‘Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run,’ Peter Ames Carlin

Thirteen years after the publication of the truly definitive Bruce Springsteen biography Bruce, Peter Ames Carlin returned with an in-depth examination of Born to Run just in time for the album’s 50th birthday. Thanks to unprecedented access to the raw session tapes, official video vault, and new interviews with Springsteen, Jon Landau, and the E Street Band, Carlin dove deep into the saga and emerged with a stunningly fresh tale of a troubled artist at the brink of a massive breakthrough, and all the chaos and setbacks he fought through to get there. Springsteen’s life can be neatly divided into everything that came before Born to Run, and everything that came after. If they hadn’t gone with the Warren Zanes Nebraska book, this would have made an equally compelling film. —Andy Greene