To have been alive during the last sixty years is to have lived with the music of Paul Simon The boy from Queens scored his first hit record in 1957 just months after Elvis Presley ignited the rock era As the songwriting half of Simon & Garfunkel his work helped define the youth movement of the '60s On his own in the '70s Simon made radio-dominating hits He kicked off the '80s by reuniting with Garfunkel to perform for half a million New Yorkers in Central Park Five years later Simon's album Graceland sold millions & spurred an international political controversy & it doesn't stop there The grandchild of Jewish immigrants from Hungary the nearly 75-year-old singer-songwriter has not only sold more than 100 million records won 15 Grammy awards & been installed into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame twice but has also animated the meaning & flexibility of personal & cultural identity in a rapidly shrinking world Simon has also lived one of the most vibrant lives of modern times; a story replete with tales of Carrie Fisher Leonard Bernstein Bob Dylan Woody Allen Shelley Duvall Nelson Mandela the Grateful Dead drugs depression marriage divorce & more A life story with the scope & power of an epic novel Carlin's Homeward Bound is the first major biography of one of the most influential popular artists in American history