The Beatles Come to America

"Two dates our generation remembers all our lives: November 22, 1963, and February 9, 1964. One brought sudden and inexplicable death, sorrow, and tears. The other brought overwhelming joy and the reassurance of life-affirming art. That Sunday night when we first met the Beatles on Ed Sullivan's show was the beginning of something deeply wonderful for us and piercingly threatening for some elements of the older generation, an event both timely and timeless. For the Beatles themselves, it was just the latest plateau achieved in their ever-ascending mythical journey. Forty years later, it remains the greatest musical story ever told." --Martin Goldsmith