Mary Climbs In: The Journeys of Bruce Springsteen’s Women Fans

The scholarly study of Bruce Springsteen and his music is a growing field, but work that focuses solely on women in his fanbase remains limited. Frustrated with assumptions that his women fans’ adoration was based on a romantic or physical attraction to Springsteen, Mangione (clinical psychology, Antioch Univ.; coauthor, Daughters, Dads, and the Path Through Grief) and Luff (sociology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical Sch.) surveyed women around the world from ages 15 to 88. The respondents’ answers, which offered nuanced thoughts on Springsteen and his work, demonstrate how his music has served as a bedrock through joyful and sorrowful times. While the book covers only a fraction of Springsteen’s women audience, the range and depth of their anecdotes confirm that studying and sharing their stories is valuable, and they celebrate bonds with fellow fans.