Scholarly works
Womack's multiple books devoted to the Beatles include Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four (2006; with Todd F. Davis), [9] Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles (2007), The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles (2009), which was named by The Independent as the 2009 Music Book of the Year, [10] and The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four (2014) and its revised paperback edition (2016). [11] The Beatles Encyclopedia earned numerous awards as a scholarly reference work, while also enjoying acclaim from premier academic journals such as Choice and Popular Music and Society. [12]
In 2017, Womack released the first volume in his full-length biography of Beatles producer Sir George Martin, Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin (The Early Years: 1926–1966), [13] and the second volume, Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin (The Later Years: 1966–2016), in 2018. [14] Womack is the Music Culture writer for Salon and also writes a regular column on the Beatles for CultureSonar entitled Everything Fab Four. [15] In 2020, Rolling Stone highlighted Womack's scholarly efforts in shedding new light on the authorship and background of John Lennon's "Grow Old with Me". [16] In October 2020, Womack was featured as a guest commentator on an episode of ABC's 20/20 entitled "John Lennon: His Life, Legacy, Last Days." [17]
In addition, Womack is the author of the award-winning novel John Doe No. 2 and the Dreamland Motel (2010), which offers an alternative back-story for the Oklahoma City Bombing through the eyes of John Doe No. 2, the elusive mystery man who was originally identified by the FBI as a participant in the attack. [18] In the novel, John Doe No. 2 spends more than a year in the company of Timothy McVeigh as he plots his calamitous act of domestic terrorism. John Doe No. 2 and the Dreamland Motel was the Bronze Award Winner in the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Award competition, as well as a Semi-Finalist for the James Branch Cabell First Novelist Award. [19]
Womack's second novel, The Restaurant at the End of the World, provides a fictive re-creation of the last hours in the lives of the staff and visitors to the Windows on the World restaurant complex atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center. [20] In 2013, The Restaurant at the End of the World earned the gold medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards for Best Regional Fiction (Mid-Atlantic). [21] The novel was also a finalist in the 2013 Indie Book Awards [22] and the 2013 Montaigne Medal competition. [23]
Womack's third novel, Playing the Angel, was published in August 2013, and his fourth novel, I Am Lemonade Lucy!, was published in May 2019. Kirkus Reviews lauded I Am Lemonade Lucy!, writing that "Womack has created a fun, fish-out-of-water tale with heavy implications about today’s world. He has carefully drawn, realistic small-town figures—thanks to sharp dialogue from Kip and Ry especially—to show how quickly open minds can close, building to an emotional and incensing conclusion." [24] Womack's fifth novel, The Time Diaries, was published in 2021. [25]
Womack's 2023 biography Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans (HarperCollins) explores the life of Mal Evans, the Beatles’ longtime roadie and assistant. [26] The book received widespread acclaim and was named one of the best music books of 2023 by publications including Rolling Stone , [27] Variety , [28] The Telegraph, Ultimate Classic Rock , People, [3] and The Guardian. [29] It also won Music Book of the Year at the 2024 Music Industry Cannes (MiCannes) conference. [30]
Literary criticism
As literary critic, Womack is the author and editor of several books related to ethical criticism and postmodern humanism, including Postwar Academic Fiction: Satire, Ethics, Community (2001), Mapping the Ethical Turn: A Reader in Ethics, Culture, and Literary Theory (2001; with Todd F. Davis), and Postmodern Humanism in Contemporary Literature and Culture: Reconciling the Void (2006; with Todd F. Davis). Womack's four-volume Books and Beyond: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading (2008) was honored in 2009 by the American Library Association with the Outstanding Reference Sources Award. [31]
In addition to serving as founding editor of Interdisciplinary Literary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory, Womack is co-editor of the celebrated Year's Work in English Studies, published annually by Oxford University Press. His work as teacher and writer has earned numerous awards over the years, including Penn State University's Alumni Teaching Fellow Award (2006) and the Kjell Meling Award for Distinction in the Arts and Humanities (2010). [32] In 2013, he was selected to serve as the sixth Penn State University Laureate. [33]
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