Since their first performances in 1960, The Beatles' cultural influence grew in unparalleled ways. From Liverpool to Beatlemania, and from dance halls to Abbey Road Studios and the digital age, the band's impact exploded during their heyday, and has endured in the decades following their disbandment. Beatles fashion and celebrity culture, politics, psychedelia and the Summer of Love, all highlight different aspects of the band's complex relationship with the world around them. With a wide range of short, snapshot chapters, The Beatles in Context brings together key themes in which to better explore The Beatles' lives and work and understand their cultural legacy, focusing on the people and places central to The Beatles' careers, the visual media that contributed to their enduring success, and the culture and politics of their time.

'… this is a solid introduction to the life and times of the most successful musical group in history.' J. F. Lyons, Choice

Kenneth Womack is Dean of the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monmouth University, New Jersey, where he also serves as Professor of English. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Long and Winding Roads (2007), The Cambridge Companion to The Beatles (Cambridge, 2009), and The Beatles Encyclopedia (2014). More recently, he is the author of a two-volume biography of Beatles producer George Martin, titled Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926-1966 (2017) and Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Later Years, 1966–2016 (2018).