August 15, 1969. Richie Havens, the first act of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, takes the stage and welcomes a crowd of several hundred thousand to the green fields of Max Yasgur's farm—which is quickly becoming the second-largest city in New York State. People are dancing, imbibing, meeting, and helping the ever-increasing stream of new neighbors set up camp. Beyond the fields, the roads are jammed with cars and people, some of whom have been traveling for days to reach the festival site. Havens enthusiastically delivers folk-blues standards and Beatles songs, then begins to improvise, riffing on the refrain "Freedom." Freedom is at the heart of the harmony of this landmark cultural event—along with brotherhood, love, and peace. The next three days are the realization of months and years of dreaming and planning, the result of miracles and crises and coincidences. The story of the festival begins with Michael Lang, a kid out of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, who liked to smoke a joint and listen to jazz and who eventually found his way to Florida, where he opened a head shop and produced his first festival—Miami Pop, featuring Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and others. In the late sixties, after settling in Woodstock, he began to envision a music and arts festival where folks could come and stay for a few days amid the rural beauty of upstate New York. The idea crystallized when Lang talked it over with Artie Kornfeld, a songwriter and A & R man, and with two other young men they formed Woodstock Ventures. They booked talent, from Janis Joplin and the Who to the virtually unknown Santana and Crosby, Stills and Nash; won over agents and promoters; brought in the Hog Farm commune to set up campgrounds; hired a peacekeeping force; took on fleets of volunteers; appeased the Yippies; and were run out of one town and found another site weeks before the festival. On the ground with the talent, the townspeople, and his handpicked crew, Lang had a unique and panoramic perspective of the festival. Enhanced by interviews with others who were central to the making of the festival, The Road to Woodstock tells the story from inspiration to celebration, capturing all the magic, mayhem, and mud in between.

40年前，在美国纽约州的乡下小镇Bethel，举行了一场为期三天的音乐会，取名为“伍德斯托克”音乐节。三天中，有超过40万的音乐爱好者涌入了这个小镇。在伍德斯托克，人们跳舞、饮酒、交流、搭设帐篷，公路上，挤满了车子和人，有的人开了几天的车风尘仆仆地赶来。整整三天，充满了民谣布鲁斯、甲壳虫的声音，人们在音乐的节奏下，激烈地表达着自己对“自由”、“和平”与“爱”的愿望。这是摇滚史上的一次奇迹，它成为了史上最成功的摇滚音乐节。

40年后，历尽艰辛组织起这场音乐节的迈克尔·郎（Michael Lang）成了今年最充实忙碌的人物，他在重新组织一场纪念40周年的音乐会过程中遇到了重重困难，但同时，他的新书《通往伍德斯托克》（Road to Woodstock）却赢得了业内一片叫好声。

迈克尔是音乐节当初的组织者，他在书中揭开了幕布，透露了很多人们从来未知的音乐节的幕后故事。比如，他回忆了自己和另一个组织者Max Yasgur的见面，后者是一名农夫，却邀请来了无数饥渴于摇滚之声的青年来到了他的农场，因为这场音乐会，他们的小镇很快成为了纽约州第二大城市。他也回忆了自己和鲍勃·迪伦的会面，解释了为何迪伦没有出席这次活动。他也解释了自己是如何让Grateful Dead乐队和The Who乐队留下来的故事，更多的，他讲述了这个摇滚史里程碑事件背后的文化故事。此前只有1970年的纪录片《伍德斯托克：和平三日》整体记录了这场事件，现在，这本书也成为了解这个文化现象的最佳工具。