Audiobook13 hours
Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith
Written by John Szwed
Narrated by Paul Woodson
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
He was an anthropologist, filmmaker, painter, folklorist, mystic, and walking encyclopedia. He taught Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe about the occult, swapped drugs with Timothy Leary, sat at the piano with Thelonious Monk, lived with (and tortured) Allen Ginsberg, and argued film with Susan Sontag. He was always broke, always intoxicated, compulsively irascible, and unimpeachably authentic. Harry Smith was, in the words of Robert Frank, "the only person I met in my life that transcended everything."
In Cosmic Scholar, John Szwed patches together, for the first time, the life of one of the twentieth century's most overlooked cultural figures. From his time recording the customs of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Florida to living in Greenwich Village in its heyday, Smith was consumed by an unceasing desire to create a unified theory of culture. He was an insatiable creator and collector, responsible for the influential Anthology of American Folk Music and several pioneering experimental films, but was also an insufferable and destructive eccentric who was unable to survive in regular society. He was "so devious," said Ginsberg, and "so saintly."
Exhaustively researched and energetically told, Cosmic Scholar is a feat of biographical restoration and the long overdue deification of an American icon.
In Cosmic Scholar, John Szwed patches together, for the first time, the life of one of the twentieth century's most overlooked cultural figures. From his time recording the customs of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Florida to living in Greenwich Village in its heyday, Smith was consumed by an unceasing desire to create a unified theory of culture. He was an insatiable creator and collector, responsible for the influential Anthology of American Folk Music and several pioneering experimental films, but was also an insufferable and destructive eccentric who was unable to survive in regular society. He was "so devious," said Ginsberg, and "so saintly."
Exhaustively researched and energetically told, Cosmic Scholar is a feat of biographical restoration and the long overdue deification of an American icon.
More audiobooks from John Szwed
Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Cosmic Scholar
Related audiobooks
St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Young Bloomsbury: The Generation That Redefined Love, Freedom, and Self-Expression in 1920s England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Liner Notes: On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ready for a Brand New Beat: How "Dancing in the Street" Became the Anthem for a Changing America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Just Dead, I'm Not Gone Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Love and Let Die: James Bond, The Beatles, and the British Psyche Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPicasso the Foreigner: An Artist in France, 1900-1973 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Open Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5William Blake vs the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing the Panther: Adventures and Misadventures of a Cinematic Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew to Liberty: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Night Train to Nashville: The Greatest Untold Story of Music City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bayard Rustin: A Legacy of Protest and Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Ballet of Lepers: A Novel and Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hyacinth Girl: T.S. Eliot's Hidden Muse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStill No Word from You: Notes in the Margin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Other Paris Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bang Bang Crash Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Thin Place Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Artists and Musicians For You
The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5More Myself: A Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Effin' Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Adversity for Sale: Ya Gotta Believe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dolly Parton: The Life of a Legendary American Singer, Actor, and Businesswoman Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not That Fancy: Simple Lessons on Living, Loving, Eating, and Dusting Off Your Boots Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Storyteller: Expanded: ...Because There's More to the Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Love Story: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings from the Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rememberings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Like a River: Finding the Faith and Strength to Move Forward after Loss and Heartache Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Legends: The Lethal Danger of Celebrity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scar Tissue Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Me: Elton John Official Autobiography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mercury and Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Robin Williams: When the Laughter Stops 1951 - 2014 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Share My Life: A Journey of Love, Faith and Redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Perfect Union of Contrary Things Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary: Greenlights: by Matthew McConaughey: Key Takeaways, Summary & Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Would Leave Me If I Could.: A Collection of Poetry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marathon Don't Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chronicles: Volume One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Autobiography of Gucci Mane Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Cosmic Scholar
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
1 rating0 reviews