This bibliography lists the scholarly publications on the Grateful Dead phenomenon. The scope is limited to works that focus on the band and its impact; it should be noted that the Dead figure in many larger and comparative treatments that are not listed here.
The bibliography is arranged by year and separated into two categories: books and journal issues, and articles and chapters.
This bibliography is a work in progress and is under construction now; entries will be added steadily in the coming months. If you know of an entry that should be added, please email us at info [at] dead.studies.org.
2020
Books and Journal Issues
Wood, Brent. The Tragic Odes of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead: Mystery Dances in the Magic Theater. London: Routledge, 2020.
Articles and Chapters
Brackett, David. “Improvisation and Value in Rock, 1966.” Journal of the Society for American Music 14, no. 2 (May 2020): 197–232. DOI: 10.1017/S1752196320000073.
Zwagerman, Sean. “‘Comedy Is What We’re Really About’: The Grateful Dead in a Comic Frame.” Americana 19, no. 2 (Fall 2020). https://www.americanpopularculture.com/journal/articles/fall_2020/zwagerman.htm
2019
Books and Journal Issues
Meriwether, Nicholas G., ed. Grateful Dead Studies 4 (2019/2020). Print and online. www.gratefuldeadstudies.org. Note: individual research articles listed below.
Articles and Chapters
Backstrom , Melvin J. “‘Spring from Night into the Sun’: Metaphors of Dark and Light in the Music of the Grateful Dead.” Grateful Dead Studies 4 (2019/2020): 16–39.
Coffman, Christopher K. “‘All That’s Still Unsung’: Agamben’s Potentiality and the Grateful Dead.” Grateful Dead Studies 4 (2019/2020): 60–85.
Daley, Mike. “Listening to ‘Space’.” Grateful Dead Studies 4 (2019/2020): 40–59.
Flory, Andrew. “Liveness and the Grateful Dead.” American Music 37, no. 2 (Summer 2019): 123–145.
Mattson, Mark E. “Some Structural and Expressive Variations in Performances of Six Grateful Dead Songs.” Grateful Dead Studies 4 (2019/2020): 107–126.
Schoenfeld, Bethe and Robert Schoenfeld. “The Grateful Dead Subculture in Israeli Society: A Preliminary Study.” Grateful Dead Studies 4 (2019/2020): 127–143.
Torell, Kurt. “Makin’ the Seen: Synesthesia, the Grateful Dead, and the Total Work of Art.” Grateful Dead Studies 4 (2019/2020): 86–106.
2017
Books and Journal Issues
Olsson, Ulf. Listening for the Secret: The Grateful Dead and the Politics of Improvisation. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2017.
Articles and Chapters
Farber, David. “Moral Capitalism in the Age of Great Dreams: The Grateful Dead’s Struggle to Craft Right Livelihoods.” The Sixties 10, no. 1 (June 2017): 63–93.
Gunderman, Hannah C., and John Patrick Harty. “‘The Music Never Stopped’: Naming Businesses as a Method for Remembering the Grateful Dead.” Journal of Cultural Geography 34, no. 3 (October 2017): 373–395.
2016
Books and Journal Issues
Benson, Michael. Why the Grateful Dead Matter. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2016.
Jarnow, Jesse. Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America. Philadelphia: Da Capo, 2016.
Articles and Chapters
Obenzinger, Hilton. “When the Grateful Dead Joined the Columbia Strike, Friday, May 3, 1968–What Some Friends Heard, Saw, and Said.” The Sixties 9, no. 2 (December 2016): 290–294.
Richardson, Peter. “Please Don’t Dominate the Rap: The Grateful Dead and the Columbia University Student Strike.” The Sixties 9, no. 2 (December 2016): 295–297.
2015
Books and Journal Issues
Meriwether, Nicholas G., ed. Grateful Dead Studies 2 (2015/2016). Print and online. www.gratefuldeadstudies.org. Note: individual research articles listed below.
Articles and Chapters
Balter-Reitz, Susan. “‘We Can Share What We Got of Yours’: Reflections on the Copyright Paradox in the Grateful Dead Community.” Grateful Dead Studies 2 (2015/2016): 45–63.
McClain, Jordan. “From “Dark Star’ to Cherry Garcia: Four Subframes in Rolling Stone that Link Phish to the Grateful Dead.” Grateful Dead Studies 2 (2015/2016): 64–79.
Richardson, Peter. “‘Let Fate Decide the Rest’: The Grateful Dead, Quietism, and the Politics of Utopia.” Grateful Dead Studies 2 (2015/2016): 12–26.
Williams, Jay. “Jerry Alfred Garcia Hitchcock.” Grateful Dead Studies 2 (2015/2016): 27–44.