Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation
by: Sheila Weller
List Price: $27.95
Prices subject to change.
Price: $21.24
You Save: $6.71 (24%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Product Description:
A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America's most important musical artists -- Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon -- charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time.
Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct. Carole King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Joni Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Carly Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now mythic sixties generation -- female version -- but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché. The history of the women of that generation has never been written -- until now, through their resonant lives and emblematic songs.
Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women's intimates, who are speaking in these pages for the first time, this alternating biography reads like a novel -- except it's all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information.
Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them -- confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.
A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America's most important musical artists -- Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon -- charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time.
Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct. Carole King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Joni Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Carly Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now mythic sixties generation -- female version -- but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché. The history of the women of that generation has never been written -- until now, through their resonant lives and emblematic songs.
Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women's intimates, who are speaking in these pages for the first time, this alternating biography reads like a novel -- except it's all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information.
Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them -- confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.
Alternate Versions:
Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category:
- Books » Subjects » Biographies & Memoirs » Arts & Literature » Composers & Musicians » General
- Books » Subjects » Biographies & Memoirs » Arts & Literature » Composers & Musicians » General AAS
- Books » Subjects » Biographies & Memoirs » Specific Groups » Women
- Books » Subjects » Biographies & Memoirs » General
- Books » Subjects » Biographies & Memoirs » General AAS
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Three Aspects Of The Self
Much has been written, including right here on Amazon, of how the lives of these three women are intertwined -- with each other's, and with ours. There's more to it than that: in a way, they're three pieces of the same whole.
Carole King was the Superego, writing the idea of the idealized versions of ourselves ("Beautiful," "Believe In Humanity"). Joni Mitchell was the Id, saying the things we thought but did not say ("watching your hairline recede, my vain darling ..."), and sometimes ... Read More
Rating: - 3 books in one
I have purchased and listened to King/Mitchell/Simon records thousands of times and wondered about the lives of these women.I have read a few magazine articles about Carly Simon and seen a biography on Joni Mitchell.But I really never could imagine just what crazy exciting lives these women have lead.Each have gone through many different phases and this book does not skimp.Where many of the songs came from are explained.Exactly how did they come to create all this great music?What were they ... Read More
Rating: - 148 reviews
this is a long book/not so well written & well researched
i think CAROLE KING is a true music genius.
JONI MITCHELL is brittle
and hard/not likeable. (oh but can she write!!!!!)
CARLY SIMON is neurotic. (lots of sex) suffers stage fright
*author was very interested in S E X*
some of the reviewers mention that the author is a NAME
DROPPER..thats so true.
ALL HAVE MORE TALENT THAN ANYONE ELSE ON THE FACE OF
THIS PLANET
if ... Read More
Rating: 
- Deserved More Stars, but ...
This was an interesting (even fascinating) read, and the author did an excellent job of setting forth the facts and circumstances that molded each performer/artist. Within each specific set of personal developments in their lives, the author did a good job of assessing how and what impacted whom, and to what extent. As to the broader societal implications advanced by the lives and music of these women, the author saw nothing but some sort of glorious advance for feminism. Nothing they did, no trend they ... Read More
Rating: - Riveting Read
Sheila Weller, whose "Glamour" articles I love, has written one of the most fascinating music books I've read in years. Any one of these three women would have provided more than enough material for an engrossing book but Weller wove all their stories into a compelling tale of the 60s and 70s and the emergence of a new kind of feminism in pop music. This book is so much more than biography. It's an account of a time and place that holds endless allure. Congratulations, Sheila.
- Three Aspects Of The SelfMuch has been written, including right here on Amazon, of how the lives of these three women are intertwined -- with each other's, and with ours. There's more to it than that: in a way, they're three pieces of the same whole.
Carole King was the Superego, writing the idea of the idealized versions of ourselves ("Beautiful," "Believe In Humanity"). Joni Mitchell was the Id, saying the things we thought but did not say ("watching your hairline recede, my vain darling ..."), and sometimes ... Read More
- 3 books in oneI have purchased and listened to King/Mitchell/Simon records thousands of times and wondered about the lives of these women.I have read a few magazine articles about Carly Simon and seen a biography on Joni Mitchell.But I really never could imagine just what crazy exciting lives these women have lead.Each have gone through many different phases and this book does not skimp.Where many of the songs came from are explained.Exactly how did they come to create all this great music?What were they ... Read More
- 148 reviewsthis is a long book/not so well written & well researched
i think CAROLE KING is a true music genius.
JONI MITCHELL is brittle
and hard/not likeable. (oh but can she write!!!!!)
CARLY SIMON is neurotic. (lots of sex) suffers stage fright
*author was very interested in S E X*
some of the reviewers mention that the author is a NAME
DROPPER..thats so true.
ALL HAVE MORE TALENT THAN ANYONE ELSE ON THE FACE OF
THIS PLANET
if ... Read More
- Deserved More Stars, but ...This was an interesting (even fascinating) read, and the author did an excellent job of setting forth the facts and circumstances that molded each performer/artist. Within each specific set of personal developments in their lives, the author did a good job of assessing how and what impacted whom, and to what extent. As to the broader societal implications advanced by the lives and music of these women, the author saw nothing but some sort of glorious advance for feminism. Nothing they did, no trend they ... Read More
- Riveting ReadSheila Weller, whose "Glamour" articles I love, has written one of the most fascinating music books I've read in years. Any one of these three women would have provided more than enough material for an engrossing book but Weller wove all their stories into a compelling tale of the 60s and 70s and the emergence of a new kind of feminism in pop music. This book is so much more than biography. It's an account of a time and place that holds endless allure. Congratulations, Sheila.
