Rainbow Quest: The Book

Subject: Rainbow Quest: The Book
From: Michael S
Date: 20 Feb 03 - 09:49 PM

I enjoyed reading the recent thread Greenwich Village, 1963

I was 9 in 1963. Even though I was a New Yorker, I wasn't yet hanging out in the village. (Of course, I grew up in Queens, far eastern Siberia to the Manhattan bohos whom I later romanticized, like others romanticized the Appalachians.) In the late '60s, I cut my political and cultural teeth on early Phil Ochs records, even though Ochs had moved on some. I enjoy reading about that rich period.

Folks here may enjoy a new book from the U-Massachusetts Press by historian Ronald D. Cohen: Rainbow Quest: The Folk Music Revival and American Society, 1940-1970. It's an extraordinarily comprehensive look at the revival, with coverage of individual geographic scenes around the US, with a national overview. I'm just about halfway through. It's a bit dry stylistically, and probably more informative than analytical, but the amount of detail Cohen has uncovered and synthesized is extraordinary. I read a lot of this stuff, and this book's got more than I've ever seen in one place, or at all.

Peace,
Michael