by Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie was born into an upper- class family in Okemah, Oklahoma, in 1912. Musically gifted, he experienced many hardships during his childhood, including an increasingly poverty-stricken household and the breakup of his family. During the Great Depression, Guthrie set out on his own for California. He spent time in the state's migrant camps, composing songs and riding trains from one place to the next. A left-wing political activist, he eventually became an acclaimed folksinger. Bound for Glory details his experiences on the road to fame and also brings alive the historical realities of the era.

Events in History at the Time of the Autobiography

From the "Red Scare" to the Great Depression. Ushering in the 1920s was a "red scare" in America-a fear of a communist revolution in the country. This scare followed on the heels of the 1917 communist takeover of...