'It is a painstakingly researched book and based on for the first time interviews with Springsteen's family and friends as well as the Boss himself. To that extent it is the first authorised account for a decade. It sweeps through a career that began with Springsteen singing Twist and Shout at the Elks Club in Freehold, New Jersey, and ended in stadium and megastardom... Other rock stars of Springsteens' vintage have commissioned ghost-written autobiographies to put their own gloss on things. Instead, this is a warts-and-all account that includes Springsteen's flashes of temper when things didn't go his way... The strength of Carlin's account is unravelling some of the folklore.' --Nick Rufford, Sunday Times 'Peter Ames Carlin's new book is the first in 25 years to have been written with the co-operation of Springsteen. Previous biographies have tended towards closely argued adulation but Carlin has not been blinded by his access to Springsteen… Carlin has to sift what is real from what is, in Springsteen's words, just a brilliant disguise…' - Sarfraz Manzoor, Daily Telegraph 'Featuring extensive interviews with the man himself, BRUCE is definitely the one for the regular fan on the street. It's conventional but well written and jaw-dropping in its research. Springsteen is an impressively articulate interviewee but what sets BRUCE apart is the fact that Carlin seems to have succeeded in interviewing more or less anyone who has ever met Springsteen... - and synthesises all into one weighty, fact focused, readable and non-hagiographic tome.' - Andrzej Lubowski, Metro 'Jarrold Choice…With unprecedented access to Springsteen, Carlin presents a riveting and personal account of Springsteen's life' - Eastern Daily Press 'Focuses on the man and his music with the author gaining unprecedented access for this definite biog' - Brian Donaldson, The List" --Sunday Times

Peter Ames Carlin was born in Syracuse, NY, in 1963. He is the author of Catch A Wave: The Rise,Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney: A Life. He lives with his wife and three children in Portland, Oregon.