**A tell-all biography of the epic in-fighting of the Grateful Dead in
the years following band leader Jerry Garcia's death in 1995
**
The Grateful Dead rose to greatness under the inspired leadership of
guitarist Jerry Garcia, but the band very nearly died along with him.
When Garcia passed away suddenly in August of 1995, the remaining band
members experienced full crises of confidence and identity. So long
defined by Garcia's vision for the group, the surviving "Core Four," as
they came to be called, were reduced to conflicting agendas, strained
relationships, and catastrophic business decisions that would leave the
iconic band in utter disarray. Wrestling with how best to define their
living legacy, the band made many attempts at restructuring, but it
would take twenty years before relationships were mended enough for the
Grateful Dead as fans remembered them to once again take the stage.
Acclaimed music journalist and New York Times bestselling author Joel
Selvin was there for much of the turmoil following Garcia's death, and
he offers a behind-the-scenes account of the ebbs and flows that
occurred during the ensuing two decades. Plenty of books have been
written about the rise of the Grateful Dead, but this final chapter of
the band's history has never before been explored in detail. Culminating
in the landmark tour bearing the same name, Fare Thee Well charts the
arduous journey from Garcia's passing all the way up to the uneasy
agreement between the Core Four that led to the series of shows
celebrating the band's fiftieth anniversary and finally allowing for a
proper, and joyous, sendoff of the group revered by so many.
