The Beatles: An Oral History

Jack S. Broumpton is an assistant professor of music at Huntington
College, Laurentian University.

This informative and entertaining book is the result of years of
research and preparation for The Beatles: The Days in Their Life, a
radio documentary first broadcast in 1981. In order to present a
complete picture of the Beatles’ career, from their beginnings as the
Quarrymen in the basement Casbah Club in 1959 to their dissolution in
1970, the authors endeavored to interview “anybody who had ever worked
with the Beatles or had been their friend.”

Over the course of the book’s 10 chapters, we hear from family
members who recall the group’s beginnings, as well as from those who
interacted professionally or personally with the Beatles on their rise
to fame, including the band’s producer, George Martin, Keith Richards
and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, and a host of others. As the story
unfolds, we hear from the Beatles themselves. We learn how they dealt
with the death of Brian Epstein (the department-store and record-shop
manager who took them under his wing early on in their career), how they
coped with the burdens associated with stardom, and how they were
affected by the breakup of the group. This is an enriching story of
arguably one of the most influential groups in the history of popular
music.