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，在美國紐約州的鄉下小鎮Bethel，舉行瞭一場為期三天的音樂會，取名為“伍德斯托剋”音樂節。三天中，有超過40萬的音樂愛好者湧入瞭這個小鎮。在伍德斯托剋，人們跳舞、飲酒、交流、搭設帳篷，公路上，擠滿瞭車子和人，有的人開瞭幾天的車風塵僕僕地趕來。整整三天，充滿瞭民謠布魯斯、甲殼蟲的聲音，人們在音樂的節奏下，激烈地錶達著自己對“自由”、“和平”與“愛”的願望。這是搖滾史上的一次奇跡，它成為瞭史上最成功的搖滾音樂節。

40年後，曆盡艱辛組織起這場音樂節的邁剋爾·郎（Michael Lang）成瞭今年最充實忙碌的人物，他在重新組織一場紀念40周年的音樂會過程中遇到瞭重重睏難，但同時，他的新書《通往伍德斯托剋》（Road to Woodstock）卻贏得瞭業內一片叫好聲。

邁剋爾是音樂節當初的組織者，他在書中揭開瞭幕布，透露瞭很多人們從來未知的音樂節的幕後故事。比如，他迴憶瞭自己和另一個組織者Max Yasgur的見麵，後者是一名農夫，卻邀請來瞭無數飢渴於搖滾之聲的青年來到瞭他的農場，因為這場音樂會，他們的小鎮很快成為瞭紐約州第二大城市。他也迴憶瞭自己和鮑勃·迪倫的會麵，解釋瞭為何迪倫沒有齣席這次活動。他也解釋瞭自己是如何讓Grateful Dead樂隊和The Who樂隊留下來的故事，更多的，他講述瞭這個搖滾史裏程碑事件背後的文化故事。此前隻有1970年的紀錄片《伍德斯托剋：和平三日》整體記錄瞭這場事件，現在，這本書也成為瞭解這個文化現象的最佳工具。