The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger [Hardcover]

Alec Wilkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2009

A true American original is brought to life in this rich and lively portrait of Pete Seeger, who, with his musical grace and inextinguishable passion for social justice, transformed folk singing into a high form of peaceful protest in the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing on his extensive talks with Seeger, New Yorker writer Alec Wilkinson lets us experience the man’s unique blend of independence and commitment, charm, courage, energy, and belief in human equality and American democracy.

We see Seeger instilled with a love of music by his parents, both classically trained musicians; as a teenager, hearing real folk music for the first time; and as a young man, singing with Woody Guthrie and with the Weavers. We learn of his harassment by the government for his political beliefs and his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1949. And we follow his engagement with civil rights, the peace movement, and the environment—especially his work saving the Hudson River and building the ship Clearwater. He talks ardently about his own music and that of others, and about the power of music to connect people and bind them to a cause. Finally, we meet Toshi, his wife of nearly sixty years, and members of his family, at the house he built on a mountainside in upstate New York.

The Protest Singer is as spirited and captivating as its subject—an American icon, celebrating his ninetieth birthday.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his latest book, New Yorker writer Wilkinson (The Happiest Man in the World) gives due praise to the influential American singer Pete Seeger, who humbly told his biographer that what's needed is a book that can be read in one sitting. It is just such a spirit of humility that emerges from Wilkinson's lovely and, indeed, brief profile of Seeger (who turns 90 in May), at once social activist, environmentalist and, above all, courageous musician, the peoples' singer, who wholeheartedly believed in his father's dictum that music, as any art, is not an end in itself, but is a means for achieving larger ends. Wilkinson's thorough research is artfully couched in his extended interviews with the singer on his wooded property in upstate New York, during which Seeger elucidates his storied genealogy, recounts his times with Woody Guthrie and describes his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955 (the full transcript of which is reprinted as an appendix). Wilkinson's biography reads as lucidly as if we were there with him, listening to Seeger's history as he boils maple sap down to syrup and chops his daily quota of firewood. In Wilkinson's writing, one can almost hear Seeger's axe splitting the logs. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

“Too much has been written about me, and at too great length,” says Pete Seeger, who turns 90 on May 3, 2009, and whose eventful life New Yorker contributor Wilkinson condenses into a one-sitting read (all Seeger thinks is necessary). Seeger’s life has been crammed with interesting activities and people. First among the latter is his father, composer and ur-musicologist Charles Seeger, whose journey to and away from communism prefigured his third son’s similar path; most famous among Seeger’s people is prolific protest singer Woody Guthrie. Freight-hopping minstrel at 20, top-of-the-charts record performer at 30, blacklistee scrambling to support his family at 40, voice of the civil-rights and antiwar movements thereafter, Seeger also built his family’s first home largely by himself, dreamed up a successful project to spur cleaning the Hudson River, and still boils his own maple syrup. His thousands of recordings go unappraised here, attesting the modesty he practices as an obligation more than a virtue. Wilkinson’s writing about him is modest, too: plain with a little clunky folksiness and reservedly though unmistakably affectionate. --Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (April 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307269957
• ISBN-13: 978-0307269959
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #890,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An American Icon and Folk Historian, May 17, 2009

By 

rctnyc (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger (Hardcover)

This short biography describes Pete Seeger's evolution as a person and musician. It begins by describing Seeger's upbringing in a politically-aware, educated family that encouraged and developed his musical talents. After enrolling at Harvard -- where he was in the same class as JFK -- Pete decided that his life's work was as a cultural historian. He left college to travel around the country, and soon began composing and singing to earn a living, meeting and performing with Woody Guthrie and others at political rallies, union meetings and other places where ordinary people gathered. Pete fought in WWII and, after the war, along with three other folk musicians, formed the iconic folk group, The Weavers. Throughout his career, he studied and collected examples of traditional folk music, while adding his own compositions to the long line of American songs that stetched back beyond the Revolution to the colonial period. Pete viewed such music as the medium through which ordinary Americans recorded and expressed their feelings, experience, hopes and dreams. His family supported him in his endeavors, as well as in his efforts to build a home and life in the hills overlooking the Hudson River, in Beacon, New York, where he and his family still live.


Pete's political beliefs, and his courage in standing up to McCarthyism, are linked in Wilkinson's biography to his underlying philosophy, which views all people as members of a single spiritual community. Pete Seeger's goal has been to unite people of many backgrounds, classes, ethnicities, racial backgrounds and religions through the common vehicle of music, which he views as the expression of a common, human spirit. It is this common humanity, not a political ideology, that Seeger seeks to advance through his efforts as a writer and singer. Wilkinson allows Seeger to explain these motives and objectives in his own words.

A significant passage in the book describes Pete's response when, after a concert during the Vietnam era, a man came up and said that he'd come there that night to kill Pete, but had changed his mind. Pete sat down and talked with the man, and they sang "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" together. Afterwards, the man had said "I feel cleansed," and left quietly. This episode demonstrated the strength of Pete's faith in the transforming power of empathy and common bond forged by music. Rather than merely accept the man's tacit apology, or feel afraid, Pete tried to heal the man -- a Vietnam war vet -- and succeeded.

Wilkinson writes that Pete Seeger wished for him to write a biography that could be read in one sitting. This short book fills that bill. It is informative, entertaining and helps the reader to understand and appreciate the eras through which Pete has lived in his 90 years. An appendix containing Seeger's HUAC testimony during the McCarthy era allows the reader to evaluate for him or herself Pete's actions during that troubled period.

Although I do not agree with every political position that Pete has taken in his long life, he is in my estimation an ethical person and American patriot. His patriotism is about honor, integrity and justice, not ideology. Yet those who disagree with that assessment would also appreciate this biography, which is evenhanded, informative and fair. I'll bet that Pete likes it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intimate, June 28, 2009

By 

Patricia Kramer (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger (Hardcover)

Intimate in the title is the key to this book. The events of Pete Seeger's life are highlighted, many of which are well known, but the pearls of the book are the quotes that are included from their conversations as Seeger answered questions about his journey through life.

"People ask, is there one word that you have more faith in than any other word,"he told me, "and I say it's participation. I feel that this takes on so many meanings. The composer John Philip Sousa said,'What will happen to the American voice now that the phonograph has been invented? Women used to sing lullabies to their children.' It's been my life work, to get participation, whether it's a union song, or a peace song, civil rights, or a women's movement, or gay liberation. When you sing, you feel a kind of strength; you think, I'm not alone, there's a whole bunch of us who feel this way. I'm just one person, but it's almost my religion now to persuade people that even if it's only you and three others, do something. You and one other, do something. If it's only you, and you do a good job as a songwriter, people will sing it."

And the pictures; they show a man working hard for that participation from himself and from others with grace and joy and sticking by what he believes is right no matter what. Pete Seeger is a man to be thanked and copied, we need more like him.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another fine book about Ameica's folksinging icon, September 29, 2009

By 

Michael S. Breid (Eureka Springs, Arkansas United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger (Hardcover)

Fans of Pete Seeger who have studied his career will enjoy this book. Mr. Wilkinson has done a fine job, and it shows that at ninety Pete has no thoughts of really slowing down. The fire in his heart still burns as bright as it did back in his younger days. His name is still "magic" when mentioned around banjo players. Even the late Louise Scruggs paid homage to Pete Seeger in Earl Scrugg's banjo book as being one of the best people to advance the five string banjo in the world. This book is a nice intimate portrait of America's folksinging Johnny Appleseed. A very enjoyable read.