The mass-market edition is the standard that all Beatle biographies will have to meet from now on. The expanded edition is the standard that all music biographies/historiographies will have to meet from now on.

The expanded edition runs 1700 pages (approximately), and every page is compelling and filled with great details. Lewisohn is a relatively hands-off writer in that he constructs a narrative but allows the subjects to speak for themselves a lot of the time. Not necessarily a beginner bio for the wannabe Fab Four aficionado, but certainly the definitive word on the band's pregame years, and very possibly the most well-researched and detailed music biography you will ever read.