The first and probably the most illuminating life of Thomas is this, by Fitzgibbon, who knew him, drank with him, and even put him up from time to time. It was written in 1965, just over a decade after Dylan's death. It's worth remembering that Dylan, had he lived, would only just have turned fifty. Even so, many myths had already sprung up and it's one of Fitzgibbon's aims to debunk as many as he can.
Fitzgibbon was an American anglophile living in London. He is therefore especially good on Fitrovia, before, during and after the war, and on Dylan's obsessession with America. Fitzgibbon's position, which presumably stems from discussions with the man himself, is that both Thomas and his wife Caitlin envisaged their future in America. Dylan's four tours, which ended up killing him, were laying the groundwork for emigration.
The book is extremely readable. The problem is the lack of quoted sources. There are no foot or end notes, no appendix dealing with sources, and those which Fitzgibbon does cite in the text don't seem to exist, at least not in the form he references.
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