Soul Rebel: The Story Behind Every Bob Marley Song 1962-1981 by Maureen Sheridan, 144 pages, 1999)

Looking at this book, your natural tendency might be to think, "Great, another Bob Marley book," and granted, I might tend to agree with you, but Soul Rebel is a unique work amongst the myriad of Marley biographies.  It tells the story of is life by examining the vehicle through which he impacted so many people: his music.  Beautifully put together with dazzling full-color photographs, this relatively thin but large-framed work has the look of a coffee table book, but it has much more impact.  Jamaica-based author Maureen Sheridan writes with the confidence of an insider, pulling no punches when describing Jamaica's political and social climate ("...Jamaica these days,  unkempt and sullied by the litter of a lazy nation...") as well as Marley's work (in describing the tune "High Tide or Low Tide": "Musically, the track misses, and is not up to the level of other Wailers work.  The melody is unremarkable, the harmony is loose, and the arrangement reminiscent of second-rate R&B.") and even Marley's lifestyle (detailing his many extra-marital affairs and his rarely spoken of dabbling in drugs other than ganja: "...hanging out and doing coke right there in the open with four models...Bob was acting like he was possessed...he was cussing everyone, his eyes were red and he looked evil...).  However, this isn't an ulteriorly motivated "tell-all" book; Sheridan treats Marley with all due respect and veneration, just not to the extent of compromising her journalistic integrity.  The book is organized more or less chronologically, devoting each chapter to a Marley album and the songs it contains (the first couple of chapters deal with non-album singles released early in the Wailers' career).  The author begins each chapter with an overview of what was occurring in Marley's life and in Jamaica at the time of the album's release, then provides fascinating information on the meaning behind each tune and the work that went into writing and recording it.  The details are often incredibly intimate, with first-person accounts provided by his friends, acquaintances, and family members, although reliance on oral histories can be tricky (I question, for instance, the story involving The Commodores singing "All Night Long" on tour with Marley in 1980, when that song was released in 1983 by a solo Lionel Richie.).  Nevertheless, the accounts generally prove absorbing -- such as how names of Marley's friends were sometimes chosen randomly to list as writers of his songs in order to avoid publishing claims by Cayman Music -- making for a quick and spirited read.  Sure, the title may be a misnomer (it covers only a few of the nearly 100 songs recorded at Studio One, for example) and small grammatical glitches aside, Soul Rebel is well-written and accessible, easily enjoyed by black and white, commoner and nobility, reggae aficionado and novice alike -- just like Marley's music.