An intimate look at the life and music of modern pop’s most legendary figure, Taylor Swift, from leading music journalist Rob Sheffield.

A cultural phenomenon. A worldwide obsession. An agent of emotional chaos. There’s no parallel to Taylor Swift in history: a teenage girl who turns into the world’s favorite pop star, songwriter, storyteller, guitar hero, live performer, changing how music is made and heard. An all-time great on the level of The Beatles, Prince, or David Bowie.

Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music is the first book that goes deep on the musical and cultural impact of Taylor Swift. Nobody can tell the story like Rob Sheffield, the bestselling and award-winning author of Dreaming the Beatles, On Bowie, and Love Is a Mix Tape. The legendary Rolling Stone journalist is the writer who has chronicled Taylor for every step of her long career, from her early days to the Eras Tour. Sheffield gets right to the heart of Swift and her music, her lyrics, her fan connection, her raw power.

At once one of the most beloved music figures of the past two decades and one of the most criticized, Taylor Swift is known as much for her life beyond her music as she is for her hits—the most public of stars, yet also the weirdest and most mysterious. In the tradition of Sheffield’s Dreaming the Beatles, Heartbreak Is the National Anthem will inform and delight a legion of fans who hang on every word from Taylor and every word Rob writes on her.  

Rob Sheffield is a columnist for Rolling Stone, where he has been writing about music, TV, and pop culture since 1997. He is the author of the national bestsellers Love Is a Mix Tape: Love and Loss, One Song at a Time; Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut; Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love & Karaoke: On Bowie; and Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

“Readers will revel in the unrestrained delight with which Sheffield captures his subject, mixing a fan’s exuberance with a music critic’s nuanced analysis. Swifties won’t be able to put this down.” — Publishers Weekly

“Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone tackled mix tapes in a memoir and the Beatles in an appreciation, both highly acclaimed books. Now he tackles Taylor Swift, choosing his title Heartbreak Is the National Anthem from her song 'New Romantics' (from her best album 1989, just sayin'). Fans will love the fact that he takes Swift seriously: this is about popular music and how she's shaped it as an artist and yes as a pop culture force to be reckoned with. And non-fans will enjoy learning just what all the fuss is about." — Parade

“Tracking Taylor Swift from precocious teen to pop-music juggernaut. Why is Taylor Swift a cultural lightning rod? Why do people love—or hate—her and her music so much? Those are the questions that Sheffield, a music journalist and self-avowed Swiftie, seeks to answer in this zippy and engaging work. An affectionate homage from an ardent fan.” — Kirkus Reviews

"An impressionistic portrait of Taylor Swift... the first serious attempt to place Swift inside a music history.” — Chicago Tribune

“The book is a rollercoaster to be devoured in one sitting and at the end, he somehow leaves you wanting more.” — USA Today

“The first serious book-length discussion of Swift as an artist and cultural force… short, delightful and interesting.” — Bloomberg News

“Strongly felt and delightful collection… [Sheffield] can make the whole place shimmer.” — Boston Globe

“Rob Sheffield’s kaleidoscopic, wildly enthusiastic biography, Heartbreak Is the National Anthem, will satisfy both superfans and those less familiar with the prolific phenom Taylor Swift.”? — BookPage

“For the Swiftie in your life, this definitive account of the rise of pop megastar Taylor Swift by Rolling Stone journalist Rob Sheffield is a must-read. Sheffield has been following Swift’s career since “Our Song” in 2006, and his new book tracks her rises and falls with the rigor of an investigative journalist and the eyes and heart of a superfan.” — Our Culture Magazine

“One of the things that’s made Rob Sheffield’s writings on music compelling to so many readers is his attention to the ways music can become a part of one’s life… His latest, Heartbreak Is the National Anthem, explores the cultural impact of another musical juggernaut: Taylor Swift. It looks to be both a welcome addition to Sheffield’s own catalog and a memorable look at Swift’s music.” — Inside Hook