Rating: 
Summary: Simply astounding!
Review: The life of Woody Guthrie is one that is hard to trace. He lived the life of a hobo and one as a father and husband. Klein uses all the resources he possibly could possibly get to tell the life of the most imporant figure in American Music. Guthrie suffered throughout his life, and the author makes sure the reader understands that. He also points out that Guthrie was not the most polite person, but that he also was one who cared for people. The story of Woody's childhood right up to the time of his death is one that needs to be read by anyone interested in the music of America.
Rating:
Summary: "America comes spilling out"
Review: This biography is stunningly and painfully intimate. Joe Klein did a fantastic job. This is a great read.Guthrie is a tremendous American icon who not enough of us actually know about or perhaps have even heard of. He was a thousand contradictions. In his art and in his life, in his outrageous, childlike, precocious, brooding, energetic, and endlessly subversive behavior... he was just utterly himself, he embodied a particular American brand of freedom in life, outlook, and sense of possibility. Even if you haven't got time to read this book, make sure the kids around you know all the verses to "This Land Is Your Land". You may not agree with the politics but it's worth knowing what the man actually said, it makes you think.
Rating:
Summary: "America comes spilling out"
Review: This biography is stunningly and painfully intimate. Joe Klein did a fantastic job. This is a great read. Guthrie is a tremendous American icon who not enough of us actually know about or perhaps have even heard of. He was a thousand contradictions. In his art and in his life, in his outrageous, childlike, precocious, brooding, energetic, and endlessly subversive behavior... he was just utterly himself, he embodied a particular American brand of freedom in life, outlook, and sense of possibility. Even if you haven't got time to read this book, make sure the kids around you know all the verses to "This Land Is Your Land". You may not agree with the politics but it's worth knowing what the man actually said, it makes you think.
Rating:
Summary: Such a book...on such a legend
Review: This was one of those book I bought on a whim-- I was at a used-book-store near me, looking thru the Music section, trying to find a biography on Bob Dylan when I saw this, an old hardcover library edition with "DISCARD" stamped into the front (such a sin!), and I picked it up. I haven't put it down since. Klein does an incredible job, relating Woody's life story in a way that can only be described as the absolute furthest thing from a textbook possible. Once you finish, you cannot help but go around to your friends, relating some parable from Woody's life, like, "Hey guys, you gotta hear this... Woody's on a freight, right, and...." Klein went through hundreds of sources to get the informations for this book, making sure everything fit and talking to everyone Woody ever met or said hello to, it seems. He also was careful to cross-check all of Woody's stories on his life (Woody would often exaggerate his own life, changing parts and including others, lying about the more touchy subjects). It is incredibly well-written, and very comprehensive. Klein even will give extensive back-ground information so that when you get to the last page, you are practically an expert on the American culture from the turn of the century to the late 1960s. An amazing book, and a must-read for just about everyone-- no, not for just about everyone. It is a must read for ABSOLUTELY everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Such a book...on such a legend
Review: This was one of those book I bought on a whim-- I was at a used-book-store near me, looking thru the Music section, trying to find a biography on Bob Dylan when I saw this, an old hardcover library edition with "DISCARD" stamped into the front (such a sin!), and I picked it up. I haven't put it down since. Klein does an incredible job, relating Woody's life story in a way that can only be described as the absolute furthest thing from a textbook possible. Once you finish, you cannot help but go around to your friends, relating some parable from Woody's life, like, "Hey guys, you gotta hear this... Woody's on a freight, right, and...." Klein went through hundreds of sources to get the informations for this book, making sure everything fit and talking to everyone Woody ever met or said hello to, it seems. He also was careful to cross-check all of Woody's stories on his life (Woody would often exaggerate his own life, changing parts and including others, lying about the more touchy subjects). It is incredibly well-written, and very comprehensive. Klein even will give extensive back-ground information so that when you get to the last page, you are practically an expert on the American culture from the turn of the century to the late 1960s. An amazing book, and a must-read for just about everyone-- no, not for just about everyone. It is a must read for ABSOLUTELY everyone.
|
