"Bound for Glory" by Woody Guthrie

Because this is the most recent book I have finished and I've only just begun this blog, it only makes sense that I pen my first review on it. So let's give this a go together and discover why this is worth expending some oxygen to read.

I'll begin by saying that Woody Guthrie is one of my favorite musicians, not so much for his playing as for his ability to write songs that encapsulate the heart and soul of the American people. For those of you unfamiliar with Woody Guthrie, you probably know the song "This Land is Your Land." Often mistaken as a song of unrepentant patriotism and proud American nationality, the song more accurately represents Guthrie's socialist ideologies of community by uniting people around the country. Even Dropkick Murphy's famous "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" utilizes lyrics written by Woody Guthrie. But now that I've sufficiently scared you with the terrifying word "socialism," let's move on.

Woody Guthrie's fictionalized autobiography combines the imagery and dialogue of a Steinbeck novel with the kooky gonzo storytelling of Hunter S. Thompson. Throughout the book, the reader is assailed with stories tinged in reality that often still don't sound quite possible... or at least completely truthful. Yet many of these stories offer a deep look at the human condition. He writes conversations in the same accented and uneducated English slang from "The Grapes of Wrath." It adds a sense of realism while keeping the reader on their toes; if you want to decipher the jargon that Woody and his boxcar riding compatriots use, you need to slow down and really hear the voices.

The first half of the book revolves around Woody's upbringing in Oklahoma and the South Central; the trials and tribulations his father undergoes trying to provide for his family, his sister's tragic death in an accidental fire, his mother's slow descent into the madness of Huntington's disease (the same affliction that would take Woody at only 55), how the small town of Okemah rose and fell in a breath of black gold a la "There Will Be Blood," and the events that would lead him traverse the country with little more than a beat up old guitar.

The second half of the book centers around the Dust Bowl era of America. A time in our country where people in South Central were driven from their homes by endless dust storms and monopolistic corporate farms. Joining the Exodus to the apparently Eden-like California, Woody undergoes a journey so much like Tom Joad. Tramping his way across the country via boxcars and hitchhiking, he barely has more than the clothes on his back. It is this journey that opens his eyes to the kindness and charity of the downtrodden, people who have as much as he does yet happily give him a warm meal and a smile when its most needed. He experiences the repression of the poor by law enforcement working for the rich; the police officers of wealthy towns like Tucson ensure that the "untouchables" don't stay to beg a meal. 

The latter part of the book is Woody approaching fame. With "Dust Bowl Ballads" released (though to little financial success), the man with the music box continues his travels, playing in bars and odd saloons for a few bits, all while strumming out songs of the plight of the people. Offered a position at Rockefeller Center to play his songs for the entertainment, Woody ducks out and plays songs instead in the streets.

Throughout the book, Woody Guthrie's interactions with minorities are polarizing, primarily because he keeps defending them. While riding boxcars, he befriends black men on a few occasions. Sitting with them in crowded train cars travelling in all but the lap of luxury, he laments the opposition of white people to blacks. To him, it wasn't about race but about the people being pushed down by the upper echelon that needed to fight back together as one. When a fight breaks out at a bar he is playing at right after the Pearl Harbor attack, he consolidates the crowd to defend the neighborhood Japanese bar from outraged racists. While all of Guthrie's stories need to be taken with a grain of salt due to their gonzo nature, it is important to remember that he truly did fight for people to work together.

"Bound for Glory" is a relatively easy read that is perfect for any fan of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and the like. Open it up and find out why the famous curly-headed vagrant stuck "This Machine Kills Fascists" on his guitar.