This Land Was Made for You and Me
The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie
Before Springsteen and before Dylan, there was Woody Guthrie. With “This Machine Kills Fascists,” scrawled across his guitar in big black letters, Woody Guthrie brilliantly captured in song the experience of twentieth-century America. Whether he sang about union organizers, migrant workers, or war, Woody took his inspiration from the plight of the people around him as well as from his own tragic childhood.
From the late 1920s to the 1950s, Guthrie wrote the words to more than three thousand songs, including “This Land Is Your Land,” a song many call America’s unofficial national anthem. Woody Guthrie spoke out for everyone, setting an example for generations of musicians to come.
“The best book about Woody ever written!” — Pete Seeger
Awards & Accolades
- National Book Award Finalist
- Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction
- SCBWI Golden Kite, Nonfiction
- The Commonwealth Club of California
- ALA Best Books for Young Adults –Top Ten
- ALA Notable Book
- School Library Journal Best Books
- Booklist Editor’s Choice
- Horn Book Fanfare
- BCCB Blue Ribbon
- Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of the Year
- New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
★ “Partridge lays out the complexities and contradictions of Guthrie’s life, drawing a full picture of a man who defined the pain and the pleasures of so many Americans. Well-chosen illustrations, including Guthrie’s sketches and family photos, personalize and extend this account.” — Horn Book
★ “The author of Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange shapes a lucid, affecting portrait of another indisputably restless spirit, the prolific songwriter and impassioned folksinger Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (1912–1967).” — Publisher’s Weekly
“Beautifully designed and illustrated with over 70 black-and-white photographs, this well-written account is a fitting tribute to an American legend.” — Kirkus
“Partridge’s latest is a tender, unflinching biography of a free-spirited American artist.” — Booklist
Woody in his Los Angeles back yard, 1941.
Back cover of This Land, illustration by Lane Smith