The Winding Road: The Real Story Behind the Breakup of the Beatles

Based on 1,440 pages of notes and unprecedented research, this exposé of the breakup of the Beatles by the award-winning author of Shot in the Heart offers the most complete version of the story ever told.

In the August 2009 issue of Rolling Stone, Mikal Gilmore wrote a piece that became one of the most emailed articles off the magazine’s website. In it he offered fresh information on the breakup in 1970 of the most famous rock band of the twentieth century. Now, in a book no music fan would consider passing up, Gilmore goes even deeper, presenting a totally new look at this pivotal moment in music history.

John Lennon always referred to the end of the Beatles as a “divorce,” but that was simply how he justified his own leave-taking. In this thought-provoking, sensitively researched book, Gilmore concludes that what actually happened was something different and possibly worse than divorce: The Beatles’ break-up was an accident, a maneuver by John Lennon that went horribly wrong. Gilmore weaves together the stories of the four men who changed the face of popular music even as their divergent personalities—and the tremendous impact of the band’s popularity—conspired to destroy what they had worked so hard to create. Incorporating decades of interviews into a vivid, disturbing, and insightful picture of the Beatles, The Winding Road is one of the most significant books on pop music to appear in years.