"Leonard Cohen is the kind of artist who divides listeners into camps marked "love" and "hate". With a reputation as a lugubrious-voiced depressive, his name is often a byword for a peculiarly 60s brand of self-indulgence. In his defense is the heart-stopping poignancy of his concert and record performances and the sensuality with which he lays bare his artistic soul.".

"From his Montreal childhood to his current monastic lifestyle, this book traces Cohen's 50-year odyssey through Judaic mythology, drugs, alcohol, sex, and Buddhism to locations as far-flung as Greece, Cuba, and Tennessee. He emerges as a man of charm and wit continually moving toward his ultimate goal: the lyrical crystallization of the human condition."--BOOK JACKET.