Reading the Boss

Roxanne Harde is associate professor of English at the University of Alberta. Irwin Streight is associate professor of English at the Royal Military College of Canada.

• AcknowledgmentsNote on the LyricsIntroduction: The Bard of Asbury ParkSection 1: Reading InfluenceChapter 1: Endlessly Seeking: Springsteen and Percy's Quest for Possibility Among the OrdinaryChapter 2: "On Blessing Avenue": Faith, Language, and a Search for Meaning In the Works of Bruce Springsteen and Walker PercyChapter 3: "The Flannery O'Connor of American Rock"Section 2: Reading PlaceChapter 4: "Deliver me from nowhere": Place and Space in Bruce Springsteen's NebraskaChapter 5: Tracking Place and Identity in Bruce Springsteen's TracksSection 3: Reading GenderChapter 6: "Who's that girl?": Nostalgia, Gender, and SpringsteenChapter 7: Growin' Up to be a Nothing Man: Masculinity, Community, and the Outsider in Bruce Springsteen's SongsChapter 8: "Like a vision she dances": Re-Visioning the Female Figure in the Songs of Bruce SpringsteenSection 4: Reading Philosophy and ReligionChapter 9: A Covenant Reversed: Bruce Springsteen and the Promised LandChapter 10: Ironic Revelation in Bruce SpringsteenChapter 11: "I'll work for your love": Springsteen and the Struggle for AuthenticityChapter 12: 12."May your hope give us hope": The Rising as a Site of MourningBibliographyAbout the Editors and ContributorsMusic and Image CreditsIndex

It is no longer surprising to see scholars devote themselves to the significance of Bruce Springsteen, whether as a performer, a poet, or a global cultural symbol. But it is indeed a pleasure to find the quality of such investigations so consistently impressive, probing, and often eloquent. This is a collection worthy of its subject. I know of no higher praise.