NONFICTION

The Silver Snarling Trumpet: The Birth of the Grateful Dead—The Lost Manuscript of Robert Hunter

by Robert Hunter
Hachette. Oct. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9780306835155. $32. MEMOIR
COPY ISBN
This book might not have been published had its author not died, and if it didn’t in part concern Jerry Garcia (1942–95). Hunter (1941–2019), the cofounder and longtime primary lyricist for the Grateful Dead, wisely states in a 1982 author’s note included in this work that he has “no intentions of publishing this record.” Written in the early 1960s when Hunter was 19, in a highly subjective novelistic or memoiristic style full of visions and spiritual ramblings, this book adds little of value to the history of the Grateful Dead. To be fair, it was not intended to, as it was written before the Grateful Dead existed and only written for the eyes of Hunter, Garcia, and their small coterie of friends.
VERDICT Hardcore Deadheads or those interested in the cultural transition from Beat to hippie may find something of value here. Those looking for a more focused history of the beginnings of the Grateful Dead should turn to the early chapters of David Browne’s excellent So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead.
Reviewed by Derek Sanderson , Sep 20, 2024
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