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Overview
First published in 1943, this autobiography is also a superb portrait of America's Depression years, by the folk singer, activist, and man who saw it all.
One of Guthrie's first published writings, it is an important artifact of musical and political history, and a precedent for Guthrie's long lost novel, House of Earth, to be published in 2013 and edited by Johnny Depp and Douglas Brinkley.
Synopsis
Woody Guthrie was born in Oklahoma and traveled this whole country over -not by jet or motorcycle, but by boxcar, thumb, and foot. During the journey of discovery that was his life, he composed and sang words and music that have become a national heritage. His songs, however, are but part of his legacy. Behind him Woody Guthrie left a remarkable autobiography that vividly brings to life both his vibrant personality and a vision of America we cannot afford to let die.
Horace Reynolds
But there's no mistaking Woody's talent fro expression, his ability to sling the American language. his book is an eloquent piece, wild as a train whistle in the mountains, a scrumptious picture of fighting, carousing, singing, laughing migratory America.-- Books of the Century; New York Times review, March 1943