PETE SEEGER'S PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS: "Surrounding Hate and Forcing It to Surrender"

PETE SEEGER'S PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
"Surrounding Hate and Forcing It to Surrender"

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Throughout his ninety-four years (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014), Pete Seeger wrote and sung songs that have helped us to look at the world as he did – with love, heart, rebellion, and a huge helping of humor. His songs not only entertained, but they also engaged, and occasionally even enraged. Many of the songs he wrote and sung seemed to possess a conscience. They espoused values and visions. In addition to rhythms and rhymes, he imbued his songs with a plethora of timeless spiritual messages. Through moral persuasion, he taught powerful lessons to young and old, lessons that continue to influence and inspire countless millions.
The bulk of this book consists of a rhetorical analysis of Pete Seeger’s public communications. The first chapter identifies some of his ideas about sounds and words, topics he reflected on throughout his life. Chapter two discusses principles undergirding Seeger’s worldview as expressed in his rhetoric. The third chapter concerns repeated themes and lessons, and chapter four discusses how Seeger’s stories planted sage for the soul. Chapter five examines Seeger’s imagery, and chapter six deals with how his humor was “no laughing matter.” Chapter seven deals with the most distinguishing feature of Seeger’s communications – participation. Finally, chapter eight concerns criticisms levied against Seeger and his responses. This chapter looks especially at criticisms that led to Seeger being blacklisted for over seventeen years.
Part Two of this book presents song lyrics, speeches, columns, children’s stories, and public letters that span Seeger’s life (and that are not included in their entirety in Dr. Einhorn’s analysis). Because there are so many primary-source texts, many people will likely disagree with some of her choices. She says this is fine because her purpose is simply to give a sense of the scope and variety of Seeger’s rhetoric and to provide easy access to important pieces of discourse that readers might not even know exist; these include his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), his sealed letter to future grandchildren, his letter that initiated the FBI investigations, his wife’s parody of the song “Turn, Turn, Turn,” and his scathing criticisms about himself published under his wife’s name. The book ends with a thorough, though far from exhaustive, bibliography.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lois Einhorn, Ph.D. has been a Professor of Rhetoric at the state University of New York's University Center at Binghamton for over forty years. Highly accomplished, she has published eight previous books and many articles; and she has received many honors, awards and grants including five major teaching awards—often the youngest then and since to receive these honors.
Largely because of her new ideas and own personal forgiveness process resulting from writing Forgiveness and Child Abuse, Dr. Einhorn was honored as a 2004 Heroine of Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Peace by The World Forgiveness Alliance, an award previously given to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu.
Lois was also recognized by Marquis Who’s Who for a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017, a Distinguished Humanitarian Award in 2018, and a Distinguished Professional Woman in 2021.
As this book went to press, Dr. Einhorn learned that Marquis Who’s Who will be honoring her as the Featured Top Educator for the next two years.

ISBN: 978-1-944297-75-6 (paperback, $17.95)
Kindle eBook ISBN:  978-1-944297-76-3 ($9.99)

320 pages