Between Wyomings

In his book Between Wyomings, Ken Mansfield gives us a partial account of his life history. As one of the most influential music producers of the past century, he has a lot of stories to tell. We are told accounts of his experiences with the Beatles, his adventures with Waylon Jennings, and his attempts to keep his head above water in the extreme opulence and excess of the music business.

After reading this book, it’s easy to imagine that Ken Mansfield could be called the modern-day embodiment of the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes. At first glance, it looks like Mr. Mansfield had it all. Money, success, fame, and more. It’s astounding to think that a small town kid from Lewiston, Idaho could go from rags to riches and achieve his American dream. Even at the peak of his meteoric ascension, though, the reader can see that Ken was always grasping for more.

Eventually, Ken’s life fell apart. He dabbled in obscure religion and used drugs heavily, trying everything he could think of to fill the void in his heart. As the author of Ecclesiaties concluded, “there is nothing new under the sun.” Fortunately, this is where God’s grace came into play. Mr. Mansfield found faith in Jesus Christ, and now all of his earlier accomplishments pale in comparison to his Eternal Savior.

I would be very interested to see how a non-Christian would react to this book. In many ways, it seems like Ken might to relate to a whole range of unbelievers. For much of his life he chased worldly goals and ambitions. He had reached the pinnacle of achievement according to our society, but he now believes that all of those pursuits were wasteful.

At the same time, Mr. Mansfield may have undermined his own efforts to tell his testimony in a compelling way. As I read this book, I often found myself more interested in his wild and crazy stories than his deep, wandering, introspective ponderings about God. An unbeliever could easily write off Ken’s transformation by claiming that his simply “went soft in his old age.” Let’s hope that’s not the case, but I could see it as a potential problem.

Overall, I would characterize Ken Mansfield’s writing style as extremely accessible. He was able to take me through a full range of emotions as I read this book, and I appreciated the way that he weaved his stories into the backdrop of a roadtrip with his wife. I would actually be quite interested in reading his previous work, The White Book.

I am a Thomas Nelson book review blogger.