Art - what I said was that I do not think there is a "loss" of interest in history. I see many "young" folks learning about the music and the history, but their implementation of the lessons differs from the way other generations have used it.

40 years ago, when the folk revival was taking hold, there were reasons for the interest. Those reasons change. When I interviewed him, Eric Andersen made a strong case that the reason people like himself, Phil Ochs, and even Woody Guthrie wrote songs was because they were not finding songs that addressed issues that were important to them. They took the tradition and created their own music. The fact that we have a strong TRADITION of singer-songwriters is the result of changes that were made by the folk revival. What is also happening in 2008 is that there ARE young people who are discovering old songs and tunes - I can play numerous CD's of such material for you.   These artists might not fill Washington Square Park on a Sunday, but they are creating their own scenee - much like folks from another generation did for their time and needs.

To say that younger generations are not learning lessons from the past and that ultimately it ends up with repeating wars and a bad economy is an oversimplification of facts and ignoring numerous factors. A case could be made that we are in the situation we are in because we learned from the past and attempted fixes that would not work with contemporary necessities.