Read more
John Williams is the most famous film composer of all time. He wrote as many universally well-known tunes as the Beatles or Beethoven, if not more; his themes for
Jaws, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T., Jurassic Park, and
Harry Potter are beloved around the world by multiple generations. This is the first major biography, achieved with unprecedented access to Williams and new interviews with Steven Spielberg and Yo-Yo Ma, among many others.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Part I: Hollywood
- Chapter 1: The Ancestral Home (1877-1932)
- Chapter 2: Very First Adventure (1932-50)
- Chapter 3: Leaving Home (1951-56)
- Chapter 4: Love Theme (1956-68)
- Chapter 5: In Search of Unicorns (1969-74)
- Chapter 6: The Beginning of a Friendship (1972-76)
- Chapter 7: Binary Sunset (1977)
- Chapter 8: Death on the Carousel (1978-79)
- Chapter 9: The Miracle of the Ark (1980-83)
- Part II: Tanglewood
- Chapter 10: Cadillac of the Skies (1984-87)
- Chapter 11: Somewhere in My Memory (1988-91)
- Chapter 12: Journey to the Island (1991-96)
- Chapter 13: Duel of the Fates (1997-99)
- Chapter 14: Where Dreams Are Born (2000-03)
- Chapter 15: Confluence (2004-07)
- Chapter 16: Simple Gifts (2008-14)
- Chapter 17: Old Friends (2015-19)
- Chapter 18: Reunion and Finale (2020-24)
- Epilogue: Heartwood
- Acknowledgements: Close Encounters with the White Goddess
- Index
About the author
Tim Greiving is an arts journalist in Los Angeles who specializes in film music. He has contributed stories to NPR, the
Los Angeles Times, the
Washington Post, and the
New York Times. He has written program notes for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Albert Hall, and liner notes for more than one hundred soundtrack albums. He contributes to the Visual History Program for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and teaches film music history at the University of Southern California.
