Woody Guthrie: A Life

Every Christmas, I buy multiple copies of this book and give it away to friends and family. Every spring/summer, I receive multiple messages of enthusiastic thanks and gratitude. No one who reads it comes away unaffected. Basically, I will just say this is the most riveting biography I've ever read, and I've read it many times (am rereading it now actually). There are two primary reasons why this book is so far above all other biographies: 1.) Joe Klein's writing is fantastic. His research is thorough, but his ability to communicate to an audience complex historical, socio-political, medical, and psychological concepts is virtually without peer. 2.) Woody Guthrie's life simply is one of the most fascinating lives I've ever read about. From his birth (even before his birth) straight through to his death, his life never gets boring. There is no plateau, where a great artist achieves his best work and then self destructs or mellows, etc etc.....every single period of Woody's life is equally fascinating. He was an incredible human being, a very complex artist and man-and he happened to straddle many periods of history. You will be constantly surprised. Sometimes you want to strangle him and then he turns around and does something so unbelievabely heroic, that you can hardly believe it actually happened. There is NO ONE like Woody Guthrie today....nor was there ever another in any other time period, the guy was truly a one and only. I couldn't recommend this book enough. It's so good that not until 2004 was another biography attempted on Woody, and I can't imagine it could be any better than this.

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.

I thought i knew it all till i read this book. Joe Klein has taken a one dimensional american icon and breathed life into him!--Most fans of Woody's know the basics the image--this book makes Woody a human being--it fills in the details as to what made this man tick-- This is quite simply the best book(with the exception of Ulysses by James Joyce) the most enjoable and best researched,best written book that I have read in the past 15 years

As a child of the 60's and 70's, I held the rather myopic view that my generation invented rebellion, cynicism and their voice in music. Not so! Joe Klein's masterful telling of Woody Guthrie's story reveals the musical tradition of the folk song as a means of political activism long before Bob Dylan and the rest. Woody Guthrie's wonderful, painful life is detailed with careful attention and astute observation. Mr. Klein does not spare us the unsavory irresponsiblity of this hobo, nor does he turn us away from the tragedy of his illness and death. Instead, through the words, letters, and memories of Woody, his friends, and detractors, Joe Klein gives us a protrait fo a flawed, resolute singer of our songs and in the process, presents a bit of our history that was never covered in my textbooks! Not an easy read, but a mesmerizing story. My next stop is the record store (or is it CD store?)!

I first picked up a copy of this book after Bruce Springsteen mentioned during a concert that he had read it and loved it. It inspired him to sing a very sad and mournful rendition of This Land is Your Land and to explain why it was really an angry song and not at all the happy little ditty we remembered from childhood. That was a fitting introduction to this book of his life which was also not a happy little ditty. Woddie Guthrie's life and music speak to more than just Folk Music fans and I hope more younger folks pick this book up, read it and as a result give his music a listen. If you want to hear Bruce's comments on this book, they preceed his performance of This Land is Your Land on his Live performance Boxed Set. I highly recommend listening to NEBRASKA and THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD while reading this book!!