About this item
Brings to life a passionate poet-turned-musician and what compels him and his work. Why is it that Leonard Cohen receives the sort of reverence we reserve for a precious few living artists? Why are his songs, three or four decades after their original release, suddenly gracing the charts, blockbuster movie sound tracks, and television singing competitions? And why is it that while most of his contemporaries are either long dead or engaged in uninspired nostalgia tours, Cohen is at the peak of his powers and popularity? These are the questions at the heart of A Broken Hallelujah, a meditation on the singer, his music, and the ideas and beliefs at its core. Granted extraordinary access to Cohen's personal papers, Liel Leibovitz examines the intricacies of the man whose performing career began with a crippling bout of stage fright, yet who, only a few years later, tamed a rowdy crowd on the Isle of Wight, preventing further violence; the artist who had gone from a successful world tour and a movie star girlfriend to a long residency in a remote Zen retreat; and the rare spiritual seeker for whom the principles of traditional Judaism, the tenets of Zen Buddhism, and the iconography of Christianity all align.
About the Author
I am a breakfast enthusiast, a coffee fanatic, a video game scholar, a husband and a father of two. I come from a long line of rabbis, and even though I'm a few cheeseburgers removed from the faith of my fathers, I take religion very seriously: most of my books are about our attempts -- sometimes desperate, always touching -- to make sense of the divine particles floating all around us. I'm a proud graduate of Columbia University's doctoral program in communications, and teach about games and other digital media at New York University. I believe that the books we write and read are only entry points into conversation, so get in touch via Twitter (@liel) or email (lleibovitz@gmail.com) .
