Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Rutgers University Press, and author June Skinner Sawyers for the advanced reader copy of this book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Anyone who has really been a fan of Bruce Springsteen over his career spanning six decades could hardly be shocked by his recent endorsement of Kamala Harris. Yet, every time he speaks out on an election, alleged fans of his try to claim that they had no idea of his political leanings and vow to never listen to him again. Even if I believed these people’s declarations, I’d give them no merit. It’s not Springsteen who has changed over the years. He has always sung songs championing the working man and those on the fringes of society; good people who haven’t reaped the rewards of the “American Dream.”

June Skinner Sawyers is a Scottish author who has written many books about music and travel, including four books now about Bruce Springsteen. In We Take Care of Our Own, Sawyers looks at what shaped the values Springsteen sings about in many of his songs. The background information is not new to anyone who has read any of the biographies out there about Springsteen, particularly Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin and his autobiography, Born To Run. Sawyers puts that biographical information in a different light, showing how the world he grew up in shaped what he would later put to words and music.

Sawyers addresses the empathy Springsteen has for his fellow man; how despite the fact that he’s never really held a “real” job in his life he manages to craft lyrics that the working class can relate to. Springsteen is an empath. He can see people and put himself in their shoes and create the story of their lives. Sawyers attributes a lot of this to his faith. Although Springsteen has a sort of love/hate relationship with the Roman Catholic faith, Sawyers shows how that influenced Springsteen. What the Roman Catholic faith was traditionally about is the antithesis of the right-wing in America today.

It seems like as Springsteen watched, the world around him changed. From the 1950s and 1960s when there seemed to be a sense of community to the evolution of only caring about how things affect you and your immediate family, Sawyers conveys how Springsteen has captured the desperation and dreams of people on the edge.

The lyrics of Springsteen’s songs reflect this. Sawyers brings up songs from throughout Springsteen’s career to show his empathy with the working man. The earlier records were setting the stage for Springsteen’s outspokenness about politics. As the country moved further right in the 1980s, it was perceived that Springsteen was moving left. However, Springsteen and his values really didn’t change, which goes back to the point I was making earlier that Springsteen hasn’t changed, but the fans that decry his politics have.

At only 168 pages, this isn’t a long read, nor is it difficult. I don’t think you have to be a Springsteen fan to read it and grasp what’s being said. Sawyers reprints the lyrics enough to support her position that people unfamiliar with Springsteen’s work will understand what she’s talking about. I feel like this book also makes the argument that Springsteen is one of the most important artists of the past sixty years. History will look at Springsteen’s lyrics as reflective of what America was like, particularly for those not blessed by the “American Dream.”

On initial reflection, one would think Springsteen’s album Western Stars wouldn’t fit into this mold, but Sawyers manages to show how the alleged rugged individualism of the American West also influenced Springsteen and how that album, with its strong theme running throughout, also fits in well with the values Springsteen has been reflecting in his words over the years.

We Take Care of Our Own is a great reflection of Springsteen the artist as well as America at the crossroads. Sawyers does a fantastic job tying all of it together: SPringsteens background, influences, and values as they are translated into his lyrics. It’s a great read.

A few weeks ago, Bruce Springsteen publicly endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, and some "fans' professed shock and displeasure that he was being political. These fans clearly had not been paying attention for the past few decades. While Bruce Springsteen initially disavowed political involvement, he has become very open in his political views.

This brief book traces that evolution through his music while providing extensive historical background. While most devoted Springsteen fans will not learn anything new about him through this book, they may pick up some information on Catholic social teaching. Any book focused on Bruce Springsteen that manages to include Dorothy Day is a winner for me. Obviously, MAGAts need not read this book. #WeTakeCareofOurOwn #NetGalley

What a terrific job June Skinner Sawyers has done here, mining The Boss' discography and lyrics to create a thoughtful and comprehensive discourse regarding the influence of faith - both religious and secular - on not only his professional work, but also on his outlook on the world. I could have read 200 more pages and still been just as engrossed as I was in the first 200. Loved it, loved it, loved it - and promptly let our acquisitions coordinator know that we needed to buy a copy for our library.

We Take care of Our Own: Faith, Class, and Politics in the Art of Bruce Springsteen, by June Skinner Sawyers, is an insightful look at the themes that run through Springsteen's oeuvre. While we do get some biographical information this is not meant to be a biography but a contextualization, an analysis, of what has made his body of work speak to so many for so long.

If you're mostly interested in whether you'll learn some new minutiae about Springsteen's life, you may be disappointed. If, however, you're looking to gain some understanding of why his music touches so many people and what in his life helped to enable him to create such music, you will be richly rewarded for taking the time to read this. For a relatively small time investment, this is a one-sitting or one-day read, you will walk away with ideas you will ponder well after reading.

About the act of reading this. I suggest reading straight through first, at whatever your regular pace is, then coming back to the sections that most speak to you. That allows you to get the big picture and the bulk of the nuance. After a couple days of thinking about things, come back to it and give it a deeper read, whether all of it or sections you want to dive into.

The thought I came away with has to do with groups and community. By nature a group or community is an inside/outside or us/them entity. But how w approach that is where the ideas can be positive or negative. In other words, it isn't simply "our community" and those "others," whomever they are. It is an inclusive sense of community, a dynamic community. Not one set in stone which always already excludes many people permanently, but a community that itself changes and evolves, inclusively embracing those who might enrich the community while the community also enriches those individual lives. In short, inclusive rather than exclusive, embracing rather than repelling.

I would certainly recommend this to Springsteen fans who want to understand but also those who simply want to understand how art can touch so many people at a deeply personal level while also creating a community on a more public level.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

We Take Care of Our Own by June Skinner Sawyers is a thoughtful exploration of Bruce Springsteen’s evolution as an artist, focusing on the themes of faith, class, and politics that have shaped his music and public persona. At less than 200 pages, this book serves as a concise yet profound meditation on the ways in which Springsteen’s New Jersey upbringing, Catholic faith, and working-class roots have influenced his status as a voice for working-class America.

Sawyers delves into the key themes present in Springsteen’s work, such as community, the idea of America as a "promised land," and the myth of the West. She also examines his reflections on mortality and the limitations of life, drawing connections between his music and the works of other artists, both literary and visual, like John Steinbeck, Thomas Hart Benton, and Edward Hopper. By doing so, Sawyers provides readers with a deeper understanding of how Springsteen’s music resonates with universal experiences and struggles.

While We Take Care of Our Own may not offer groundbreaking revelations for die-hard fans familiar with Springsteen's catalog, it excels in connecting the dots and presenting a clear, cohesive picture of how his art has evolved in tandem with his beliefs and activism. The book also includes a compelling essay by Andre Dubus III that reinforces the importance of Springsteen’s role as a cultural and social icon.

For fans of Bruce Springsteen and those interested in the intersection of music, social justice, and activism, We Take Care of Our Own is a quick but impactful read. It’s a well-crafted examination that helps to illuminate why Springsteen remains such a powerful and essential figure in American music and culture.

This book is a valuable addition to the Springsteen canon and will resonate with those who appreciate the depth and meaning behind The Boss’s music. Highly recommended for fans and scholars alike, We Take Care of Our Own sheds light on the enduring relevance of Springsteen’s work in today's world.

More an essay than a book with only about 120 pages of actual narrative and the rest is afterward, acknowledgements, and notes. This was an interesting take on the Springsteen catalogue focusing on faith, class and politics but didn't measurably add to the information already available in more depth elsewhere. I am appreciative to NetGalley and Rutgers University Press for an advanced reader copy because I certainly would not have spent $49.99 (Amazon and Barnes & Noble) for a hardcopy. Recommended only for die hard Springsteen fans.

I very much enjoyed this meditation on the stories and songs of Bruce Springsteen. He is an unparalleled troubadour and voice for our time and these reflections helped me see many of his songs in a new light, which I appreciated. Well done and worth reading.

I'm not sure that fans of Bruce Springsteen will find much surprising about "We Take Care of Our Own: Faith, Class, and Politics in the Art of Bruce Springsteen," though will likely rejoice at the ability of June Skinner Sawyers to capture the evolution of Springsteen's beliefs from his New Jersey childhood through his latest works including "Letter to You" and Springsteen on Broadway.

At less than 200 pages, "We Take Care of Our Own" is clear and concise. Sawyers follows Springsteen's life, journeys through his music, explores both musical and non-musical influences, and gives quite a bit of attention to the influence of his Catholic upbringing and how that contributed to his becoming a highly recognizable spokesperson for working-class America.

Sawyers looks at key themes often found within Springsteen's artistry - the importance of community, America as a sort of "promised land," Western mythology and imagery, life and its limitations, mortality, and much more. Sawyers also explores Springsteen's connection to other artists and the ways in which his own musical presence evolved over the years.

For anyone familiar with Springsteen, I'm not sure "We Take Care of Our Own" will be revelatory, however, what will be revelatory is just how concretely Sawyers is able to connect-the-dots and give us a crystal clear picture of the ways in which artistry and activism have intersected throughout his life.

The book ends with an essay by Andre Dubus III that nicely complements everything that came before it and has to explain why Springsteen is one of America's most essential artists and likely always has been.

By the end of "We Take Care of Our Own," I was struck by just how much of a quick read this was and just how much material Sawyers covered. It's not so much how many pieces of the puzzle that Sawyers shares with us but how she's able to put those pieces together.

Will non-Springsteen fans embrace "We Take Care of Our Own?" Oh sure, fans of music history and those who embrace the intersections of arts, social justice, and activism will find much to love here. However, for the most part this is a work for Springsteen fans that will help us all understand just why we love him so much.

And we do.