Me and Mr. Jones: My Life with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars

To the teenage fans who adopted his iconic look in the early 1970s, David Bowie, particularly his Ziggy Stardust persona, may well have seemed to arrive from outer space to bestow his innovative genius upon humankind, in accordance with the mythology he created. But that persona was assembled out of earthly components, by a human stylist, Ronson. This memoir shows how Ronson used enthusiasm, quick thinking, and luck to parlay a chance meeting with Bowie’s mother, Peggy Jones, in the early ’70s into a significant role in crafting and presenting Ziggy Stardust’s style to the world. It’s a rock and roll life as dizzyingly magical and chaotic as one would imagine. It’s also abundantly clear that it wouldn’t last forever. Throughout this book, Ronson shows that she is aware that thousands, perhaps millions of young people, have longed to live the life that she led. But her depictions of returning home from tours across the United States and Europe are some of the most poignant parts of the story.