Nearly a decade ago, Bob Dylan fan Addie Mahmassani took a look at her large collection of books on the 1960s folk revival and asked what was missing. The answer was obvious: There was no feminist analysis of the women of the scene. Air Split Open takes the first step to correct this glaring absence.
Deploying her background in cultural history, gender, sexuality, and performance studies, Mahmassani tracks the interwoven careers of Odetta and Joan Baez, creating a new story of the folk revival that is at once incisive and entertaining, while also grappling with broader questions of the way male-centered historical narratives take shape in the context of American popular culture. A feminist take on the music scene that defined an era, Air Split Open is fueled by deep respect for the American folk tradition and all those, known and unknown, who have carried it forward.
鈥泪苍 Air Split Open, Addie Mahmassani gazes at old rock territory from a perspective that has previously been entirely absent from the discourse. The result is so fresh, so insightful, and so beautifully written it feels like she is breaking open a whole new vein of scholarship. It鈥檚 a book that will undermine your assumptions about music while simultaneously reaffirming them, making it much like the work of the artists she is observing. It is a true reading pleasure.鈥濃擥ina Arnold, author, Half a Million Strong: Crowds and Power from Woodstock to Coachella
鈥Air Split Open is the captivating story of the two 鈥楺ueens of Folk,鈥 and how they shaped the broader American folk movement. But in analyzing their stories, it also digs into fundamental questions about human development: How do we learn to love what we love, want what we want, and ignore what we ignore? Like the music she examines, Mahmassani鈥檚 writing weaves between personal and political, heart-wrenching and hilarious, intimate and expansive. Air Split Open is not just for folk aficionados, but for anyone wanting to better understand the way that cultures and subcultures meld to construct our unique identities.鈥濃擫eah Donnella, editor, NPR鈥檚 Code Switch