Taking Woodstock by Elliot Tiber

This book was recommended in response to my review of The Road to Woodstock, and then I realized Jeffrey Dean Morgan would be in the movie version (directed by Ang Lee) so I decided I would have to read it, since I always have to read the book before seeing the movie.

It was really interesting reading this book shortly after having read Michael Lang's story of Woodstock. There were several times where I'm pretty sure the two accounts contradict eachother, which given the nature of Woodstock is entirely possible. I also had the impression, after reading Lang's book, that Tiber hadn't been too bright. Naturally Tiber's own book paints him in an entirely different light. I think that discrepency may be due to the fact that Tiber is an artist, not a businessman, therefore not quite as savvy when it comes to business decisions, but still intelligent.

Another thing I found interesting was that it felt like Tiber seemed to almost worship Lang. He kept referring to him as his miracle man, who pulled him up out of the rut he had been in, and brought Woodstock to his town, which kind of changed the course of his life. His description and portrayal of Lang was almost god-like.

This book wasn't just about Woodstock though. It also dealt heavily with Tiber's own struggle with his sexuality, growing up as a gay man in the 50s and 60s with Jewish parents.

Overall this book was definitely more fast-paced and engaging than Lang's book, but I think I'm still a bigger fan of Lang's simply because it dealt more with Woodstock, which I was more interested in. While Tiber's story is interesting, it didn't bring up Woodstock until about halfway through. But it did give an interesting, different perspective to the events of that summer.