u003cbu003eFrom the author of the definitive u003ciu003eNew York Timesu003c/iu003e bestselling history of the Beatles comes the authoritative account of the group many call the greatest rock band of all time, arguably the most successful, and certainly one of the most notoriousu003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eRock star. Whatever that term means to you, chances are it owes a debt to Led Zeppelin. No one before or since has lived the dream quite like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. In u003ciu003eLed Zeppelinu003c/iu003e, Bob Spitz takes their full measure, separating the myth from the reality with his trademark connoisseurship and storytelling flair.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eFrom the opening notes of their first album, the band announced itself as something different, a collision of grand artistic ambition and brute primal force, of English folk music and African American blues. That record sold over 10 million copies, and it was just the beginning; Led Zeppelin's albums have sold over 300 million certified copies worldwide, and the dust has never settled. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eThe band is notoriously guarded, and previous books provided more heat than light. But Spitz's authority is undeniable and irresistible. His feel for the atmosphere, the context--the music, the business, the recording studios, the touring life, the whole ecosystem of popular music--is unparalleled. His account of the melding of Page and Jones, the virtuosic London sophisticates, with Plant and Bonham, the wild men from the Midlands, in a scene dominated by the Beatles and the Stones but changing fast, is in itself a revelation. Spitz takes the music seriously and brings the band's artistic journey to full and vivid life.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eThe music, however, is only part of the legend: u003ciu003eLed Zeppelinu003c/iu003e is also the story of how the sixties became the seventies, of how playing clubs became playing stadiums, of how innocence became decadence. Led Zeppelin wasn't the first rock band to let loose on the road, but as with everything else, they took it to an entirely new level. Not all the legends are true, but in Spitz's careful accounting, what is true is astonishing and sometimes disturbing. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eLed Zeppelin gave no quarter, and neither has Bob Spitz. u003ciu003eLed Zeppelinu003c/iu003e is the full and honest reckoning the band has long awaited, and richly deserves.