Very briefly, as a piece of writing, it has little style, and turns well ploughed earth. I agree with Steve, Bert's book while eminently readable was certainly not better than Steve Roud's book. There are certain statements that are presented as facts, and are very far from the truth, notably:- 'He was not interested in these rural singers as people, but only as unconscious, acorn-producing entities whom some accident of history had bestowed with a strange property.' We have been here before many times. I have full knowledge of the balancing act of probabilities, however a bit of common sense might dictate that if this last statement had any truth, word might have got round. 'Don't talk to the man on the bike, he thinks he's better than you.' Interestingly enough I was pleased to witness Brian Peters 'Cecil Sharp saint or sinner' presentation at the Glad4Trad festival earlier this week, and would suggest that this is a more erudite and open minded approach to Sharp's work. It might help the reader in their approach to Gemie's article.
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