Professor Richard Polenberg discusses Bob Dylan's critique of
political, social, racial and class inequities in the early
1960s. He discusses Dylan's view of racial injustice and such
foreign policy issues as the exaggerated fear of communism and
the very real danger of nuclear war. While some of Dylan's songs
dealt with highly visible problems that were front-page news at
the time, others dealt with problems that were no less real,
such as poverty, violence, and the cruelty of the prison system.
Dylan called them his "finger-pointing" songs. Polenberg not
only describes the historical context in which the songs were
written, but sings and plays a number of them as well, including
"Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changing." He is
joined on some of the songs by Annie Burns, and is accompanied
by his son, Michael, who plays guitar, 12-string guitar, and
mandolin.