A story of the Beatles and of their age, how they influenced and brought changes all over the world.
Intriguing and informative
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I loved diving into this book and discovering more about a band we all adore. They were truly groundbreaking, and this book beautifully explains why and how they made such an impact.

This book functions better as a social history of the 1960's with the Beatles as a reference or focal point than as a history of the Beatles as the name implies. I learned a great deal about the era, some of which (the latter part) was my youth. Things were grouped more by subject than chronologically so that, for example, one section was about the use of drugs (by the Beatles as well as other musicians at the time, like the Stones, another was feminism and the role of women. I think that was more interesting than a mere chronology would have been.
What did not work as well with me was the concluding chapter, which tried to hard to wrap things up and convince the reader of the Beatles' significance. I would have rather seen a different ending or letting the history speak for itself since I think most people who would pick up the book to begin with are already convinced of the Beatles' significance. I also wish we would have gotten a better picture of Liverpool as an important setting in the book. Having been in Liverpool, albeit about 12 years ago, I would have liked more details that would have created visuals for me.
All in all, a well written and interesting piece of nonfiction. Thanks to NetGalley and to Pen and Sword History for giving me the opportunity to read this book prior to its publication date.

This book isn't really about The Beatles at all and though the history of the Fab Four is certainly interesting, it is none the worse for it. For while there is plenty in here about the world's most successful band: the respective Liverpool childhoods of John, Paul, George and the boy who would be Ringo, the trip to Hamburg, Brian Epstein,, the "more popular than Jesus" controversy, these are mainly used as a route into an extensive range of ,much broader topics incorporating everything from the consequences of the Butler Education Act, the Profumo Affair, the battled to decriminalise homosexuality, the creation of Coronation Street, 1968 French student, the Prague Spring, the Cuban Revolution, the career of Mohammed Ali and the Vietnam War.
It's a good book and sheds fascinating light on these and many other topics. However, if you want a straight biography of The Beatles themselves, I'd look elsewhere as this mostly isn't really about them.

I enjoyed reading this and learning more about a band we all love. They were ground breaking and this book really shows why and how that happened.

Wishes do come true and this was a book I so wanted to read......

How The Beatles Rocked The World by Stephen F Kelly was excellent and well researched throughout and a great book for a Beatle fan. A great book especially to share with your mum/dad etc over a cup of coffee and talk about the past especially the 60's and what they were doing when The Beatles hit the world!

When the Beatles burst onto the pop scene in 1962, they not only took the music world by storm but they also brought with them a counter culture that was to have far-reaching effects. With their long hair, humour and irreverent attitude towards authority, they were a breath of fresh air to a generation who had grown weary of the greyness of the post-war years. Beatlemania was to unleash a revolution against an outdated age.

They are still popular today with the new generation which is magical!

On Goodreads and Amazon UK

But, I do have one gripe - the photos were at the back of the book and I feel they should be integrated into the book, when the author has written about them in the chapters. But, a Lovely surprise when you come to them.

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Pen & Sword for my copy.

How The Beatles Rocked The World by Stephen F Kelly. It was an interesting book to see how the then-current events affected the Beatles and how they affected the world. While I enjoy their music, I didn’t know a lot about the Beatles themselves. It was amazing to see how much the world was changing in the 1960s. Reading their influence on Eastern Bloc countries was eye opening.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This was such a fun read. Not only a fun look into the Beatles and their music but also a glance into what life was like in the 1960s. A great book for anyone who enjoys reading about the music scene.

Absolutely loved this book. It’s almost the definitive social history of a decade; it’s far more than just another book about the Beatles. I was a teenager in the 60s and very much part of the social and cultural change that was underway. 1950s Liverpool was full of bomb sites, it was dirty, smelly and struggling to recover from the aftermath of the war. I was too young to go to The Cavern, but I loved the new music and groups that were around. They performed regularly on the pier head in New Brighton, at The Tower Ballroom and even the YMCA. Fly posters heralded the start of a musical revolution; Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, The Undertakers and numerous other Merseybeat bands that were very different. There was an energy lead by youngsters who embraced this change whilst parents tut tutted about long hair and great unwashed. Looking back, they’re all so clean cut!

Stephen Kelly writes about this phenomenon with knowledge and authority. I was pleased to note that he’s one of a handful who recognise that the current site of the Cavern is not original. Even locals have forgotten it was knocked down and resurrected further down the road. Kelly examines the numerous ways in which a few individuals really did not only rock but change the world. They crossed social divides between working, middle and upper class. They didn’t copy the way their parents dressed and they listened to music from the States, much of it brought in by merchant seamen returning to their home port. Their musical approach was individual and their influence extended to the way in which music was recorded and how groups were managed.

Kelly uses the Beatles as a foundation for a much deeper exploration of a few years in which the world really did change. He does so with ease. It was a decade which challenged everything; politics, culture, the establishment, alternative lifestyle, personal freedom, abortion rights, dictatorships…the list is endless. It’s difficult for subsequent generations to understand just how much these few years shaped a new world. Literature, civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, dictatorships and personal freedom all changed as part of the counterculture initiated by these lads who just wanted to enjoy and play music.

Each chapter considers a different aspect; The Mersey Sound, literature, political change, the Vietnamese War, employment, television, education, feminism and much, much more. There’s an extensive bibliography and comprehensive index. If you want a single volume to consider and sum up a decade with insight, this is it. I wish I could give it more stars; the best non fiction title I’ve read this year.

This is a book about the 1960's and how the Beatles got started in the world of music. There is a lot going on in the book and the world of the 60's. It is a brand new decade and a new era. It was a real cultural revolution. There was a war raging in Vietnam and young men were being drafted. War demonstrations and marches in America. The Beatles were meeting in Liverpool at the Cavern Club and forming their little group. There were a lot of American bands playing too such as; Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. While the Beatles did concerts in Sweden in October 1963 and were coming home, Ed Sullivan was in Heathrow airport when thousands of screaming girls got him to thinking about booking them for his US show. February 9, 1964 they appeared on Ed Sullivan and thousands of screaming girls once again. They appeared on February 11, 1964 at the Coliseum in Washington D.C and 20,000 fans attended. The next day, they gave two back-to-back performances at New York's Carnegie Hall. America had seen nothing like it since the early days of Elvis. Their singles and albums sold in their millions and at one point in April 1964 all five best-selling US singles were Beatles songs. The Beatles were topping the hit parades in nearly every country in the world. This is a great book to reminisce with as the author was there from the start in Liverpool at the Cavern Club. If you love Beatles music then you will love this book. There is a lot of historical moments of things going on in the world during the 60's that you will enjoy reading about in this book. Highly recommended!

To paraphrase Dylan, the times were definitely changing.

I went into this book expecting it to generate a virtual jukebox of Beatles' tunes in my head and bring back some fond memories. It did all that but so much more. It's the story of the 1960's as much as it is of the group. The history buff in me rejoiced as it delved into not just the '60s but the preceding times, showing how they helped set the scene for not just the music revolution the Beatles helped herald but why their influence was so powerful. There's a great deal here to take in, so get comfy, put on some Beatles' tunes and simply enjoy this virtual time travel jaunt back into the past.

Oddly enough, the tune that wound up on perpetual loop in my mind as I read wasn't even a Beatles' tune. It was Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin''". The author takes us back to a time when, quite frankly, it sounds like things looked rather empty and bleak for the working class. We're talking England here, of course, but as shown, the situation was much the same around the world, from Liverpool to Moscow to America. Russia, of course, was still very much a closed society at the time, but everywhere jobs were scarce and there was little chance to break out of the sameness of everyday life. Even music choices were limited, the author notes, pointing out that until the ealy 1960's even the fabled Cavern Club was largely limited to traditional jazz. I tend to enjoy jazz but to the youth of the day, well, that was their parents' music. America may have had Elvis, a youthful symbol of rebellion, but at this point in time he was in the Army and not making much music. Even Brian Epsteim, who'd play such a pivotal role in the rise of the Beatles, wasn't particularly interested in rock'n'roll.

The author does an admirable job blending the times and influence of the Beatles. His tone is generally conversational and easy to read, making it feel personable to the reader. I thoroughly enjoyed his own personal memories of the time, making you feel like you were there as he takes you back in time to visit the Cavern Club which, quite frankly, may have had good acoustics but doesn't sound like a comfortable place to have hung out. Shows the draw of music. Non-British readers may not be familiar with all the British names that pop up but the author does a good job introducing them to us and explaining their roles, so it flowed relatively smoothly.

One of the things I most enjoyed was that while the focus was obviously on the role the Beatles played, the author also spotlights many of the behind the scenes players, so to speak, reminding us that nothing happens in a vacuum. I particularly liked that the so-called 5th Beatle, Stu Sutcliffe was given not just space but that for the first time I came to fully appreciate how very talented an artist he was and what a loss to the art world his early death was. You'll also read about the role of poetry and how Paul and John were frequent attendees at live readings. Again, a subtle nudge of memory of how their writing skills were honed. Heck, you'll even get a peek at the controversy surrounding the book "Lady Chatterley's Lover", not to mention a recounting of how the various "profane" words, for lack of a better term, were counted and reported.

Of course, musical groups weave in an out of the narrative, reminding us that that the Beatles weren't operating in a bubble. Dylan, of course, but countless other names as familiar as the Rolling Stones, that are now engraved in our music loving minds, many of which also played the Cavern. See what I mean about the fun virtual jukebox that was playing in my mind along with Beatles' tunes?

I could, of course, go on and on -- after all, the book is current enough to have included the release of the late John Lennon's "Now and Then" song by Paul and Ringo in 2023 -- but will try to wrap this up. You'll definitely come away with not only a better understanding of the influence of the Beatles but the historical times that set the stage for their emergence. You'll learn what came after. You'll appreciate how chance encounters had momentous impact. The "What ifs..." are countless. You'll also marvel how impressive it really was when Paul McCartney played Russia's Red Square, particularly given what it symbolized.

Bottom line, a well-researched, quite readable look back. The author includes his own personal memories, too, making this all the more relatable. There is a bibliography of sources used or referenced at the end -- can you imagine how many pages it'd take to list everything Beatles in a bibliogphy? -- as well as an index. Finally, there are photos, b/w in the digital version I read and at the very end. The captions do a good job showing where they fit within, however, and definitely remind us that "A picture is worth a thousand words". Thanks #NetGalley and #Pen&Sword for taking me on this virtual time travel journey that conjured up such an awesome virtual jukebox in my mind. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank you to Net Galley and Pen & Sword Books Ltd for an early copy of How the Beatles Rocked the World by Stephen F. Kelly

The latest work by author Stephen F. Kelly offers readers a broad overview of the many factors in play in the 1960s that help explain how four Liverpool young men rose to the world stage in music. Government policies, attitudes toward sexuality, homosexuality, organized religion, education, fashion, sports and the media are all given their due in this abbreviated and sometimes repetitive reporting of all the wheels in motion following World War II not only in England but globally.

The Beatles themselves do not stand at the forefront of this narrative; in fact, the Rolling Stones are quoted as often as any Beatle in these pages.. Readers who lived the time as teenagers will quickly become familiar with the scenarios, and those too young (or too old) will appreciate the details.

Perhaps the title of the book should be How the World Rocked the Beatles as the emphasis is not on the Beatles' influence on the world but the way the times influenced the Beatles and their music.