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Sign up todayEmotional Rescue
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Learn moreWhat songs have made up your life’s soundtrack? Which have captured your every mood and deepest sentiments? Pop music, like no other form of entertainment or art, is capable of articulating our feelings, desires, joy, and pain. In a few soul-grabbing minutes, artists from every genre—from Little Richard to Lou Reed, Willie Nelson to Wu-Tang Clan, Sly and the Family Stone to the Rolling Stones—can help us understand our place in our own lives.
This collection of short, sharp essays by New York Times bestselling author Ben Greenman (Mo’ Meta Blues), organized around a thematic playlist of songs, serves as a reminder of the lyrical power of songwriting and the sonic ability of pop to capture the human experience. Greenman’s wit, insight, and honesty are as sweet and satisfying as the hits (and the deep cuts) at the center of each essay.
Ben Greenman is a contributing writer to the New Yorker and the author of eight books of fiction. His most recent novel is The Slippage, and his latest collection of short stories is What He’s Poised to Do. He has collaborated with Questlove on the New York Times bestselling hip-hop memoir Mo’ Meta Blues and on Something to Food About, which explores the intersection of creativity and eating, and he also cowrote George Clinton’s memoir, Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?
Reviews
“Reading Emotional Rescue is like peeking into a stranger's playlist when he's not around, and then talking to him about it when he is around. Music is the kind of thing that should be felt, discussed, and digested, and Ben Greenman does that here—all the while making the case that pop music (all kinds of it, from hip-hop to country, from power-pop to blues) teaches us everything we know about human relationships. I have always known how much he cares about pop music, and now I know why.” —Questlove
Praise for Ben Greenman
“A brilliant and wry stenographer” —Karen Russell
“One of the most versatile, consistently surprising writers at work today.” —Dave Eggers
“He writes sentences so sharp they hurt.” —Jess Walter
“Greenman rarely plays a wrong chord.” —New York Times
—Emotional Rescue comes with a soundtrack: it’s like a very literary DJ offered you a route through life’s emotional highs and lows, complete with smart and funny commentary. [It] is audio therapy for the soul.” —Literary Hub
“If you want to read a book about music that’s as pleasurable and personal as music itself, pick up Emotional Rescue.” —The Huffington Post
“Poignant...[Emotional Rescue] shows Greenman understands the power of music all too well.” —Newsday
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