Hallelujah Junction Composing an American Life [Paperback]

ANew York TimesNotable Book of the Year
ASan Francisco ChronicleNotable Bay Area Book of the Year

A book unlike anything ever written by a composer--part memoir, part description and explication of the creative process--Hallelujah Junctionis an absorbing journey across the musical landscape of America and through the life and times of John Adams, one of today's most admired and performed composers.

JOHN ADAMSis the composer of some of the most successful operas in recent memory--Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer,andDoctor Atomic.

No book I know of better captures the thrill of a moment of artistic freedom and innovation. . . . This is a book that any aspiring artist, in any medium, should read as a kind of how-to guide to achieving artistic success without losing integrity. . . . A book for anyone who wants to create something--including a self. David Rollow, The Boston Globe

How Mr. Adams arrived at this particular harmonic language is largely the subject of his absorbing book, which at times reads like a quest narrative that travels through the whole landscape of twentieth-century music. Chip McGrath, The New York Times

A lively, witty prose writer. . . . It's the range of Adams's musical appetites and intellectual hunger that leaves the strongest impression. This is a man who swallows whole new worlds with every fresh project he takes on--and makes his discoveries new for the rest of us. Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times

Engrossing . . . Like his music, Adams's voice inHallelujah Junctionis both playful and thoughtful, unafraid of making big emotional statements but obsessed with making sure those statements are precisely crafted. . . . An original and inspired book. Wynne Delacoma, Chicago Sun-Times

John Adams is the voice of America . . . thoughtful, amusing, analytical--and a good writer. . . . To realós