Kenneth Womack is one of the world's foremost writers and thinkers about the Beatles. He is Professor of English and Popular Music at Monmouth University, USA. He also serves as the Music Culture critic for Salon, as well as a contributor to a host of print and web outlets, including Slate, Billboard, Time, Variety, USA Today, The Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine, The Independent, NBC News, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He is the author of The Beatles Encyclopedia (2014), Maximum Volume (2017), Sound Pictures (2018), Solid State (2019), and John Lennon 1980 (2020). In October 2020, Rolling Stone magazine published a feature story outlining Womack's groundbreaking research associated with Lennon's life and work.

Prologue: The End
1. The Beginning
2. A Cellarful of Noise
3. And the Band Begins to Play
4. Rock and Roll Music
5. The Biggest Showbiz Town Ever
6. War-Weary
7. Yesterday and Today
8. Plastic Soul
9. The End of the Road
10. The Act You've Known for All These Years
11. Roll Up for the Mystery Tour
12. Whiter Shades of Pale
13. Getting Back
14. The Dream Is Over
Epilogue: Long Live the Dream
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Notes
Index