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A timely warning from an ominous past
This is a pertinent reminder of what the government is capable of doing to those who popularise a vision that runs counter to a capitalist economy, its wars and its racism, writes ROB JACOBS

The Folk Singers and the Bureau: The FBI, the Folk Artists and the Suppression of the Communist Party USA, 1939-1956
by Aaron J Leonard (Repeater Books, £10.99)

MY dad played music a lot when I was a young child. He would come home from work and put an album on his record player, change out of his uniform and drink a beer while he listened.

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On the weekends when my mom was out shopping, he would play Hank Williams, Johnny Cash or some other country and western artist.

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