Kenneth Womack
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Kenneth Womack (born January 24, 1966) is an American writer, literary critic, public speaker, and music historian, particularly focusing on the cultural influence of
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
. He is the author of the bestselling ''Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles'' and ''John Lennon, 1980: The Last Days in the Life''.


Life and work

Kenneth Womack was born in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, United States, and is Professor of English and Popular Music at
Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its charter. There are about 4,400 full ...
. He is the author of four novels, as well as the author and editor of numerous volumes of literary and cultural criticism. Womack's multiple books devoted to the Beatles include ''Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four'' (2006; with Todd F. Davis), ''Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles'' (2007), '' The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles'' (2009), which was named by ''The Independent'' as the 2009 Music Book of the Year, and ''The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four'' (2014) and its revised paperback edition (2016). ''The Beatles Encyclopedia'' earned numerous awards as a scholarly reference work, while also enjoying acclaim from premier academic journals such as ''Choice'' and ''Popular Music and Society''. In 2017, Womack released the first volume in his full-length biography of Beatles producer
Sir George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Bea ...
, ''Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin (The Early Years: 1926-1966)'', and the second volume, ''Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin (The Later Years: 1966-2016),'' in 2018. Womack is the Music Culture writer for ''Salon'' and also writes a regular column on the Beatles for ''CultureSonar'' entitled ''Everything Fab Four''. His work has appeared in ''Slate'', ''Billboard'', ''Time'', ''Variety'', ''NBC News'', ''The Guardian'', ''USA Today'', and ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. In 2020, ''Rolling Stone'' highlighted Womack's scholarly efforts in shedding new light on the authorship and background of John Lennon's "
Grow Old with Me "Grow Old with Me" is one of the final songs written by John Lennon. It was recorded by Lennon as a demo while in Bermuda in 1980, and later appeared on the posthumous album '' Milk and Honey'' in 1984. It was also considered as a possible reun ...
." In October 2020, Womack was featured as a guest commentator on an episode of ABC's ''20/20'' entitled "John Lennon: His Life, Legacy, Last Days." In addition, Womack is the author of the award-winning novel ''John Doe No. 2 and the Dreamland Motel'' (2010), which offers an alternative back-story for the
Oklahoma City Bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, Timothy McVeigh and T ...
through the eyes of John Doe No. 2, the elusive mystery man who was originally identified by the FBI as a participant in the attack. In the novel, John Doe No. 2 spends more than a year in the company of
Timothy McVeigh Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third ...
as he plots his calamitous act of domestic terrorism. ''John Doe No. 2 and the Dreamland Motel'' was the Bronze Award Winner in the ''ForeWord Reviews'' Book of the Year Award competition, as well as a Semi-Finalist for the James Branch Cabell First Novelist Award. Womack's second novel, ''The Restaurant at the End of the World'', provides a fictive re-creation of the last hours in the lives of the staff and visitors to the Windows on the World restaurant complex atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center. In 2013, ''The Restaurant at the End of the World'' earned the gold medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards for Best Regional Fiction (Mid-Atlantic). The novel was also a finalist in the 2013 Indie Book Awards and the 2013 Montaigne Medal competition. His third novel, ''Playing the Angel'', was published in August 2013 and his fourth novel, ''I Am Lemonade Lucy!'', was published in May 2019. As literary critic, Womack is the author and editor of several books related to ethical criticism and postmodern humanism, including ''Postwar Academic Fiction: Satire, Ethics, Community'' (2001), ''Mapping the Ethical Turn: A Reader in Ethics, Culture, and Literary Theory'' (2001; with Todd F. Davis), and ''Postmodern Humanism in Contemporary Literature and Culture: Reconciling the Void'' (2006; with Todd F. Davis). Womack's four-volume ''Books and Beyond: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading'' (2008) was honored in 2009 by the American Library Association with the Outstanding Reference Sources Award. In addition to serving as founding editor of ''Interdisciplinary Literary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory'', Womack is co-editor of the celebrated ''Year’s Work in English Studies'', published annually by Oxford University Press. His work as teacher and writer has earned numerous awards over the years, including Penn State University's Alumni Teaching Fellow Award (2006) and the Kjell Meling Award for Distinction in the Arts and Humanities (2010). In 2013, he was selected to serve as the sixth Penn State University Laureate. Womack earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...
and a Ph.D. in English from
Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...
. He lives in West Long Branch, New Jersey, with his wife Jeanine. Womack's brother Andrew is co-founder of the online magazine '' The Morning News''.


Books


Fiction

* ''The Time Diaries'' (Lemont, PA: Mount Nittany Press, 2021). * ''I Am Lemonade Lucy!'' (Castroville, TX: Black Rose, 2019). * ''Playing the Angel'' (Nacogdoches, TX: Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2013). * ''The Restaurant at the End of the World'' (Charlotte, NC: Mint Hill Books, 2012). * ''John Doe No. 2 and the Dreamland Motel'' (DeKalb, IL: Switchgrass Books/Northern Illinois University Press, 2010).


Scholarship

* ''All Things Must Pass Away: Harrison, Clapton, and Other Assorted Love Songs'' (Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2021; co-authored with Jason Kruppa). * ''Fandom and the Beatles: The Act You've Known for All These Years'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021; co-edited with Kit O'Toole). * ''John Lennon 1980: The Last Days in the Life'' (London: Omnibus, 2020). * ''The Beatles in Context'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020). * ''Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles'' (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2019). * ''Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin (The Later Years, 1966-2016)'' (Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2018). * ''Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin (The Early Years, 1926-1966)'' (Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2017). * ''The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper, and the Summer of Love'' (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017; co-edited with Kathryn B. Cox). * ''World Trade Center Through Time'' (Portsmouth, NH: Arcadia, 2017). * ''The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four'' (abridged; Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2016). * ''Victorian Literary Cultures: Studies in Textual Subversion'' (Cranbury, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2016; co-edited with James M. Decker). * ''The Eighth Wonder of the World: The Life of Houston's Iconic Astrodome'' (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2016; co-authored with Robert C. Trumpbour). * ''New Critical Perspectives on the Beatles: Things We Said Today'' (New York: Palgrave, 2016; co-edited with Katie Kapurch). * ''The Mammoth Book of Movies'' (DuBois, PA: Mammoth Books, 2015). * ''The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four'' (two volumes; Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2014). * ''Made to Order: The Sheetz Story'' (Portsmouth, NH: Arcadia, 2013). * ''The Facts on File Companion to Shakespeare'' (New York: Facts on File, 2012; co-edited with William Baker). * ''Bruce Springsteen, Cultural Studies, and the Runaway American Dream'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012; co-edited with Jerry Zolten and Mark Bernhard). * ''The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009). * ''Penn State Altoona'' (Portsmouth, NH: Arcadia, 2009; co-authored with Lori J. Bechtel-Wherry). * ''Books and Beyond: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading'' (four volumes; Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2008). * ''Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles'' (New York: Continuum, 2007). * ''Postmodern Humanism in Contemporary Literature and Culture: Reconciling the Void'' (New York: Palgrave, 2006; co-authored with Todd F. Davis). * ''Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four'' (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006; co-edited with Todd F. Davis). * ''The Critical Response to John Irving'' (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004; co-edited with Todd F. Davis). * ''Reading the Family Dance: Family Systems Therapy and Literary Study'' (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2003; co-edited with John V. Knapp). * ''The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion'', by Ford Madox Ford (Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2003; co-edited with William Baker). * ''Formalist Criticism and Reader-Response Theory'' (New York: Palgrave, 2002; co-authored with Todd F. Davis). * ''A Companion to the Victorian Novel'' (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002; co-edited with William Baker). * ''Mapping the Ethical Turn: A Reader in Ethics, Culture, and Literary Theory'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2001; co-edited with Todd F. Davis). * ''Postwar Academic Fiction: Satire, Ethics, Community'' (New York: Palgrave, 2001). * ''Key Concepts in Literary Theory'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2001; co-authored with Julian Wolfreys and Ruth Robbins). * ''Twentieth-Century Bibliography and Textual Criticism: An Annotated Bibliography'' (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000; co-edited with William Baker). * ''Felix Holt, The Radical'', by George Eliot (Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2000; co-edited with William Baker). * ''British Book-Collectors and Bibliographers'' (three volumes; Detroit: Gale Research, 1997–1999; co-edited with William Baker). * ''Recent Work in Critical Theory, 1989-1995: An Annotated Bibliography'' (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996; co-authored with William Baker).


References


Sources

''Contemporary Authors Online''. The Gale Group, 2001.


External links


Official website

The Year’s Work in English Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Womack, Kenneth 1966 births Living people American fiction writers Pennsylvania State University faculty American literary critics Texas A&M University alumni Northern Illinois University alumni Writers from Houston Monmouth University faculty