Maps and Legends

The most thorough and comprehensive biography of R.E.M. yet published, Maps and Legends covers not just the band's entire career, from "Radio Free Europe" to Collapse Into Now, but also delves deeply into the childhoods of each of the band members, tells the story of each of the teenage groups one or more of them played in before R.E.M. - among them Bad Habits, Shadowfax, the Back Door Band, Gangster, and the Wuoggerz - and concludes with a detailed look at the solo work of Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe.