I agree that Joan has been loyal to her principles, while others have wavered or abandoned them. I've always enjoyed her music, the One Day At A Time being the 'highlight' album for me. And her voice has only grown better- I've seen her in concert many times and it's always a profound experience.
To me, she is second only to Pete Seeger, in the talent of bringing a concert of hundreds or thousands of people together to sing as one humane presence - and to feel spiritually uplifted by the music.

There was a great PBS documentary on her recently, sure it will be repeated. As far as the critics, I agree with Little Hawk, you will see on this forum there's a fair (or unfair?) amount of nitpicking, just for the sake of it. But stick around, there's some great info and folks here too.

Nothing fake about Joan, she's the real deal.