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Woodrow Wilson Guthrie has had an immense impact on popular culture throughout the world. His folk music brought traditional song from the rural communities of the American southwest to the urban American listener and beyond. But Guthrie's music was only one aspect of his multifaceted life. As well as penning hundreds of songs, Guthrie was also a prolific writer of non-sung prose, an artist and a poet. This collection provides an examination of Guthrie's cultural significance and an evaluation of his impact on American culture and international folk-culture.
List of contents
Contents: Preface, John S. Partington; Foreword, Jorge Arévalo Mateus; Part I 'All You Can Write Is What You See': Woody Guthrie's Songs as Diagnosis and Cure: 'Pastures of plenty'; Woody Guthrie and the New Deal, Richard Nate; 'There's a better world a-coming': resolving the tension between the urban and rural visions in the writings of Woody Guthrie, John S. Partington; Woody Guthrie and the cultural front, Will Kaufman; Playing legend maker: Woody Guthrie's 'Jackhammer John', Mark Allan Jackson; 'Words to shoot back at you': Woody Guthrie's 'war' against German Fascism, Martin Butler. Part II Creating an Icon: The (Self-)Imaging of Woody Guthrie: 'Always on the go': the figure of the hobo in the songs and writings of Woody Guthrie, Martin Butler; 'Hard travelin': constructing Woody Guthrie's dust bowl legacy, Jeff Morgan; Woody Guthrie, aka 'the guy who wrote This Land is Your Land', Frank Erik Pointner. Part III Partnering and Siring: Woody Guthrie in Comparative Perspective: Will Geer and Woody Guthrie: a folk music friendship, Ronald D. Cohen; The performer and the promoter, Ed Cray; Good man, honest man: Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and the role of the folk outlaw, D.A. Carpenter; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
John S. Partington has published five books, including Building Cosmopolis: The Political Thought of H.G. Wells (Ashgate, 2003), H.G. Wells in Nature, 1893-1946: A Reception Reader (2008) and The Reception of H.G. Wells in Europe (2005). His special interest is in political biography, having published on George Orwell, Phoebe Cusden, Lorenzo Quelch, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi and Clara Zetkin. He is currently researching the reception and influence of Clara Zetkin in Britain.
