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June 2015 Vol. 52 No. 10

The best intellectual history to date on the subject, this book treats the part of the US folk music revival that aligned itself with progressive politics from the 1930s through the 1960s.  Donaldson (independent scholar) chronicles the folk revival’s involvement with the Depression and New Deal, WW II and the Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement, though she does not take up the revival’s importance to the anti-Vietnam War and women's movements of the 1960s.  The author concentrates on politics, not music: she provides an excellent discussion of the Pete Seeger side of the revival but leaves to others the Mike Seeger side--which includes those who became skillful musicians, promoted traditional music, and committed the rest of their lives to this music.  Nor does she treat other genres of traditional music (blues, bluegrass, old-time music, ethnic and occupational musics, and so on) that express progressive politics and cultural pluralism.  Still, those interested in folk music per se and its intersection with progressive politics during these critical decades will find this book valuable.

--J. T. Titon, emeritus, Brown University

Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.