Woody Guthrie: A Life

'A really great book.' Bruce Springsteen

With a foreword by Billy Bragg.


The classic biography of the hugely influential American folk singer who inspired a generation of songwriters, including Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

Few artists have captured the American experience of their time as wholly as folk legend Woody Guthrie. Singer, songwriter and political activist, Guthrie drew a lifetime of inspiration from his roots on the Oklahoma frontier in the years before the Great Depression. His music -- scathingly funny songs and poignant folk ballads -- made heard the unsung life of field hands, migrant workers, and union organisers, and showed it worthy of tribute. Though his career was tragically cut short by the onset of a degenerative disease that ravaged his mind and body, the legacy of his life and music had already made him an American cultural icon, and has resounded with every generation of musician and music lover since.

In this definitive biography, renowned journalist Joe Klein creates an unforgettable portrait of a man as gifted, restless and complicated as the American landscape he came from.