From: Ruth I Gordon <druthgo>
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 16:24:51 -0700

I know that this is, as usual, a message right on the cusp of the next discussion. I have been delighted to read and reread Elizabeth Partridge's lively biography of Woody Guthrie. Aside from an exiciting and accurate text and superb photos, Partridge's afterword about how she and her family traveled about with their parents is a marvelous tribute to parents who knew that there was (and is) more important education than even that that the Berkeley (CA) public schools provided. I think that many people of all ages will empathize with the author about those silenced when the rest of the world was singing.

I am especially appreciative of this biography (as well as Knopf's?? illustrated book of what certainly should be our national anthem, "This Land is Your Land" with ALL its verses) because when I was a youngER woman, we young bunch of radicals attended Oscar Brand's WNYC hoots which featured so many of the folk singers--all legendary now. We met and heard Woody, folk groups, and so mamy others who sang our songs. I recall Woody on the NYC subways going to WNYC and many concerts. Partridge's fine book brought all that back and even the voice of the man who tried to change life in the U.S. with his songs and the truth they conveyed and still convey. The book encourages me to believe that now, more than ever, we need such minstrels despite lousy family relations.

O.K., this has gone on too long, but the book is important and I hope all libraries will be sure to have it and encourage its circulation.

Big Grandma (still radical and still a not-very-good typist))

"You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty." Jessica Mitford (191796)
Received on Mon 29 Apr 2002 06:24:51 PM CDT