Folk Music USA: The Changing Voice Of Protest is the definitive story of American folk music, focussing on how a minority music genre suddenly became the emergent voice of a generation at the end of the Eisenhower years.

From Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley" in 1958 to Bob Dylan's electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, folk music wove itself from American culture and grew to define it, influencing the hippie '60s, Civil Rights demonstrations and brewing anti-war sentiment before eventually becoming absorbed into popular music. The author also explores how authentic folk is now experiencing a second revival, taking its place in our contemporary fascination with roots music and modern ideals of equality, justice and social unrest.