| New!
Riding with
Strangers: A Hitchhiker's Journey
(Chicago Review Press, 2006)
Having set out in my teens to be a rambling
musician in the Woody Guthrie mode, I've mostly written about
the music but eventually had to get around to the rambling....
For more info, check out my hitchhiking
page.
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I have been a writer, mostly on music, for about
twenty-five years, with seven
books and hundreds of articles (many of which are in my articles
archive) in various magazines and for the Boston
Globe. I was the Globe’s world and roots music critic
for over a decade, and I have also written album liner notes
for various discs (which are listed on the
album projects
page), and some political commentary
pieces (which are up on TomPaine.com
and Alternet).
Forthcoming projects include Global Minstrels: Voices
of World Music, due from Routledge in Fall 2006.
My earlier books, in reverse chronological
order, are: |
|
The
Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir
By
Dave Van Ronk, with Elijah Wald
(Da Capo, 2005)
Dave
Van Ronk page
|
Escaping
the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues
(Amistad/HarperCollins, 2004)
Robert Johnson page
|
Narcocorrido:
A Journey into the Music of Drugs,
Guns, and Guerrillas
(Rayo/HarperCollins, 2001) Narcocorrido
page |
Josh
White:
Society Blues
(University of Massachusetts, 2000) Society
Blues page |
|
| River
of Song: A Musical Journey Down the Mississippi
(St. Martins, 1998, with John Junkerman)
This is the book version of a four-part PBS TV series sponsored
by the Smithsonian, in which we traveled the length of the
Mississippi, visiting musicians who seemed representative
of each region, from gospel choirs to blues singers, German
polka to riot grrl punk bands to Spanish ballad singers. The
book is full of photographs and interview segments, designed
to introduce the regions and musical styles, but, above all,
the musicians themselves. There a lot more information on
River
of Song’s website, and you might also want to check
out the companion CD on the Music and Albums page. This book
is widely available (sometimes as a low-priced cut-out
so shop around). |
Exploding the Gene Myth
(Beacon Press, 1993, 1997, 1999, with Ruth Hubbard)
This is an exploration of the complexities, misinformation
and dangers of the new genetics technologies. The primary
author is my mother, Ruth Hubbard, a biochemist who taught
for many years at Harvard University. My job was to make it
all easily readable by laypeople like myself. It is meant
as a guide to the pitfalls of all the new genetic breakthroughs
being ballyhooed in the popular and scientific press, dealing
with questions like who really gains from genetic testing
and how genuine are the "discoveries" of genes for
this or that condition. It has been regularly updated with
prefaces and epilogues, and is also available in Spanish,
Japanese, and Korean. |
Click here to access an archive of my past writings, catalogued by subject or musician, and arranged by genre, theme, or whatever other system seemed appropriate. |