Book description
Newly discovered, and with an introduction by Johnny Depp, this is
legendary American folk singer Woody Guthrie's only finished novel: a
compelling portrait of two hardscrabble farmers struggling during the
Dust Bowl.
Filled with the homespun lyricism that made Guthrie's songs
unforgettable, this is the story of an ordinary couple's dream of a
better life in a corrupt world. Living in a precarious wooden shack,
Texan farmers Tike and Ella May yearn for a sturdy house to protect them
from the treacherous elements. Thanks to a government pamphlet, Tike
knows how to build a simple adobe dwelling from the land itself- a house
of earth. But while the land on which Tike and Ella May live and work is
not theirs, their dream remains painfully out of reach.
A rural tale of progressive activism, HOUSE OF EARTH is a searing
portrait of hardship and hope set against a ravaged landscape. Combining
the moral urgency and narrative drive of John Steinbeck with the erotic
frankness of D. H. Lawrence, it is a powerful tale of America from a
great artist. Praise for Woody Guthrie:
'Woody is just Woody. Thousands of people do not know he has any other
name. He is just a voice and a guitar. He sings the songs of a people
and I suspect that he is, in a way, that people. Harsh-voiced and nasal,
his guitar hanging like a tire iron on a rusty rim, there is nothing
sweet about Woody, and there is nothing sweet about the songs he sings.
But there is something more important for those who listen. There is the
will of the people to endure and fight against oppression. I think we
call this the American spirit.' John Steinbeck Woodrow Wilson
"Woody" Guthrie (July 14, 1912 - October 3, 1967) was an
American singer-songwriter and folk musician whose musical legacy
includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs,
ballads and improvised works. He became an icon of the Dust Bowl and the
Great Depression. His work and image have influenced such songwriters as
Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg and Phil Ochs.
He is remembered as an anti-authoritarian patriot, but most of all a man
of and for the people.
