John McMillian

A lively examination of the most legendary (and least understood) rivalry in the annals of rock ’n’ roll: “Beatles vs. Stones is one of the best rock biographies I have seen this year…If you thought you knew everything there was to know about these two groups, think again” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). In the 1960s an epic battle was waged between the two biggest bands in the world—the lovable Beatles and the bad-boy Rolling Stones. Both groups liked to maintain that they weren’t really “rivals”—that was just a media myth, they politely said—and yet they plainly competed for commercial success and aesthetic credibility. On both sides of the Atlantic, fans often aligned themselves with one group or the other. In Beatles vs. Stones, John McMillian gets to the truth behind the ultimate rock and roll debate. Painting an eye-opening portrait of a generation dragged into an ideological battle between Flower Power and New Left militance, McMillian reveals how the Beatles-Stones rivalry was created by music managers intent on engineering a moneymaking empire. He explores how the Beatles were marketed as cute and amiable, when in fact they came from hardscrabble backgrounds in Liverpool. By contrast, the Stones were cast as an edgy, dangerous group, even though they mostly hailed from the chic London suburbs. For many years, writers and historians have associated the Beatles with the gauzy idealism of the “good” sixties, placing the Stones as representatives of the dangerous and nihilistic “bad” sixties. Beatles vs. Stones is “balanced, informed, yet still passionate…Even the most gnarled and intransigent veterans of the debate will emerge enlightened by this book….McMillian negotiates these thickets with insight, care, and a willingness to unsettle clichés” (The New York Times Book Review).

Beatles Vs. Stones

A first-of-its kind collection of the most vivid reporting about the most lethal addiction crisis ever Just a few years ago, the opioid crisis could be referred to as a "silent epidemic," but the scourge of opiate addiction is no longer being overlooked. This is in large part thanks to the extraordinary writings featured in this volume. Some of the mostimpactful reporting in the United States in recent years has addressed the opiate addiction crisis, a body of work that provides the best picture available of the origins, consequences, and human calamity associated with the epidemic. Now, for the first time, these key works of reportage and analysis have been collected in one volume, providing the fullest portrait available of this national tragedy. Numerous pieces in this groundbreaking collection have won major awards; many have changed the public conversation on opioids. American Epidemic gives readers the full story, with contributions from regional and national newspapers, prestige magazines, and leading literary journals. Spirited, informed, and eloquently written, American Epidemic will serve as an essential introduction for anyone seeking insight into the deadliest drug crisis our country has experienced.

Reporting from the Front Lines of the Opioid Crisis

American Epidemic

How did the New Left uprising of the 1960s happen? What caused millions of young people-many of them affluent and college educated-to suddenly decide that American society needed to be completely overhauled? In Smoking Typewriters, historian John McMillian shows that one answer to these questions can be found in the emergence of a dynamic underground press in the 1960s. Following the lead of papers like the Los Angeles Free Press, the East Village Other, and the Berkeley Barb, young people across the country launched hundreds of mimeographed pamphlets and flyers, small press magazines, and underground newspapers. New, cheaper printing technologies democratized the publishing process and by the decade's end the combined circulation of underground papers stretched into the millions. Though not technically illegal, these papers were often genuinely subversive, and many of those who produced and sold them-on street-corners, at poetry readings, gallery openings, and coffeehouses-became targets of harassment from local and federal authorities. With writers who actively participated in the events they described, underground newspapers captured the zeitgeist of the '60s, speaking directly to their readers, and reflecting and magnifying the spirit of cultural and political protest. McMillian pays special attention to the ways underground newspapers fostered a sense of community and played a vital role in shaping the New Left's highly democratic "movement culture." Deeply researched and eloquently written, Smoking Typewriters captures all the youthful idealism and vibrant tumult of the 1960s as it delivers a brilliant reappraisal of the origins and development of the New Left rebellion.

The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America

Smoking Typewriters

In the 1960s an epic battle was waged between the two biggest bands in the world—the clean-cut, mop-topped Beatles and the badboy Rolling Stones. Both groups liked to maintain that they weren’t really “rivals”—that was just a media myth, they politely said—and yet they plainly competed for commercial success and aesthetic credibility. On both sides of the Atlantic, fans often aligned themselves with one group or the other. In Beatles vs. Stones, John McMillian gets to the truth behind the ultimate rock and roll debate. Painting an eye-opening portrait of a generation dragged into an ideological battle between Flower Power and New Left militance, McMillian reveals how the Beatles-Stones rivalry was created by music managers intent on engineering a moneymaking empire. He describes how the Beatles were marketed as cute and amiable, when in fact they came from hardscrabble backgrounds in Liverpool. By contrast, the Stones were cast as an edgy, dangerous group, even though they mostly hailed from the chic London suburbs. For many years, writers and historians have associated the Beatles with the gauzy idealism of the “good” sixties, placing the Stones as representatives of the dangerous and nihilistic “bad” sixties. Beatles vs. Stones explodes that split, ultimately revealing unseen realities about America’s most turbulent decade through its most potent personalities and its most unforgettable music.

Beatles vs. Stones

Shimmy Shake, Love Me Do, As Tears Go By, See My Friends, Norwegian Wood, Hey Jude, Sympathy for the Devil... La domanda è fatidica: Beatles o Stones? La risposta non è una semplice sfida tra band musicali, ma una linea di faglia nella storia culturale. Con la raffinatezza di uno storico, le abilità narrative di un giornalista e l'entusiasmo di un appassionato, John McMillian esplora la storia delle due band. Il suo è un approccio nuovo e straordinario a una grande e vecchia storia del rock'n'roll, uno scontro fra titani della musica. È come uno stereo portatile da cui escono fuori sorprese a ripetizione. È la storia del rock dentro la casa degli specchi nel parco dei divertimenti: e divertimento è la parola chiave di questo libro.

Beatles vs Stones

Originally published in hardcover in 2011.

A foray into a generation dragged into an ideological battle between Flower Power and New Left militance reveals how the Beatles-Stones rivalry was created by music managers intent on engineering a moneymaking empire.

John McMillian

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