U2 at the End of the World

As the story unfolds, we find U2 on the last flight into East Berlin before the wall comes down. Five years and 500 pages later, the book ends near the midway point in U2's weirdest, most polarizing decade. What happens in the early '90s is nothing less than a full-scale reinvention: the earnest rock band that gave us Joshua Tree morphs into the (supposedly) shallow, image-conscious, electro-infused group of performance artists who brought us MacPhisto. Endlessly entertaining and surprisingly astute, Flanagan's insider account of that time is a joyride 25 years later. It's crazy to think of everything that has happened with U2 in the years since – the further reinvention of Pop, the post-9/11 halftime show, the activism of DATA and ONE, ubiquitous iPod ads. For all the reinventions, it occurs to me, U2 has remained surprisingly steady in its ambitions, its values, and its craft. The world needs a sequel, Bill Flanagan; just make sure it doesn't automatically "download" to our bookshelves.