Pastures of Plenty: A Self-Portrait [Hardcover]

Woody Guthrie (Author), Dave Marsh (Author), Harold Leventhal (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of stories, poems, songs, letters, diary entries, essays, newspaper articles, photographs and drawings--most of which have not been published before--gives new insight into the life and character of the beloved folk singer Woody Guthrie (1912-1967). Culling material from Leventhal's voluminous files of Guthrie memorabilia, Marsh ( Born to Run ) and Leventhal, who was Guthrie's manager, present a chronologically arranged selection of works in which Guthrie expresses his thoughts about himself, his life and his political beliefs--from his early days in Oklahoma to 1954, when Huntington's chorea left him almost completely incapacitated. The writings--free-form, humorous, eccentric and intensely individualistic--encompass all aspects of Guthrie's personality and reveal much about what he was striving to achieve with his social activism and often unconventional behavior. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Best known for his songs, Guthrie was an equally prolific writer of letters and notebooks, an avid scribbler and doodler on calendars, napkins, and paper scraps. Chronicling the dustbowl migrations of the 1930s, the labor struggles of the 1940s, and the Red Scare politics of the 1950s, his letters, essays, songs, random jottings, and drawings reveal a man struggling to understand why the working men and women who contribute the most are respected the least. This collection draws on an archive of innumerable file cabinets, boxes, and notebooks collected by his wife Marjorie after his death. Guthrie's manager, Leventhal, and music writer Marsh assembled the collection and provide occasional commentary. Few additional words are needed. Guthrie's irrepressible writings stand on their own.
- Tim LaBorie, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 259 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (November 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060163429
• ISBN-13: 978-0060163426
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,883,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Words from the Wise, January 31, 2005

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pastures of Plenty: A Self-Portrait (Paperback)

This book is a sampling of letters, liners notes, and lyrics by Woody Guthrie. Most of the items have not been published before, or at least, not in this form. The writings come from the period 1936-1950, and are organized chronologically. Through Woody's words, we travel with him to Los Angeles, and then to New York. We spend World War II together with Woody in the Merchant Marines, and then get drafted in into the Army on VE Day. Following the War, we return to New York and join the People's Artists with Pete Seeger, providing music for union meetings across the country. Interspersed with the text are many black-and-white pictures of Woody and other folksingers of the times, such as Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, and Cisco Houston. The book also includes a smattering of sketches drawn by Woody in his journals.

The editors have done a masterful job at choosing items for inclusion. Several items describe Woody's approach to song writing, or analyze differences between performed and recorded music. Many explain his politics and background. Some are very personal pieces written for his children, in which we can see examples of the depth of his affection. Though he never had much formal schooling, Woody was addicted to writing, to expressing himself through writing, to exploring his ideas through writing, to communicating with others through writing. The editors comment that he was known to be a noisy houseguest, what with his habit of picking up the typewriter to start banging away at 3:00 AM. His writing style is his very much his own. In many places, it comes across as chain-of-thought, where he leaps from one topic to another. Yet, he still manages to bring his ideas back to his main topic in the end. The wild associations that he comes up with serve to emphasize and explicate his deepest thoughts. In a 1930s letter to his sister, he writes "Now, when you look around you, see how this battle is taking shape all around you, and how it's a fight between the rich folks and the poor folks every day. The question I want to ask you is this: What side are you on from Day to Day?...There always have been more rich than poor. Since this is True, the Rich folks must have someway of making us poor folks believe their way, so they put out radio programs, sermons, moving pictures, books, magazines, and all sorts of silly advertising." If Woody were still with us today, he'd have no lack of topics to write about.