About the Author

James Miller is professor of political science and director of liberal studies at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research. A Guggenheim Fellow and twice a winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing about music, he has covered the rock scene for national publications since 1967, when one of his early record reviews appeared in the third issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Since then, his reviews, profiles, and essays on music have appeared in New Times, The New Republic, The New York Times, and Newsweek, where he was a book reviewer and pop music critic between 1981 and 1990. The original editor of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll (which first appeared in 1976), he also contributed an essay on his favorite rock album, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes (1964), to an anthology edited by Greil Marcus, Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island (1979). He is the author of four previous books: The Passion of Michel Foucault (1993), an interpretive essay on the life of the French philosopher, a National Book Critics Circle Finalist for General Nonfiction; "Democracy Is in the Streets" From Port Huron to the Siege of Chicago (1987), an account of the American student movement of the 1960s, also a National Book Critics Circle Finalist for General Nonfiction; Rousseau: Dreamer of Democracy (1984), a study of the origins of modern democracy; and History and Human Existence -- From Marx to Merleau-Ponty (1979), an analysis of Marx and the French existentialists. A native of Chicago educated at Pomona College and Brandeis University, where he received a Ph.D. in the History of Ideas, he lives with his wife and three sons in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.

Reviews

Jonathan Levi Los Angeles Times Book Review An intelligent, unhysterical account of the Rise and Fall of the Rock "n" Roll Empire. Miller reminds us that rock -- no matter its deluge of sales -- is not a single, mighty river charging through the heartland of the country but a veritable tangle of streams.

Geoffrey O'Brien The New York Review of Books Efficient, compact...movielike....Miller is unmistakably one who tasted fully the string of conversion experiences that once made rock and roll so exciting.

Gerald Marzorati The New York Times Book Review Engrosses and provokes....You can almost feel the wondrously dizzying pace at which rock rose.

Joan Anderman The Boston Globe Into this engaging tapestry of musical lore Miller expertly weaves cultural and intellectual strands....Miller distills that essence, as much with exhaustive and ingenious synthesis of source material as with plain old good storytelling.

Jon Pareles The New York Times Mr. Miller's new book is an observant, meticulously researched survey of rock's first decades....He writes with loving precision.

Joshua Clover Spin James Miller cross-fades academic chops and musical passions in dazzling combination....A work that seems deservedly destined for the canon itself.

Ken Tucker Entertainment Weekly Does the world really need another history of rock and roll? It does when it's as insightful and energetic as Flowers in the Dustbin....Grade: A.

Michael Pakenham The Sun (Baltimore) If you have never understood rock and roll -- never quite got it -- read this book and you will know.

Tom Carson The Washington Post Miller is both an astute writer and a serious cultural historian, packing each of his nuggetlike chapters with insightful analysis and absorbing musical and sociological lore as well as vivid, shrewdly chosen detail.

Tom Engelhardt The Philadelphia Inquirer A fabulous, can't-miss tale of simple musical pleasures and outsized gratifications....A review can only hint at its richness and breadth....Let James Miller spin his 45s while you search your own memory; then argue back or just dance a few steps in the silence of your room.

Jonathan Levi Los Angeles Times Book Review An intelligent, unhysterical account of the Rise and Fall of the Rock "n" Roll Empire. Miller reminds us that rock -- no matter its deluge of sales -- is not a single, mighty river charging through the heartland of the country but a veritable tangle of streams.
Geoffrey O'Brien The New York Review of Books Efficient, compact...movielike....Miller is unmistakably one who tasted fully the string of conversion experiences that once made rock and roll so exciting.
Gerald Marzorati The New York Times Book Review Engrosses and provokes....You can almost feel the wondrously dizzying pace at which rock rose.
Joan Anderman The Boston Globe Into this engaging tapestry of musical lore Miller expertly weaves cultural and intellectual strands....Miller distills that essence, as much with exhaustive and ingenious synthesis of source material as with plain old good storytelling.
Jon Pareles The New York Times Mr. Miller's new book is an observant, meticulously researched survey of rock's first decades....He writes with loving precision.
Joshua Clover Spin James Miller cross-fades academic chops and musical passions in dazzling combination....A work that seems deservedly destined for the canon itself.
Ken Tucker Entertainment Weekly Does the world really need another history of rock and roll? It does when it's as insightful and energetic as Flowers in the Dustbin....Grade: A.
Michael Pakenham The Sun (Baltimore) If you have never understood rock and roll -- never quite got it -- read this book and you will know.
Tom Carson The Washington Post Miller is both an astute writer and a serious cultural historian, packing each of his nuggetlike chapters with insightful analysis and absorbing musical and sociological lore as well as vivid, shrewdly chosen detail.
Tom Engelhardt The Philadelphia Inquirer A fabulous, can't-miss tale of simple musical pleasures and outsized gratifications....A review can only hint at its richness and breadth....Let James Miller spin his 45s while you search your own memory; then argue back or just dance a few steps in the silence of your room.

New School historian Miller on how rock rose and then stalled as a postadolescent desire to shock took over.