The Folk Singers and the Bureau: The FBI, the Folk Artists and the Suppression of the Communist Party

The Folk Singers and the Bureau: The FBI, the Folk Artists and the
Suppression of the Communist Party

May 1, 2021

The first book to document the efforts of the FBI against the most
famous American folk singers of the mid-twentieth century,
including Woody Guthrie, 'Sis Cunningham, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and
Burl Ives.

Some of the most prominent folk singers of the twentieth century,
including Woody Guthrie, 'Sis Cunningham, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays,
Burl Ives, etc., were also political activists with various
associations with the American Communist Party. As a consequence,
the FBI, along with other governmental and right-wing
organizations, were monitoring them, keeping meticulous files
running many thousands of pages, and making (and carrying out)
plans to purge them from the cultural realm.

In The Folk Singers and the Bureau, Aaron J Leonard draws on an
unprecedented array of declassified documents and never before
released files to shed light on the interplay between left-wing
folk artists and their relationship with the American Communist
Party, and how it put them in the US government's repressive cross
hairs.

At a time of increasing state surveillance and repression, The Folk
Singers and the Bureau shows how the FBI and other governmental
agencies have attempted to shape and repress American
culture.

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