Ring Of Fire: The Johnny Cash Reader - Hardcover

Michael Streissguth is the author of two previous books and has written for the Oxford Encyclopedia of Country Music, Journal of Country Music, Country Music Magazine, and others. He teaches Communication and English at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York.

Since his 1950s Sun Records debut, Johnny Cash has made enough public image changes to make Madonna want to take her clothes off just one more time for good luck. From rockabilly rube, to Bob Dylan's pill-popping buddy and rebel folkie in the Sixties, to Jesus freak and country outlaw in the Seventies, and, finally, to rebirth as a grunge hero in the Nineties, the Man in Black has never been immune to romanticizing by fans, the media, and himself. Music journalist Streissguth (Like a Moth to Flame: The Jim Reeves Story) here compiles biography, autobiography, and articles on Cash, archiving his career avatars over the years. The rift between the man and the myth is most apparent in the 1990s interviews in which Cash, famous as a Gen-X drug hero and rogue, proves to be just an aging country boy with a helluva life and voice. This work piques the urge to whip out the old records and assess the music behind the propaganda while raising some pertinent questions about Cash's next move. In a new century and in poor health, Cash once again finds himself in legend limbo. Will his next incarnation come from posthumous eulogy or the flesh-and-blood genius that made him famous? This book nicely complements Peter Lewry and Lou Robin's I've Been Everywhere: A Johnny Cash Chronicle and Cash: The Autobiography, offering a broader perspective. Recommended for all libraries. Eric Hahn, Fargo, ND
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