This first biography researched and written since R.E.M. broke up offers the most detailed account by far of their formative years - the band members' early lives, how they met, their legendary debut show, touring out of the back of a van, initial recordings, and their shrewdly paced rise to world fame. The author tracked down and interviewed crucial figures in the band's history who were under-represented in or even absent from earlier biographies, and they contribute previously undocumented stories as well as casting a fresh light on the familiar narrative.