Why not study the Beatles against a backdrop of the turbulent 1960s? Indeed, some cultural historians regard their arrival in the United States as an event comparable only to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War. Kenneth L. Campbell's new book, The Beatles and the 1960s, traces both the Beatles’ impact and the larger social forces that shaped their music and extraordinary popularity. Campbell announces that intention in the first sentence of the introduction: “This book places the Beatles’ career and music into the context of the political and popular culture of the 1960s, with special attention to how listeners at the time would have heard and interpreted their songs and albums” (p. 1).
Campbell's discussion unfolds methodically, starting with a portrait of postwar Liverpool and the Beatles’ various “origin stories.” It then shifts to Hamburg, furnishing background detail on the city's postwar recovery and libertine...