The World of Leonard Cohen

by David R. Shumway (Editor)

Leonard Cohen's artistic career is unique. Most poets and novelists do not become rock stars. No other rock star's career peaked in their eighth decade as Leonard Cohen's did. Cohen's popularity is still growing five years after his death. In The World of Leonard Cohen, a team of international scholars and writers explore the various dimensions of the artist's life, work, persona, and legacy to offer an authoritative and accessible summation of Cohen's extraordinary career. His relation to key themes and topics – Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Zen and the East, the Folk tradition, Rock and roll, Canadian and World literature, film –are all addressed. The World of Leonard Cohen offers a comprehensive, uniquely informed and wholly fresh account of this iconic songwriter and artist, whose singular voice has permanently altered our cultural landscape.

Genres: Music

400 pages, Hardcover

Published January 29, 2026

Reviews

[Sharondblk]

This book is structured as a series of essays by different writers, all focussing on Leonard Cohen and an aspect of his life, music and the broader context of these.

Each chapter (essay) is written by a different person, focussing on a different theme. This can lead to a slightly repetitive feel, as each author must make sure we know the facts relevant for their essay, which may overlap with the facts of a previous essay.

It's also nearly all tertiary sources, so we have Nick Cave talking about Leonard Cohen, or Carli Simon or some singer I've never heard of. I have no idea why the author(s) chose that quote, from that person, in that context. There is a really funny bit early on where the writer is talking about a photo, and then they describe the photo, like it's not 2025 and we can't reproduce photos in books.

I may have enjoyed and absorbed information from any one of these essays, if I'd come across them as a standalone article, but together they are too much for me. I'm neither academic enough, nor enough of a deep fan, to fully appreciate this book as a whole.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for this honest review.

[Keith Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of essays which despite me having lots of Leonard Cohen books and cds shed light on parts of his life and work and the impact of both I'd not known before.

[Fionnbharr Rodgers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed bag. Some essays have some good points and points of intrigue; others are tantamount to hackery. There’s not a lot that you’d not learn from Slyvie Simmons’ biography.

[Keith Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of viewpoints and topics for the casual fan. Presume cohenheads would know much of this. The breakdown of topics had a good flow