What do you think?
Rate this book
Neil Peart: Cultural Repercussions: A full examination of the words and ideas of Neil Peart, man of letters and drummer extraordinaire of the rock band Rush. Revised and expanded edition
In January 2020, the world lost not only one of the greatest drummers, but also one of the most insightful lyricists. And a brilliant writer.
Though Neil Peart was universally lauded as drummer for legendary rock band Rush, few studies have been devoted to his writings. Yet, Peart was very much a man of his words. He wrote lyrics, travelogues, essays, cultural criticism, short stories, and fantasy novels.
The themes in his writings are personal journeys, exploration, excellence, growth, philosophy, art, satisfaction and happiness, religion, politics, individualism, natural history, life, love, loss, redemption, and beauty.
Peart wanted every person to persevere through individual trials, find unique gifts and abilities and, ultimately, true happiness. He did not just profess such things; he lived them.
Never satisfied with second best or any form of defeat, Peart challenged himself to live up to his own philosophy. And he always succeeded with grace, which earned him even more fervent admirers.
Since his death in 2020, Neil Peart has continued to inspire thousands through his music, his words, and his example.
This book—revised and expanded to incorporate Peart’s final years—carefully examines the influence that his life, his witness, and his words have had on others. Neil Peart lived life to the fullest, and he made us each better for it.
“includes some of the strongest analysis of Peart’s lyrics that you’ll find, and does a rigorous job of nailing down the tenets of Peart’s ever-evolving philosophy.”—PROG Magazine
Though Neil Peart was universally lauded as drummer for legendary rock band Rush, few studies have been devoted to his writings. Yet, Peart was very much a man of his words. He wrote lyrics, travelogues, essays, cultural criticism, short stories, and fantasy novels.
The themes in his writings are personal journeys, exploration, excellence, growth, philosophy, art, satisfaction and happiness, religion, politics, individualism, natural history, life, love, loss, redemption, and beauty.
Peart wanted every person to persevere through individual trials, find unique gifts and abilities and, ultimately, true happiness. He did not just profess such things; he lived them.
Never satisfied with second best or any form of defeat, Peart challenged himself to live up to his own philosophy. And he always succeeded with grace, which earned him even more fervent admirers.
Since his death in 2020, Neil Peart has continued to inspire thousands through his music, his words, and his example.
This book—revised and expanded to incorporate Peart’s final years—carefully examines the influence that his life, his witness, and his words have had on others. Neil Peart lived life to the fullest, and he made us each better for it.
“includes some of the strongest analysis of Peart’s lyrics that you’ll find, and does a rigorous job of nailing down the tenets of Peart’s ever-evolving philosophy.”—PROG Magazine
222 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 10, 2015
44 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Bradley J. Birzer
31 books64 followersBradley J. Birzer is an American historian. He is a history professor and the Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies at Hillsdale College, the author of five books and the co-founder of The Imaginative Conservative. He is known also as a J.R.R. Tolkien scholar.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 6, 2021
"Listen to my music
And hear what it can do
There’s something here as strong as life
I know that it will reach you"
And hear what it can do
There’s something here as strong as life
I know that it will reach you"
September 9, 2020
Utterly disappointing. I expected something that would look into the actual writings of Peart; both lyrically and from his writings. What I wound up with was a track-by-track tear-down of every Rush song with Sociological and Psychological analysis with a mix of reviews and editorial content concerning each album tossed in at the end. From time to time, the author offers snippets of interviews of Peart to help defend his (the author's) writing and analysis of the album or track at hand. Acknowledgements of Peart's writing works are sparse throughout, leaving the entire "book" (I'll loosely allow that as a descriptive for the moment) to appear as nothing more than a Master's level thesis for a Psychology or Sociology dissertation. Honestly, if you are looking for what the book's title describes as "...an in-depth examination of the words, ideas, and professional life of Neil Peart" - I would suggest picking up one of Neil's books and reading for yourself. Get the story straight from Peart rather than a tired, collegiate-like analysis.
--T /|\
--T /|\
June 8, 2022
I'm a fan of Rush and of Neil Peart and I'd not come across this yet. The subtitle, "An in-depth examination of the words, ideas, and professional life of Neil Peart, man of letters.", attracted me, but it doesn't quite deliver. What Birzer has here is a recap of a lot of the lyrics, interspersed with a few quotes from Peart's books, and some thoughts - and projections - on what the lyrics mean. Birzer is a fan. That's clear. And that's good. He rightly exposes Rolling Stone's myopically biased vicious dismissal of Rush (and prog rock in general), quoting from their "reviews" of Rush albums. (I've long thought that their investigative reporting was excellent, while their music criticism amateurish at best. All of their music criticism, not just of Rush.) Now, I do like what Birzer has to say about the lyrics. I like reading about others' perspective on things and this goes into my thinking toolbox. And I like this conclusion:
Quick takes:
[a quoted T. S. Eliot extract]But there is one law of nature more powerful than any of these varying currents, or influences from abroad or from the past: the law that poetry must not stray too far from the ordinary everyday language which we use and hear. Whether poetry is accentual or syllabic, rhymed or rhyme-less, formal or free, it cannot afford to lose its contact with the changing language of common intercourse.
{I like this}
[Peart, from an interview, on lyrics] Well, a lot of people don’t pay attention to lyrics. As a listener, I don’t. The only reason I put so much into writing is because I’m the one who’s doing it. It’s the old Anglo-Saxon ethic: if it’s worth doing …
{Kindred spirit? I don't listen to lyrics. (I can't - there's a disconnect in my head... either I hear lyrics or the music ... unless I put a lot of effort into the listening, which is counter to enjoying the listening.) And ditto in the "worth doing" bit.}
[on an obscure to me reference] One of the greatest living American guitarists, John Wesley, who had released a number of solo albums as well as having worked with prominent bands such as Porcupine Tree...
{Who? and who?}
[quoted drummer Mike Portnoy, on "La Villa Strangiato"] As I also stated in the Beyond the Lighted Stage film, to us blossoming musicians at the time, [it] was the ultimate musical challenge to learn, as no other instrumental song in rock history had that level of technical precision.
{High praise. I recall Peart talked about beginning a tour and finally getting "Tom Sawyer", something on the order of "It's a hard f***ing song!" Dude, you wrote it! Most of his work is like that, according to drummers I know.}
[on comparison with Steve Jobs] When Peart speaks in such terms, it is almost impossible not to compare him with another genius of his generation, Steve Jobs. The two have much in common, at least in terms if individualism and relentless drive. In all things, whatever they might be (except for his choice of official biographer), Jobs pursued excellence.
{Wow. This guy comes off high and mighty here - Isaacson may not have done an "in-depth examination" of Jobs, but he did expose the warts and all. And to compare Peart to Jobs is insulting. Peart by all accounts was a good, if private, human.}
[on Peart and Tarot] Second, he came to see a more mystical side of life, well beyond his previously steady devotion to late eighteenth-century European rationalism. In one incident—that would greatly influence the next three albums—Peart encountered a man who read his fortune through Tarot cards. The reading proved so accurate that Peart’s “jaw dropped, and it’s still dropping.” Though most orthodox religions forbid the reading of Tarot, artists as diverse as T.S. Eliot and Russell Kirk have employed its meaning—however tragic and deep or superficial and meaningless—effectively as a form of storytelling, especially when regarding character and morals. Peart does the same through his lyrics over the next several albums.
{I’d forgotten this. And that I was disappointed in Peart for this.}
[in the Bibliography] Ghost Writer: Travels on the Healing Road (ECW 2002)
{How did that get past editing?}
Rather, as all true individualists, he wanted to leaven all through his own excellence and remind us of the most important things in life.Something to think about.
And this he did. Throughout my life, Peart’s words have reminded me of the most important things. Whether he wrote these words in lyrics, in his books, or spoke them in interviews.
Peart made me more myself, not less.
And while I cannot prove it, I’m pretty sure I speak for thousands upon thousands of others.
Quick takes:
[a quoted T. S. Eliot extract]But there is one law of nature more powerful than any of these varying currents, or influences from abroad or from the past: the law that poetry must not stray too far from the ordinary everyday language which we use and hear. Whether poetry is accentual or syllabic, rhymed or rhyme-less, formal or free, it cannot afford to lose its contact with the changing language of common intercourse.
{I like this}
[Peart, from an interview, on lyrics] Well, a lot of people don’t pay attention to lyrics. As a listener, I don’t. The only reason I put so much into writing is because I’m the one who’s doing it. It’s the old Anglo-Saxon ethic: if it’s worth doing …
{Kindred spirit? I don't listen to lyrics. (I can't - there's a disconnect in my head... either I hear lyrics or the music ... unless I put a lot of effort into the listening, which is counter to enjoying the listening.) And ditto in the "worth doing" bit.}
[on an obscure to me reference] One of the greatest living American guitarists, John Wesley, who had released a number of solo albums as well as having worked with prominent bands such as Porcupine Tree...
{Who? and who?}
[quoted drummer Mike Portnoy, on "La Villa Strangiato"] As I also stated in the Beyond the Lighted Stage film, to us blossoming musicians at the time, [it] was the ultimate musical challenge to learn, as no other instrumental song in rock history had that level of technical precision.
{High praise. I recall Peart talked about beginning a tour and finally getting "Tom Sawyer", something on the order of "It's a hard f***ing song!" Dude, you wrote it! Most of his work is like that, according to drummers I know.}
[on comparison with Steve Jobs] When Peart speaks in such terms, it is almost impossible not to compare him with another genius of his generation, Steve Jobs. The two have much in common, at least in terms if individualism and relentless drive. In all things, whatever they might be (except for his choice of official biographer), Jobs pursued excellence.
{Wow. This guy comes off high and mighty here - Isaacson may not have done an "in-depth examination" of Jobs, but he did expose the warts and all. And to compare Peart to Jobs is insulting. Peart by all accounts was a good, if private, human.}
[on Peart and Tarot] Second, he came to see a more mystical side of life, well beyond his previously steady devotion to late eighteenth-century European rationalism. In one incident—that would greatly influence the next three albums—Peart encountered a man who read his fortune through Tarot cards. The reading proved so accurate that Peart’s “jaw dropped, and it’s still dropping.” Though most orthodox religions forbid the reading of Tarot, artists as diverse as T.S. Eliot and Russell Kirk have employed its meaning—however tragic and deep or superficial and meaningless—effectively as a form of storytelling, especially when regarding character and morals. Peart does the same through his lyrics over the next several albums.
{I’d forgotten this. And that I was disappointed in Peart for this.}
[in the Bibliography] Ghost Writer: Travels on the Healing Road (ECW 2002)
{How did that get past editing?}
September 15, 2023
This was a nice look at the musical career of Neil Peart as the drummer of Rush. Bradley Birzer does a good job of taking the reader through all 19 of the Rush albums in chronological order. He has some interesting takes on Neil's writing for each song, some I agree with and some I never thought of before. My only complaint about the writing is that he glosses over many songs and maybe only gives a few words or a sentence. It would also be interesting to hear more about his drumming technique in many songs and not just his lyrics. If you are a Rush fan and a fan of Neil Peart as I am, this book is worth the read. Birzer has a nice writing style.
May 14, 2018
This book focuses on Peart's written words, primarily his lyrics through Rush. It's very well researched, with copious footnotes, and offers a pretty cohesive analysis of Peart's philosophy as expressed through interviews, books, and lyrics. His professional life as a drummer is almost secondary, which is probably not a bad thing.
Well done. It's definitely not a critique - it's yet another book of "How awesome is Rush?," a sentiment I can agree with - and while it would be good to see positives and negatives presented, it's still a worthwhile read.
Well done. It's definitely not a critique - it's yet another book of "How awesome is Rush?," a sentiment I can agree with - and while it would be good to see positives and negatives presented, it's still a worthwhile read.
January 19, 2020
I first learned about this book while listening to a Tom Woods podcast, where he and Brad Birzer were discussing Rush. It was a great podcast, and so I asked for the book for Christmas. Ask and ye shall receive! I didn't get around to starting it until last week, and the day after I started, I learned that Neil Peart had died. Talk about synchronicity.
There's a lot of good in this book, and I recommend it for all Rush fans. The author has a lot of enthusiasm for the music and for Neil Peart's lyrics. I would have given 4 stars had the book been edited a bit better.
There's a lot of good in this book, and I recommend it for all Rush fans. The author has a lot of enthusiasm for the music and for Neil Peart's lyrics. I would have given 4 stars had the book been edited a bit better.
February 4, 2022
An okay examination of Neil's work and band bio. But overall distasteful of the books title.
Best for one to read all of Neil's own books. For more in-depth education of drumming. Engrossing oneself to "The Anatomy of a Drum solo. Being a lifelong fan and drum student myself of his works. Its pure perfection.
Best for one to read all of Neil's own books. For more in-depth education of drumming. Engrossing oneself to "The Anatomy of a Drum solo. Being a lifelong fan and drum student myself of his works. Its pure perfection.
November 26, 2020
Did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.
January 7, 2021
A nice, and huge, work.
Like the book....helped me to better understand the band, the way the worked and made their music, and as percussionist, to know even better Mr. Peart.
Like the book....helped me to better understand the band, the way the worked and made their music, and as percussionist, to know even better Mr. Peart.
August 15, 2021
At times it veers off into hero worship but as fellow Rush fanatic the author gets a pass.
March 5, 2017
Being a Rush geek, I had to read this book. Fantastic analysis of all things Neil Peart. Such a brilliant mind and a determined focused man of integrity and honesty. Be yourself! I now I have to listen to all the Rush albums again.
Oh and Bradley Birzer did an awesome job of analyzing and elaborating it all in a very readable book.
Oh and Bradley Birzer did an awesome job of analyzing and elaborating it all in a very readable book.
November 24, 2022
The “professor” was one of a kind. He will never be replaced. No one in the music world can compare to him. He was much more than a musician, drummer, author, lyricist, traveler…must I go on? Of course not, but he was just a man who was different. He saw life for what it was and captured it at every possible moment.
He had an ability to put everything he did, saw and felt into words with great detail, description, and meaning. His literary insight and wordsmith proclivities were garnished by his insatiable voracity to read anything and everything he could get his hands on. He was inspired by all he read and experienced in life and reflected these images of his own psyche through his written word.
This book allows the reader to fully appreciate Mr. Peart’s authorship of over 169 songs or there about of the RUSH musical library. Bradley Birzer who in his own right a scholastic from one of finest conservative universities in our country, put aside his own political views and interprets one the world’s creative literary lyricists of our time.
This book is fast read, but packed with a litany of information that provides the reader with possible foresight and meaning of every song written by Neil Peart album by album. The author divides each RUSH period of music into a particular time frame that allows any RUSH fan to comprehend how the music evolved through the band’s historical tenure.
He had an ability to put everything he did, saw and felt into words with great detail, description, and meaning. His literary insight and wordsmith proclivities were garnished by his insatiable voracity to read anything and everything he could get his hands on. He was inspired by all he read and experienced in life and reflected these images of his own psyche through his written word.
This book allows the reader to fully appreciate Mr. Peart’s authorship of over 169 songs or there about of the RUSH musical library. Bradley Birzer who in his own right a scholastic from one of finest conservative universities in our country, put aside his own political views and interprets one the world’s creative literary lyricists of our time.
This book is fast read, but packed with a litany of information that provides the reader with possible foresight and meaning of every song written by Neil Peart album by album. The author divides each RUSH period of music into a particular time frame that allows any RUSH fan to comprehend how the music evolved through the band’s historical tenure.
September 30, 2015
First of all, great title for a study on a drummer (icymi, re-percussions).
And yet the emphasis here is not on Neil Peart’s drumming, but rather a chronological history of his life with an emphasis on his lyrics. The author is as much a fanboy as me and everyone else reading this, which is refreshing, but for the most part he still manages to make this sound somewhat scholarly. There’s a lot more philosophical ramblings than I think anyone has ever tried to make of the lyrics, especially the Stoic school, as he breaks the career of Rush into parts according to when one era of music stopped and another started; I do that too, but mine don’t quite mesh with his.
There’s quite a bit here that reminds me of the documentary made of the band, with special attention given to all the famous musicians they’ve inspired. I don’t think this broke any new ground other than the philosophical musings mentioned above, but it’s still an interesting addition for those who have to have everything Rush-ian.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5
And yet the emphasis here is not on Neil Peart’s drumming, but rather a chronological history of his life with an emphasis on his lyrics. The author is as much a fanboy as me and everyone else reading this, which is refreshing, but for the most part he still manages to make this sound somewhat scholarly. There’s a lot more philosophical ramblings than I think anyone has ever tried to make of the lyrics, especially the Stoic school, as he breaks the career of Rush into parts according to when one era of music stopped and another started; I do that too, but mine don’t quite mesh with his.
There’s quite a bit here that reminds me of the documentary made of the band, with special attention given to all the famous musicians they’ve inspired. I don’t think this broke any new ground other than the philosophical musings mentioned above, but it’s still an interesting addition for those who have to have everything Rush-ian.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5
June 29, 2023
A fascinating book I'm glad I discovered. If you have any interest in Rush at all you should look for this one.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews