description: Before Springsteen and before Dylan, there was Woody Guthrie. With "This Machine Kills Fascists," scrawled across his guitar in big black letters, Woody Guthrie brilliantly captured in song the experience of twentieth-century America. Whether he sang about union organizers, migrant workers, or war, Woody took his inspiration from the plight of the people around him as well as from his own tragic childhood.From the late 1920s to the 1950s, Guthrie wrote the words to more than three thousand songs, including "This Land Is Your Land," a song many call America's unofficial national anthem. With a remarkable ability to turn any experience into a song almost instantaneously, Woody Guthrie spoke out for people of all colors and races, setting an example for generations of musicians to come. But Woody didn't have the chance to find everything he was looking for. He was ravaged by Huntington's disease, just like his mother, and died in a mental institution at the age of fifty-five.Award-winning author, Elizabeth Partridge has taken the life of this songwriting genius and woven in his lyrics, and other rich materials to create a touching and highly entertaining portrait of a true talent.
language: English
title: This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie
titlecomplete: This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie (Golden Kite Awards)
genres: Biography Memoir, Teen, Nonfiction, Childrens, Music, History, Biography
ratings_count: 221
awards: awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: California Book Award
category: Young Adult (Silver), awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: SCBWI Golden Kite Award
category: Nonfiction, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Young People's Literature
publisher: Puffin