This is the authorized biography of one of the most influential blues musicians of the era. The book tells two stories; how a Delta farmer's son born in 1920 became a bestselling R & B entertainer who cut his first million selling record in 1951 who, at 70 became an international celebrity, elected to the rock and roll hall of fame. Its secondary intent is to depict a social and cultural history, following the Southern black experience of which John Lee Hooker's art is the quintessential expression on its journey from the Mississippi Delta to the music known all over the world.