Workingman: The Faith-Based Politics of Bruce Springsteen

by June Skinner Sawyers

The working-class hero of rock music is Bruce Springsteen, who sings of the troubles and joys in the everyday lives of small-town Americans. At times Springsteen has been accused of being a romantic or, even worse, just a liberal; but he’s also been celebrated as a visionary, a troubadour whose insights into the struggles of common folk also touch on the larger themes of disenchantment with the American Dream. Springsteen came only gradually to a political message in his music. The course of his development is traced in this revealing portrait by June Sawyers.

50 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 18, 2014

About the author

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, June Skinner Sawyers is the author or editor of more than twenty books, many with a Celtic theme, including Celtic Music; Dreams of Elsewhere: The Selected Travel Writings of Robert Louis Stevenson; Praying with Celtic Saints, Prophets, Martyrs, and Poets; The Road North: 300 Years of Classic Scottish Travel Writing; and The Scots of Chicago: Quiet Immigrants and Their New Society.

Her essays, Weeping Willows and Long Black Veils: The Country Roots of Rosanne Cash, from Scotland to Tennessee appeared in Walking the Line: Country Music Lyricists and American Culture and Celtic Music in America in The Encyclopedia of Music and American Culture, respectively. In addition, her work has appeared in Scottish Tradition, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, Sing Out!, Dirty Linen, Booklist and The Common Review. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Flora Macdonald Award from St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, North Carolina, which is given to a woman of Scots birth or descent who has made an outstanding contribution to the human community.

Reviews

[Thomas Thieme · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brief summation of how politics and religion are part and parcel of Springsteen's life and art. If you are interested enough to pursue this topic but hesitant to dive in at the deep end of these subjects, this is your book. There are plenty of books out there that will go into much more scholarly detail (Books on Springsteen's work are beginning to rival Bob Dylan's in number.) and this book will refer you to many of them. It serves as a good introduction to the rest.