I didn't detect any hidden right-wing agenda in Greenway's American Folksongs of Protest, nor did I find him anything other than a bit grumpy when I got to know him in Boulder in 1959. It wasn't until I read his remarkable book, The Inevitable Americans, that I realized the truth of some of the horror stories I'd been hearing from other folklorists. The last section of that book, describing his attitude toward the student demonstrations against the Vietnam War, is quite shocking. The book, like his others, is brilliantly written, but to know that he became a deputy sheriff so he could carry a billy club on campus, that he announced to his classes the day before a planned student demonstration against the war (for which most faculty members were prepared to forgive absences from class) that his classes would be held as usual and a test would be given that would make up a large percentage of their grade. Miss the class and fail the course!

John suffered from a persistent ulcer, and admitted that it made him irritable. He kind of enjoyed playing "king bastard," I think. I found him intellectually stimulating, if cranky, and we got along well. I'll confess, however, that the fact that I knew more verses to "the Ball at Kerriemuir" (spelling?) than he did was what won him over.

Silber's agenda was from the other side of the political fence, of course. People complained about that when he was editor of SING OUT!, but, while I would have liked to have seen more traditional material in the magazine dduring those years, I tended to agree, generally, with the positions it espoused.

Let me urge you all to read Last Cavalier, the Life and Times of John A. Lomax by Nolan Porterfield. It has some very interesting segments regarding the Lomax relationship with both Leadbelly and Iron Head Baker that Rick referred to above. I would also suggest D. K. Wilgus' book Anglo-American Folksong Scholarship Since 1898, an important study with a somewhat surprising chapter on the Lomax collection.

Sandy