In Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads—Allison C. Meier's new book for Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series—she explores why this album is essential listening now, and how folk music of the 1940s has been under-appreciated for its radical legacy. While many people are familiar with Guthrie's anthemic “This Land Is Your Land,” there is much more to explore in his musical impact. In this talk, Meier will share how she explored the places that inspired Guthrie, like the Oklahoma Panhandle where the scars of the Dust Bowl remain, as well as her archival investigations into how Guthrie made art out of apocalypse.