Hold on Steve-O.   Unless you have read the book and know something the rest of us don't, I wouldn't make an opinion based on anythind David Hajdu wrote.

Debunk myths? Why not?   Why do we need to blindly believe every urban legend or publicists plot that comes along? Woody has been put on a pedastal and I guess people do not like to see idols with feet of clay.

The fact that Woody was a well-educated man who read constantly is "debunking" the image that has been created of some poor Okie who blew out of the Dust Bowl. I do think we all can learn something by investigating the whole story.

I had the pleasure of getting to know Marjorie Guthrie during her later years.   Marjorie was Woody's second wife and one of the reasons Woody's memory has been perpetuated. She worked tirelessly to keep the story alive, and she opened up her heart and her files to Joe Klein when he was writing the book.   She felt it was important to tell the whole story, warts and all.

I do remember asking her once about any film that existed with Woody. She told me of a few items that they had, but she said there was nothing more.   Years after she passed away, her daughter Nora began showing some films of Woody during his later years, when the effects of Huntington's was full blown. She explained that her mother was very protective of those images and that they were part of her families private life. Nora felt that it was important the people see the suffering that existed, but more importantly see the interaction that Woody had with his family. I was at a showing of these films once and after the audience viewed them, Arlo remarked how he could see people in the audience visably shaken, but his memories were happy ones of a family that dealt with the disease and lived a normal life.   

There is something to be said for not digging up the dirt and doing a scandal sheet biography, but there is something also to be said for a biographer that tells a story where the truth comes out.