Ed Cray
Ramblin' Man
The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie
Foreword by Studs Terkel
"A beautiful job. . . . In exploring the
nuances of Guthrie's work, Cray's
exacting style is pitch-perfect."
—Los Angeles Times Book Review
A PATRIOT AND A POLITICAL RADICAL, Woody
Guthrie captured the spirit of his times in his enduring
songs. He was marked by the FBI as a subversive.
He lived in fear of the fatal fires that stalked his family
and of the mental illness that snared his mother.
At forty-two, Woody Guthrie was cruelly silenced by
Huntington's disease.
The first biographer to be granted access to the
Woody Guthrie Archive, Ed Cray has created a
haunting portrait of an American who profoundly
influenced Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen,
and American popular music itself.
"A welcome and important work."—Robert Santelli,
Rolling Stone
"Offers a much-needed corrective to the romanticized,
too-familiar Guthrie."—Eddie Dean, Bookforum
"Something about Woody Guthrie seems to
attract interesting, unexpected biographers. . . . But all
these surprising Guthrie chroniclers have nothing on
Ed Cray."—David Kipen, San Francisco Chronicle
ED CRAY is the author of biographies of
General George C. Marshall and Chief Justice
Earl Warren. He lives in Los Angeles and
is professor of journalism at the University
of Southern California.
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