Book Review: Born to Run

Bruce Springsteen's memoir is dual proof of the existence and myth of an American manhood and an antidote to the often-warranted shame of being American.

Sex, drugs and rock n’ roll sells records and books. Make no mistake, these themes have a very dignified place in the pantheon of American culture, and it would be disingenuous to dismiss them as unimportant. Bruce Springsteen’s catalogue, live performances and memoir are sexy, in their own ways. Sexy because they permit us some pride in what has long been unfashionable, being American, and help organize our feelings about American masculinity. It comes as no surprise that America’s most enduring rock-frontman infuses his memoir with these feelings so strongly that, as I sat finishing the book in the window seat of a flight, eyes welling up and peering out over the eastern seaboard of the United States, it was all I could do to keep from crying.