Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet by Seth Rogovoy (Scribner, $25, 9781416559153/1416559159, November 24, 2009)

Steve McQueen, King of Cool: Tales of a Lurid Life by Darwin Porter (Blood Moon Productions, $26.95, 9781936003051/1936003058, December 25, 2009)

With astonishing focus and intensity, Seth Rogovoy and Darwin Porter show how Bob Dylan and Steve McQueen arrived in New York City as poor and obscure 20-somethings determined to carve out very different paths to fame and fortune. Their close-ups of Dylan and McQueen along with the icons' psychology and sources of creativity should prove endlessly fascinating for their fans.

Lyrics serve as the trusty guide for Rogovoy's exploration of Bob Dylan, as both songwriter and performer. While engrossed in study of the Torah, Rogovoy was struck by how familiar some of the verses seemed. Why, he wondered, did he recognize, "The soles of their feet . . . their appearance was like fiery coals, burning like torches," and "No man sees my face and lives?" He then realized that he knew these lines (or slight variations) from favorite Dylan songs.

Viewing Dylan as engaged in a form of midrash (riffing on Biblical texts to create new meanings), Rogovoy began to analyze the Dylan songbook from the beginning ("Blowin' in the Wind" is linked to verses from Ezekiel and Isaiah; "Masters of War" is tied to Isaiah) to his most recent work. Rogovoy concludes that as early as his arrival in Greenwich Village in 1961, Dylan began using his knowledge of Biblical texts as jumping-off points for his compositions. The more he studies the lyrics in depth, the greater awe Rogovoy develops for Dylan's originality, wit and energy. Rogovoy does at times become so over-invested in Dylan that he can sound like a defense attorney countering critics who have caught whiffs of misogyny and anti-Semitism in the lyrics. On the whole, though, he offers much food for thought about the genius who wrote, "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more."

Darwin Porter approaches Steve McQueen through his cinematic image: "A man's man and a woman's dream" to his admirers or a star saddled with a face that "looked like a Botticelli angel who had been crossed with a chimp" to those less enchanted with his Bad Boy appeal. Exhibiting a tabloid reporter's enthusiasm for dirt, Porter investigates how McQueen developed the unique persona that captivated audiences in such movies as The Magnificent Seven and Bullitt.

McQueen's early years were a nightmare of abandonment, neglect, abuse and exploitation. His mother was an alcoholic; purportedly one of his "step-fathers" put him on the street as a child prostitute; he spent time in reform school and ran away to kick around brothels as a towel-boy. All that was a nasty prelude to a direction-changing three-year stint with the Marines (he enlisted at 17) and acting classes in Greenwich Village.

If McQueen was secure in anything, Porter assures us, it was his physical appeal and sexual allure. Notorious for having the morals of an alley cat (according to many sources), he admitted to one of his girlfriends that he would do anything with anybody--men, women, acting coaches, co-stars, competitors, idols--if it landed him a part. He told Rod Steiger, "I became a slut in New York looking for sluts." There are no complaints on record.

McQueen may have wanted to remain a tantalizing mystery to everyone, but even women he bedded suspected his competitive friendships with James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando, Rock Hudson, George Peppard and others went beyond a few beers and shop talk. Lee Strasberg and Shelley Winters shared their own theories about McQueen's sexuality with Porter, and they are suitably lurid.

Porter is so enamored of fun filth that the occasional questionable report slips in. The notoriously unreliable Anais Nin alleges that McQueen waltzed into New York City's White Horse Tavern with James Dean, radiating sexual tension before her astonished eyes. Delicious as this implausible tale may be, let's not confuse public crowd-scenes with intimate bedroom encounters.

To their credit, Rogovoy, burnishing the luster of Dylan, and Porter, at times tarnishing McQueen's, celebrate their stars to the heavens and yet, miraculously, bring us closer to them.--John McFarland

Shelf Talker: Superstars Bob Dylan and Steve McQueen get loving close-ups in highly illuminating and idiosyncratic biographies.