An amazing book. Tony wanted me to read it. It is a fascinating biography of a fascinating man, but it is also a social history of America, and a minor history of American music. Tragic and real.

To reduce these truly incredible 512 pages down to one word: Breathtaking.

The scope of this biography was as great as the scope of America itself. Interspersed amongst Joe Klein's detailed historical explanation of the Dust Bowl, the Communist party in America, and the folk-music scene as it evolved from the 30s to the 60s is actual primary text from Woody Guthrie himself.

This book is magnificent in all that it portrays, and not a dull moment exists throughout the pages. Every time I picked this book up I felt that I learned something new -- and beyond that, I felt that I understood something new.

Joe Klein brings to light the struggles that existed in the folk music scene. The rivalries and the depth of the radicalism that truly existed in the time. He breathes life and factual information into the slow degeneration of Guthrie from outspoken uncompromising lone wolf to the courageous man with an active mind who no longer could control his body.

Woody Guthrie was a remarkable soul who grasped what(ever) it was to be an American. I wish more people would read this book. ( )

Really interesting book. Woody was slightly crazy and partially ill and it explains part of his genius. ( )