The full story of John Lennon and The Beatles has all been told, or has it? Francis Kenny's 'Understanding John Lennon' presents an account of John and the band that challenges preconceived assumptions. With a forward to the book by lifelong friend and founder of Merseybeat Magazine, Bill Harry
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In a Huffington Post article on the best biographies on John Lennon, Kenny's earlier, shorter book, The Making of John Lennon, was ranked second.
Kenny (who has lived in Liverpool all his life) believes that to fully understand The Beatles, it would be helpful to have a good grasp of Liverpool, with its large Irish immigrant population and the diverse influences of being a maritime city. The attitude and outlook of The Beatles were firmly intertwined with the notion of outsider and otherness of Liverpool. Politician Margaret Simey declared that: 'The magic of Liverpool is that it isn't England.' This view was reflected in the attitude and the music of The Beatles.
Understanding John Lennon contains an extensive bibliography (It was previously published by Indiana University Press), and the research is referenced with over 300 citations. The book offers a new and challenging interpretation of John Lennon and The Beatles. Some of the issues Kenny deals with are:
- The cause of John's musical genius and his dark depression sprang from the same circumstances.
- An article written by Kenny and published in Salon Magazine, which puts forward the view that Strawberry Fields Forever was not about a girl's orphanage, but something far more personal.
