Woody
Guthrie : A Life by Joe Klein
Before he became Anonymous, author of the political novel Primary Colors,
Joe Klein wrote this intelligent biography of America's legendary folksinger-activist.
Klein's first book may not have created the fuss that Primary Colors did,
but it attracted the attention of no less a celebrity than Bruce Springsteen,
who used to cite it with respect during concerts before singing Guthrie's
most famous lyric, "This Land Is Your Land." Klein's unearthing of two
politically radical verses usually omitted from that song is just one instance
of the solid research underpinning his vivid narrative of Guthrie's often
tragic life (1912-67). Before Woody turned 15, his sister died in a fire
and his mother was committed to an Oklahoma insane asylum with a mysterious
disease he later learned he inherited; Klein's chilling description of
Huntington's chorea is one of the book's strong points. Its heart is a
full rendering of Guthrie's restless wanderings across Depression-era America,
which fired his lifelong radicalism, and a scrupulously unsentimental account
of Woody's oft-sentimentalized personality. He may have been a genius and
a staunch advocate of the common people, but Guthrie was also a bad husband,
neglectful father, and difficult friend, as Klein shows. He pays Woody's
life and music the tribute of assuming they need no sanitizing, and this
biography is all the more interesting because of it. --Wendy Smith -
Amazon.com Paperback: 480 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.14 x
9.24 x 6.20
Publisher: Delta; (February 9, 1999)
ISBN: 0385333854
Woody
Guthrie : American Balladeer (Unsung Americans) by Janelle Yates
Book Description: Besides writing This Land Is Your Land, Bound
for Glory and other American classics, Woody Guthrie crisscrossed the nation,
living and singing among the dispossessed. Over the course of his life,
he composed more than a thousand ballads and celebrated, in his songs and
in his prose, the indomitable human spirit. This book's simple but evocative
language will appeal to readers of varied ages and backgrounds.
Publisher: Ward Hill Pr; (March 1995)
