Foreword by Peter Yarrow
Chapter 1 - New York and the Origins of the Folk Music Revival
Chapter 2 - Making a Business Out of It
Chapter 3 - The Battles of Washington Square Park
Chapter 4 - The Village Scene in the Early 1960s
Chapter 5 - Political Activism and the Folk Music Revival
Chapter 6 - Bob Dylan Is Talkin' New York
Stephen Petrus is an Andrew W. Mellon Research Fellow at the
New-York Historical Society, where he is working on his second
book, a political and cultural history of Greenwich Village in the
1950s and 60s. At the Museum of the City of New York, he curated
the exhibition Folk City, on view until January 10th, 2016, and was
co-author of the show's accompanying book, with historian Ronald D.
Cohen. Petrus has published essays on twentieth-century
U.S. urban and cultural history. He received his Ph.D. in history
from the City University Graduate Center and taught at Lehman
College in the Bronx. He currently lives in Brooklyn.
Ronald D. Cohen is Emeritus Professor of History at Indiana
University Northwest in Gary, Indiana. He is the author of numerous
books on the history of folk music including The Pete Seeger Reader
(OUP, 2014) and was the co-producer/writer of the 10-CD boxed set
Songs for Political Action: Folk Music, Topical Songs and the
American Left, 1926-1954 (1996).
"[The book] has much to offer music researchers and will serve as a
key source in helping its readers understand the spaces,
ideologies, and connections of the influential midcentury New York
folk scene. Thus, whether for general readers, historians,
musicologists, or anyone else engaging substantially with the
history of American folk revivalism, this book is a welcome
addition." -- Brian Jones , Society for American Music Bulletin
"Folk City is a magical token back to a clattering, incandescent
New York, where Popular Front hootenannies gave way to the fretted
hip of Gerde's, the Gaslight, and the Folklore Center. Stephen
Petrus and Ronald Cohen have written the best history yet of the
city's influential folk music culture, packed with astonishing
photos that finally see the light of day." --Sean Wilentz, author
of Bob Dylan in America
"Yes, dear readers, there was a time not so long ago when urban
troubadours sang of flowers more powerful than guns; a time when
ideals put to song helped transform a culture. With compelling
artistry, Stephen Petrus and Ronald Cohen capture the history
behind that special moment and how New York's diverse creative
class made it happen." --Thomas Kessner, Distinguished Professor of
History, City University of New York Graduate School
"Folk City is beautifully written and illustrated, a mesmerizing
history of one of the great moments in New York cultural history.
The prose fairly sings off the page, and the photos and old poster
and song sheets are fascinating. This will make you wish you were
there." --Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd
"This handsome book, which includes rarely seen photographs,
reminiscences of participants and a lively narrative . . . The
authors do a fine job of presenting the various facets of the folk
revival, including its impact on the city and its role in changing
the larger culture." --The New York Times
"Fourteen years ago, author David Hajdu crafted a superb, perhaps
definitive, portrait of Greenwich Village at the height of the
folk-music revival . . . yet in [FOLK CITY'S] winningly
plain-spoken way, provides a far more comprehensive appreciation of
one of the most colourful chapters in American music." --
Maclean's
"[A] fresh, colorful, thoroughly illustrated portrait of the scene,
from its origins to today . . . [FOLK CITY] is particularly
compelling in chronicling, from original documents and firsthand
testimony, how the critical mass for the folk revival congregated
in the city."--Wall Street Journal
"Petrus (curatorial fellow, Museum of the City of New York) and
Cohen (emer., history, Indiana Univ. Northwest) have produced a
wonderful overview of the influential folk music scene that
revolved around New York City's Greenwich Village and Washington
Square during the 1950s and 1960s."--Choice
"Reading Folk City is almost like watching a film documentary (of
which there have been a few) of that time. But in its balanced yet
passionate story it helps one recreate memories, re-think thoughts,
laugh at some of the foolishness, and weep for some of the
tragedies...[it] will bring you as close as you can get to a very
wonderful time that is still re-creating itself in the guitar
strummers of today."--The Bridge
"Straightforward and engaging, breezily fresh and poignant, rich in
reminiscences and primary as well as secondary sources, Folk City:
New York and the American Folk Music Revival is the inviting
companion publication to the Museum of the City of New York's
similarly titled exhibit."--Sing Out!
"Folk City began life as a companion essay to a recent exhibition
at the Museum of the City of New York. It comes close to being a
complete social history of a vital, but ultimately tragic
moment."--The Times Literary Supplement
"Folk City...is a striking mix...an impressive job of research
readably and sometimes eloquently presented."--Journal of Folklore
Research
"No pair was better placed to mount the exhibition or to write the
accompanying, beautiful book..."--Journal of Popular Music
Studies
"Petrus and Cohen's Folk City offers a fascinating and highly
readable account of the American folk music revival, which they
effectively argue came about as an extension of New York City's
unique cultural scenery."--The Gotham Center for New York City
History
"[An] impressive volume, impeccably presented and lucidly
written..."--Popular Music
"Petrus and Cohen know the story that they want to tell, and they
tell it well. They are at their best when tracing the connections
between underground performance venues, music magazine publishers,
and moments of social activism, and they lead their audience
fluently through the networks of music and politics that made up
the New York folk music scene. Readers who are interested in New
York City will find new layers to the city's cultural life to
appreciate,
and readers who are folk music lovers will discover the extent of
that music's impact on American society."--Notes
"Folk City provides several valuable scholarly contributions. For
one, it is strong in detail and offers a definitive account of the
evolution of folk music during the middle part of the twentieth
century. The authors also effectively highlight the reasons why New
York City helped precipitate a folk music revival. As such, the
book is not simply a descriptive narrative; rather, it connects
factual detail to wider themes and ideas. Petrus and Cohen also
make several interesting connections to urban history that situate
their arguments within a wider historical framework...Folk City is
an excellent book, important not only as a history of folk music
but as a
significant contribution to urban history as well." --Popular Music
and Society
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