history professor sean wilentz explores the historical and cultural influences of bob dylan s songwriting. barnes & noble in new york city hosts a talk that lasts for an hour. thank you all for coming out on this very dark and rainy night. it s really great to be here. thank you for that lovely introduction. i m going to open my water now, better than later. so i ve read this book about bob dylan. it is not, contrary to what you may have read, a biography. it is not a biography of bob dylan. there are lots of biographies of bob dylan to suit every inclination. this is not one of them. this is more of a meditation. bob dylan start, his career, that his art primarily. the book had its origins many decades ago, which you can read about and talk about, but it really got its start about, let s see, just about nine years ago. out of the blue i got a phone call asking me to write something for bob dylan s website about an album he had coming out. and my first reaction was, you kno