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A timely warning from an ominous past
This is a pertinent reminder of what the government is capable of doing to those who popularise a vision that runs counter to a capitalist economy, its wars and its racism, writes ROB JACOBS
BITTER RIFT: Burl Ives (right) was castigated by Pete Seeger (left) for collaborating with Joseph McCarthy [Library of Congress/Creative Commons]

The Folk Singers and the Bureau: The FBI, the Folk Artists and the Suppression of the Communist Party USA, 1939-1956
by Aaron J Leonard (Repeater Books, £10.99)

MY dad played music a lot when I was a young child. He would come home from work and put an album on his record player, change out of his uniform and drink a beer while he listened.

Usually, his listening fare was show tunes or big band music. On occasion, he would play a Nat King Cole record or something from the Ink Spots. Sometimes, he would put on a record by the folk singer Burl Ives.

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