Reggae Video and Music from Jamaica

Reggae Video DVD's, Audio CD's, Rasta Literature, Artist Biographies, Jamaica Info, Jamaican Food!

Search Advanced SearchView Cart   Checkout   
 Location:  Home » Reggae Books » Music » Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley  
Main Categories
•Reggae Video DVD
•Reggae Music CD's
•Reggae Books
•Jamaican Food
Sponsored Links
CheapCaribbean.com
Yahoo! Personals
") winpops.document.close(); } //-->
Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley
Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley

 enlarge 		Author: Timothy White
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book

List Price: $18.00
Buy New: $9.73
You Save: $8.27 (46%)



Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars 58 reviews
Sales Rank: 38933

Media: Paperback
Edition: Rev Enl
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.2

ISBN: 0805080864
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.421646092
EAN: 9780805080865

Publication Date: May 2, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Also Available In:

  • Paperback - Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley (Catch a Fire)
  • Hardcover - Catch a fire: The life of Bob Marley
  • Hardcover - Catch a Fire: Life of Bob Marley
  • Paperback - Catch a Fire: Life of Bob Marley
  • Paperback - Catch a Fire: Life of Bob Marley
  • Paperback - Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley
  • Paperback - Catch a Fire
  • Paperback - Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley
  • Paperback - Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley
  • Paperback - Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley
  • Paperback - Catch a Fire: Life of Bob Marley
Similar Items:

  • 56 Thoughts from 56 Hope Road: The Sayings and Psalms of Bob Marley
  • No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley
  • 60 Visions: A Book of Prophecy
  • Marley Legend: An Illustrated Life of Bob Marley
  • Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley
Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
Bob Marley, reggae superstar and pop culture icon, left an indelible mark on modern music. Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley delves deep into the life of the lionized leader of a musical, spiritual, and political explosion that still reverberates more than a decade after his death. Almost nothing pertaining to the life of Bob Marley is left out; the origins of Rastafarianism (the Ethiopian religion that was the keystone of his life), the roots of the reggae sound, the Jamaican political and social debacle that informed his lyrics--this is a comprehensive account of the life of the artist and the times that produced him.

Catch a Fire is assiduously researched; the details writer Timothy White presents of the King of Reggae's life are cinematic in scope and, at times, cumbersome. White includes much of his primary source material, ranging from full interviews with band members to unearthed CIA documents, and devotes a whole section to describing his exhaustive research process. The final product is rich with elements of spiritual tome, rock biography, and history text; it is a hagiographic epic--the story of a man and his legend. --Brendan J. LaSalle

Product Description

The classic biography of reggae legend Bob Marley, updated and revised for the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death

Bob Marley left an indelible mark on modern music, both as a reggae pioneer and as an enduring cultural icon. Catch a Fire, now a classic of rock biography, delves into the life of the leader of a musical, spiritual, and political explosion that continues today.

Under the supervision of the author’s widow and with the collaboration of a Marley expert, this fourth edition contains a wealth of new material, including many revisions made by the author before his untimely death. An appendix to the new edition chronicles Marley’s legacy in recent years, as well as the ongoing controversy over the possibility that Marley’s remains might be exhumed from Nine Mile, Jamaica, and reburied in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where hundreds of Rastafarians live. The new edition also contains an expanded discography and is factually updated throughout.

“Probably the finest biography ever written about a popular musician.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“As close as rock journalism comes to transcendent literature.”
—Playboy

“White has a deep appreciation for reggae’s immediacy, hypnotic power, and contradictions . . . An exhaustively researched labor of love.”
—Chicago Sun-Times



Customer Reviews:   Read 53 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars It kept me interested   November 14, 2008
Catch a Fire is as much about Jamaican politics, Jamaican music history, Rastafarianism, and Jamaican folk customs and belief in the supernatural as it is about Bob Marley. What you get about Marley covers his childhood at least as much as the time when he was a famous musician. At least a third of this covers the post death Marley situation with way too much for my interest about the legal wranglings over his estate after he died. You never really get inside of his head or get a true feel for the man. Bob Marley remains a mysterious figure. One fault the book has is White comes at it too much from a fan or groupie perspective not being as objective as he should have by buying into the mythology around Marley more than he should have. For example he often speaks of horrible things happening to people who wronged Bob Marley in one way or another, more than slightly hinting at some sort of supernatural force avenging for him, or Marley himself having the ability to lay curses upon people. You can't really deny that Marley had a supernatural vibe going on, but in this case I think White should have been more objective. You also get wild accounts of instances of Bob Marley, Rita Marley and Peter Tosh being assaulted by a supernatural entity.

If you get this book for an analysis of Marleys music you will be disappointed. I mainly was interested in reading it because I wanted to learn more about the political side of Bob Marley and the allegations by some that his cancer was a result of being dosed by the CIA. There is a fair amount of the political stuff, more or less nothing on the cancer conspiracy theory but overall the book kept me interested.


5 out of 5 stars catch a fire the life of bob marley   November 9, 2008
I bought the book for my son who is a big fan of Bob Marley and he told me I selected an exllencent book. The book contained good imformation about Bob Marley's life. He was very pleased with my choice of books for him. Thanks Pamela Olsen


5 out of 5 stars Bob Marley   April 11, 2008
Highly recommend this book, the author will make you feel like you right next to Bob, and also give you an overview as if you're 'following' along, looking over or riding, right on Bob's shoulders. It has definetly made me understand Bob and humanity better... highly recommend this book


5 out of 5 stars Came quickly and was in brand new condition.   February 8, 2008
The book came lightening fast and was in brand new condition. I would recommend this seller and would definitely purchase from them again.


2 out of 5 stars Disappointing - what about the music?   August 31, 2007
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I was very disappointed with this book. After reading it, I have a pretty good idea of what Marley's childhood was like, a hazy picture of his adult life but no understanding at all of how a poor man from a third-world country was able to popularize a genre of music that was almost universally disdained, or considered a novelty, in the world outside of Jamaica in 1973.

I would have expected more discussion of his music; specifically how he and Chris Blackwell adjusted the arrangement of Marley's reggae songs to appeal to a broader audience, as well as how Marley's music evolved over time. I know from watching VH1's "Classic Albums", that process was critical to Marley's success but I don't even get an inkling of that in this book.

Instead the book has way too much on Marley's childhood (140 pages into it, we have only followed Marley up to the age of 14!). This book also has too many vague, cryptic references to conspiracy theories about the CIA, Ronald Reagan, the Jamaican government, etc.

On the bright side, the book does a good job of describing the superstititious world of poor Jamaica, full of demons and ghosts, etc., which helps explain the popularity of Rastafarianism.



Copyright by Reggae Shop Jamaica Cart powered by Amazon.com
All logos and trademarks on this site are property of their respective owners.
ReggaeVideo.org
Additional Resources
Reggae Videos Online
Additional Resources