Skeleton Key

Hey Now, WebHeads! Welcome to the Skeleton Zone.

Some of the Nice Things Folks Have Been Saying About Skeleton Key:

“A modern day Joycean epiphany…colorful, witty and persuasive…One can’t help but be lulled into the feeling that if you’re not a Deadhead, you’re missing out on a good time.”
–Bob Kelly, Wired

“Replete with a healthy sense of humor and an obvious love for its subject…the mix of concrete and the absurd reminds you of the Dead’s music itself.”
–Steve Futterman, Rolling Stone

“This indispensable guide to all things Grateful Dead-related is the only dictionary you can laugh your way straight – or not so straight – through from beginning to end.”
–Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons” and Life in Hell

“One of America’s great underrated wonders, the Grateful Dead reflect everything that is glorious, tawdry, and strange about this land of ours. Skeleton Key is an elegantly written, one-size-fits-all passport to Deadhead culture’s rich, weird pageantry.”
–Richard Gehr, Village Voice

“A patchwork portrait of the Grateful Dead aesthetic….This gold mine of history and commentary will appeal to even the most seasoned Deadheads.”
–Al Kemp, Wilmington News Journal

“An informative and pleasurable read for any neophyte fan…[and] a must for the Dead freak who can’t get enough.”
–Brett Pauly, Los Angeles Daily News

“Indispensable…captures the essence of the Grateful Dead experience, both enriching it for experienced Deadheads and explaining it for ‘newbies.’”
–Gersh Kuntzman, New York Post

“Loaded with more jargon, humorous slang terms, anecdotes and minutiae than you can shake a kind veggie burrito at! …this book is way entertaining.”
–Terrapin Times

“The Key to understanding our subculture…truly the Rosetta Stone of the Deadhead scene.”
–Mike Maynard, Unbroken Chain

“Not just the best book at what it does, it is the only book that does what it does…. This book has left trails of multi hued memories alive and kickin’ in my head…. Even the PICKIEST PICKY DEADHEADS will approve of Skeleton Key…. Skeleton Key not only passes the acid test, it defines it.”
–Blair Jackson on “Skeleton Key”
from the ‘94 Year in Review feature in Dupree’s Diamond News #30, Winter ‘94

DAVID SHENK is the author of six books, including The Genius in All of Us, Data Smog, and The Immortal Game. His book The Forgetting inspired an Emmy-winning PBS film of the same name and was featured in the Oscar-nominated film “Away From Her.” He has advised the President’s Council on Bioethics and contributed to The New Yorker, National Geographic, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Gourmet, Harper’s, Spy, and NPR. Shenk lives in Brooklyn.

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