Citizen Cash by Michael S. Foley, Hardcover, 9781541699571 | Buy online at The Nile
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Citizen Cash

The Political Life and Times of Johnny Cash

Author: Michael S. Foley  

Hardcover

A leading historian argues that Johnny Cash was the most important political artist of his time

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Summary

A leading historian argues that Johnny Cash was the most important political artist of his time

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Description

Johnny Cash was an American icon, known for his level bass-baritone voice and sombre demeanour, for huge hits like "Ring of Fire" and "I Walk the Line." He's one of the best-selling musicians of all time, and his crossover appeal earned him inductions into the Country Music, Gospel Music, and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. But he was also the most prominent political artist in the United States, even if he wasn't recognized for it in his own lifetime, or since his death in 2003.

Then and now, people have misread Cash's politics, usually accepting the idea of him as a "walking contradiction." Cash didn't fit into easy political categories-liberal or conservative, Red state or Blue state, hawk or dove. Like most people, Cash's politics were remarkably consistent in that they were based not on ideology or scripts-but on emotion, instinct, and identification. He supported Richard Nixon in his Vietnam War policies, while also seeming to stand up both for those asked to fight the war and for those who protested against it. Instead of choosing sides, Cash channelled an emotional discontent that bridged America's youth and the "silent majority." Foley traces the political evolution of the Man in Black as a prominent public citizen. Drawing on untapped archives and new research on social movements and grassroots activism, Citizen Cash offers a major reassessment of a legendary figure.

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Critic Reviews

“"This is an important reassessment of one of American music's greatest performers, revealing a complex artist of the first magnitude who used his art and empathy to parse for him the contradictory times he immortalized in his work."-- Ken Burns, filmmaker”

"Foley skillfully weaves anecdotes about Cash's stances throughout the book to illustrate the singer's sometimes hard-to-define political positions."--Washington Independent Review of Books
"'Citizen Cash' succeeds winningly. Foley is a well-regarded historian and does an excellent job of placing Cash's life and career within the contexts of his time."--Jack Hamilton, Washington Post
"Foley's energetic and consistent examination of how Cash's music and life express a politics of empathy offers a fresh reading of an iconic artist about whom it seems that everything has already been written."--No Depression
"Citizen Cash usefully combines biographical detail and cultural analysis with music history to provide an in-depth portrait of the ways Cash acquired his political and social ideas and wove them into the fabric of his music." --Henry L. Carrigan, Jr., Bookpage
"The book is a welcome corrective to the tendency to treat the man as so internally contrary as to be a complete enigma."--Stephen Metcalf, The Atlantic
"Foley--through extensive access to hitherto untapped archives--reveals as an artist's fundamental commitment to empathy, in both his work and his life." --Jonny Diamond, Lit Hub Editor in Chief
"[A] deeply researched, unique examination, Foley looks at the many reasons Cash was drawn to particular issues ... With sufficient detail and a gift for storytelling, Foley explores these and many other aspects of Cash's complex life. A powerful biography that will leave fans with a newfound respect for the Man in Black."--Kirkus (starred review)
"Citizen Cash is a big-hearted book about a big-hearted artist making his way through a complicated nation. A refreshing, healing examination of what Michael Foley calls Cash's 'politics of empathy.' In Foley's compassionate take on the Man in Black, we get an earthy sense of public citizenship that was as deep as the man's voice. Read it and feel better about who we are as a diverse people in a troubled land."
--Jefferson Cowie, author of Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class
"History is written for an era as much as about one, and historian Michael Foley has given us a Johnny Cash that speaks to our divided nation. Foley's Cash offers a 'politics of empathy' that transcends political division; he is a man shaped by the particulars of history, but also a man capable of change. Foley beautifully combines historical biography with his knowledge of Cash's music and its context. This is masterful work!"
--Beth Bailey, author of Sex in the Heartland
"In this compelling biography, Michael Stewart Foley recovers the 'Man in Black' as a prophetic political voice who used his microphone to plead the case of ordinary Americans, criticize the powerful, and prod his listeners to envision a better world. He shows how Johnny Cash combined empathy and entertainment, bringing together religion, a country vernacular, and lyricism to challenge injustice and inequality in a country that he loved. This is a moving, important book."
--Thomas J. Sugrue, New York University
"Michael Stewart Foley has written a book about Johnny Cash, and I cannot think of a better match of an author and subject. Foley shows how Cash's deep reserves of empathy and insight made him an artist for his time (and ours). This book will change how you think about Johnny Cash."
--John McMillian, professor of history at Georgia State University and author of Beatles Vs. Stones
"What does it mean to be a political artist? For an artist to 'be political'? In a timely and finely researched meditation on Cash's takes on incarceration, Native rights, racism, and the war in Vietnam, Foley embraces the messiness of politics in public. We get Cash the researcher, Cash the documentarian, Cash the curator, and Cash the empath. We get a book that re-establishes Cash as a fascinating prism for looking though some of the most urgent issues still haunting American political life."
--Josh Kun, author of Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America

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About the Author

Michael Stewart Foley is a historian of American politics and music and a professor of American Civilization at the Universite Grenoble Alpes. He is the author of three books, including Front Porch Politics and the award-winning Confronting the War Machine. He lives in Grenoble, France.

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More on this Book

Johnny Cash was an American icon, known for his level bass-baritone voice and sombre demeanour, for huge hits like "Ring of Fire" and "I Walk the Line." He's one of the best-selling musicians of all time, and his crossover appeal earned him inductions into the Country Music, Gospel Music, and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. But he was also the most prominent political artist in the United States, even if he wasn't recognized for it in his own lifetime, or since his death in 2003. Then and now, people have misread Cash's politics, usually accepting the idea of him as a "walking contradiction." Cash didn't fit into easy political categories-liberal or conservative, Red state or Blue state, hawk or dove. Like most people, Cash's politics were remarkably consistent in that they were based not on ideology or scripts-but on emotion, instinct, and identification. He supported Richard Nixon in his Vietnam War policies, while also seeming to stand up both for those asked to fight the war and for those who protested against it. Instead of choosing sides, Cash channelled an emotional discontent that bridged America's youth and the "silent majority." Foley traces the political evolution of the Man in Black as a prominent public citizen. Drawing on untapped archives and new research on social movements and grassroots activism, Citizen Cash offers a major reassessment of a legendary figure.

Read more

Product Details

Publisher
Basic Books
Published
16th December 2021
Pages
384
ISBN
9781541699571

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