“ Writing about yourself is a funny business… But in a project like this the writer has made one promise to show the reader his mind In these pages I’ve tried to do this” — Bruce Springsteen from the pages of Born to Run In 2009 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl’s halftime show The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it That’s how this extraordinary autobiography began Over the past seven years Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life bringing to these pages the same honesty humor & originality found in his songs He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold New Jersey amid the poetry danger & darkness that fueled his imagination leading up to the moment he refers to as “ The Big Bang” seeing Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park & the rise of the E Street Band With disarming candor he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work & shows us why the song “ Born to Run” reveals more than we previously realized Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir This is a book for workers & dreamers parents & children lovers & loners artists freaks or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock & roll Rarely has a performer told his own story with such force & sweep Like many of his songs (“ Thunder Road” “ Badlands” “ Darkness on the Edge of Town” “ The River” “ Born in the USA” “ The Rising” & “ The Ghost of Tom Joad” to name just a few) Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography is written with the lyricism of a singular songwriter & the wisdom of a man who has thought deeply about his experiences