Cart
Sign up for our monthly email alertsCHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE, 2002
American Folk Music and Left-Wing Politics, 1927-1957
Series: American Folk Music and Musicians Series #4
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||
SUBJECTS
History » American History » Twentieth Century
Music » Popular & Folk
History » American History » American History (General)
Music » Music (General)
REVIEWS
"Reuss's book gives a clear and objective view of the revivalist movement, valuing its contribution to the American musical scene while conceding the limitations of its political vision...The book is readable and appropriately witty in handling the Lomax artists' sometimes muddled politics and personal foibles."
— WESTERN FOLKLORE
DESCRIPTION
The 1930s and 1940s represented an era in United States history when large groups of citizens took political action in response to their social and economic circumstances. The vision, attitudes, beliefs and purposes of participants before, during, and after this time period played an important part of American cultural history. Richard and JoAnne Reuss expertly capture the personality of this era and the fascinating chronology of events in American Folk Music and Left-Wing Politics, 1927-1957, a historical analysis of singers, writers, union members and organizers and their connection to left-wing politics and folk music during this revolutionary time period.
While scholarship on folk music, history, and politics is not unique in and of itself, Reuss' approach is noteworthy for its folklorist perspective and its long, encompassing assessment of a broad cross-section of participants and their interactions. An innovative and informative look into one of the most evocative and challenging eras in American history, American Folk Music and Left-Wing Politics, 1927-1957 stands as a historic milestone in this period's scholarship and evolution.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Richard A. Reuss came to folklore studies by way of his interest in music. He led a folksinging group while a counselor at summer camp and as an undergraduate student at Ohio Wesleyan University. He earned his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1971. He taught at Wayne State University in Detroit, broadening his studies to labor lore and music. Joanne C. Reuss studied folklore with Ellen Stekert as an undergraduate at Wayne State University. She is currently a Research Administrator at the University of Michigan and a freelance writer.
