“There may currently be no better introduction to the Grateful Dead than this superior tome.”
Library Journal‘s starred review of This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead:
This fine oral history joins the list of essential Dead books that includes such titles as Dennis McNally’s A Long Strange Trip and Jackson’s own Garcia: An American Life. It’s not so much a matter of the revelations contained herein, although there are plenty, as what the different voices, working in concert, add to the band’s story. Readers will quickly become absorbed into the Dead’s world and will feel that everyone is speaking directly to them. Considering the disparate sources (every single one documented) Jackson and Gans have drawn from, the narrative’s natural flow is incredible. Helpful to telling the story are small narrative and scene-setting interjections provided throughout each chapter, giving just enough information to allow the reader to understand the particular context in which the material is being presented. Some interviews were conducted expressly for the book, but much is published here for the first time. VERDICT: There may currently be no better introduction to the Grateful Dead than this superior tome. — Derek Sanderson, Mount Saint Mary Coll. Lib., Newburgh, NY