Eagles and Hotel California: 50 Years

Take a stunning visual and narrative journey down the “dark desert highway” to explore the creation, legacy, and lasting cultural power of one of rock’s most iconic albums.

A milestone celebration of rock history and myth, Eagles and Hotel California: 50 Years offers fans and scholars a richly illustrated and deeply reported look at the Eagles and their landmark 1976 album Hotel California. Alongside 200+ photos and images, including rare studio, stage, and on-the-road photography and band memorabilia, veteran rock historian Sean Egan delivers a fresh analysis, exploring:

• The tumultuous recording sessions at the Record Plant (LA) and Criteria Studios (Miami) that gave birth to the album.
• The songs that became generational anthems—“New Kid in Town,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” and the title track with its now-famous guitar duel—and their cultural resonance across rock radio and beyond. 
• The casualties, the excesses, and the contradictions of the L.A./desert-state rock scene: the band’s internal fractures, the golden age of studios, the paparazzi glare, and the trade-off between art and commerce.
• How the album’s 50th-year legacy plays out today, and how the myth of the “Hotel” gets repurposed for new generations of fans.

Presented in a giftable slipcased hardcover format, Eagles and Hotel California: 50 Years is a must-own book for enthusiasts of 1970s rock, delivering an in-depth glimpse into one of the most revered albums of all time and a reading experience that fuses music history with pop-culture myth-making.

The Great Albums series presents authoritative explorations of rock’s most revered records, beautifully packaged for fans to treasure. Delve into even more groundbreaking releases with: Pink Floyd and The Dark Side of the Moon, Bruce Springsteen and Born to Run, Prince and Purple Rain, Queen & A Night at the Opera, Run-DMC and Raising Hell, The Who & Quadrophenia, Beastie Boys and Licensed to Ill, and Fleetwood Mac and Rumours … with more to come!