The Hour of the Innocents

Four young musicians are determined to escape the ravaged industrial landscape of their impoverished hometown . . . Music is the only hope they have.

1968. Vietnam. Social turmoil. Drugs. Music.

Set against a fleeting age when music seemed about to change the world, Robert Paston’s The Hour of the Innocents tells the story of the band known as The Innocents and captures the true drama of the late 1960s not the glitter of famous names, but the yearning of the heartland guitarists and drummers who believed and the lovers, friends, and lives crushed along the way.

“Evocative and engrossing, this story will leave readers deeply affected.” —Booklist

“Blue-collar rock & roll . . . Bruce [Springsteen] built his house on such a foundation. It all plays out in The Hour of the Innocents: the love, the hurt, the sweet pain and exhilaration of being in a band when there was still a dream to die for.” ―Larry Kirwan, of the band Black 47

“Moving and evocative.” ―Don Scardino, producer and director of 30 Rock

“So smooth, so assured and so beautifully written. . . .Hate to use tour de force—but damn, this book nails it!” ―David Hagberg, New York Times–bestselling author of Castro's Daughter