould, Reviewed by Tom Birch, Zauel Memorial Library
(Harmony Books, 2007, 661 pages, $27.50)

This is the definitive story of the Beatles, their times, music, and impact on popular culture. The phenomenon of the Beatles - John, Paul, George and Ringo - including especially the creative collaboration of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, as well as the business management of Brian Epstein and musical production of George Martin, was unprecedented in the way it defined a generation. Combining biography, song by song and album by album musical analysis, cultural history, and advances in recording technology, Gould’s carefully researched and artfully crafted book is striking in its wit, energy, and compactness.