How the Beatles Changed the World by Martin W. Sandler (review)

Yes, it really has been half a century since the opening salvo of the British Invasion, the Beatles’ February 9, 1964 debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. In this adulatory volume Sandler attempts to recapture the frenzy of Beatlemania and to consider the broader influence of the band on aspects of American culture from fashion to religion, studio recording to movies. There’s something here for every Beatle interest—band history, mob scenes, album-burning backlash, facial-hair evolutions, Iron Curtain censorship, record-breaking musical triumphs, and alas, break-up and deaths. Organizational switches between chronological narration and subject themes, however, require nimbleness on the reader’s part to keep milestones in alignment, and not every picture in Sandler’s extensive photo gallery matches neatly with text. Readers who truly want to understand social and musical forces behind the hoopla will find the context a bit thin, with only a couple of lines addressing the dynamics of, for example, the Vietnam War and the Rolling Stones. For kids who simply want to know why Grandma still swoons over Sir Paul, however, and why Grandpa speaks of “the white album” with reverence, this is just the breezy, image-rich source to consult. The bound book will include a discography, bibliography, and index.