The prose is purple, and as for the accuracy of the events recorded in Woody Guthrie’s autobiography… well, let’s just say it’s far from pristine. But like the great folk singer’s songs,
Bound for Glory weaves facts, folklore and fancy, embellishing the truth of Guthrie’s hardscabble Oklahoma childhood and itinerant, freight-car-hopping adulthood with a flair that is equal parts Paul Bunyan and John Steinbeck.
First published in 1943, this autobiography is also a superb portrait of America's Depression years, by the folk singer, activist, and man who saw it all.
Woody Guthrie was born in Oklahoma and traveled this whole country over—not by jet or motorcycle, but by boxcar, thumb, and foot. During the journey of discovery that was his life, he composed and sang words and music that have become a national heritage. His songs, however, are but part of his legacy. Behind him Woody Guthrie left a remarkable autobiography that vividly brings to life both his vibrant personality and a vision of America we cannot afford to let die.
“Even readers who never heard Woody or his songs will understand the current esteem in which he’s held after reading just a few pages… Always shockingly immediate and real, as if Woody were telling it out loud… A book to make novelists and sociologists jealous.”
—The Nation
