This Land That I Love, John Shaw
This Land That I Love, John Shaw
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
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This Land That I Love
Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and the Story of Two American Anthems

Author: John Shaw

Narrator: Traber Burns

Unabridged: 7 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: AudioGO

Published: 11/05/2013

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

A narrative history of the writing of This Land Is Your Land and God Bless America that uncovers the conflicts and common ground between two classic patriotic songs February, 1940. After a decade of worldwide depression, World War II had begun in Europe and Asia. With Germany on the march and Japan at war with China, the global crisis was in a crescendo. Americas top songwriter, Irving Berlin, had captured the nations mood a little more than a year before with his patriotic hymn God Bless America. Woody Guthrie was having none of it. Near-starving and penniless, he was traveling from Texas to New York to make a new start. As he eked his way across the country by bus and by thumb, he couldnt avoid Berlins song. Some people say that it was when he was freezing by the side of the road in a Pennsylvania snowstorm that he conceived of a rebuttal. It would encompass the dark realities of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, and it would begin with the lines This land is your land, this land is my land. In This Land That I Love, John Shaw writes the dual biography of these beloved American songs. Examining the lives of their authors, he finds that Guthrie and Berlin had more in common than either could have guessed. Though Guthries image was defined by train-hopping, Irving Berlin had also risen from homelessness, having worked his way up from the streets of New York. At the same time, This Land That I Love sheds new light on our patriotic musical heritage, from Yankee Doodle and The Star-Spangled Banner to Martin Luther Kings recitation from My Country Tis of Thee on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963. Delving into the deeper history of war songs, minstrelsy, ragtime, country music, folk music, and African American spirituals, Shaw unearths a rich vein of half-forgotten musical traditions. With the aid of archival research, he uncovers new details about the songs, including a never-before-printed verse for This Land Is Your Land. The result is a fascinating narrative that refracts and reenvisions Americas tumultuous history through the prism of two unforgettable anthems.

About John Shaw

John Shaw has written on music and theater for the LA Review of Books and Chicago Reader. He has written more than 250 songs, including music and lyrics for three full-length and numerous short plays that have been produced in Seattle, Chicago, and elsewhere. He lives in Seattle.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jacob on November 17, 2013

I enjoyed this book a great deal. While I have no doubt that music nerds will like this book, it's definitely not just a book for music nerds. The prose is inviting and the stories are compelling. I also learned lots of new stuff. For example, I knew very little about the life and times of Irving Be......more

Goodreads review by Michael on January 17, 2016

Cool interplay between Irving Berlin and Woody Guthrie and their keystone National Anthems. American the Beautiful on the one hand and Guthrie's answer (initially satirical and in some versions socialist) This Land Is Your Land. Berlin's song is reverent and Gurhrie's is secular and with the personi......more

Goodreads review by Sally on July 30, 2018

This account of the writing of two songs celebrating the United States is informative and insightful. Although the two men had drastically different backgrounds, there was much that was similar in their evolution as song writers. Berlin was an immigrant who came to the United States when he was five......more

Goodreads review by Bob on December 29, 2019

I’m an amateur musician who has played Woody songs at events in California’s Central Valley for years. I occasionally play his “Plane Wreck At Los Gatos,” otherwise known as “Deportees,” to see if my farmer friends will run me out of town on a rail. They’re Conservative GOP, evangelical and have co-o......more

Goodreads review by T.R. on November 02, 2019

An amazing review of American History through music. Shaw gets into the circumstances and meaning behind some of America's most cherished music, from patriotism to protest, from religious to country, he digs deep into the meaning and intent behind the lyrics. This appeals to historians, music lovers......more