Eric Meola first saw Bruce Springsteen perform in 1973 at New York’s legendary club Max’s Kansas City. He began photographing Springsteen the following year, just before the release of his breakthrough album, Born to Run, for which Meola shot the cover album art. Meola continued photographing Springsteen throughout his early career, most notably from 1977 through 1979, when Springsteen was emerging as a bona-fide rock star.

This carefully curated collection of images gives us a revelatory look at Springsteen as he was coming to terms with his newfound success and creating the music for his fourth album, Darkness on the Edge of Town. Complete with an introduction from Meola, an insightful end-of-book essay by Joyce Millman, and running lyrics to several of Springsteen’s songs, this book also shows how Meola’s evocative portraits reveal Springsteen as he really was—an artist at the crossroads of his fledgling career, writing about dark themes and finding redemption through his own words and image.

Eric MeoLa’s photographs can be found in private and public collections, including the International Center of Photography in New York, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. His images have appeared in numerous magazines, including Life, Travel & Leisure, Esquire, and Time. Streets of Fire: Bruce Springsteen in Photographs and Lyrics 1977–1979 is his fifth book. He lives in Sagaponack, New York.