WE SHALL OVERCOME

Pete Seeger tells readers in the foreword that “the power of singing together shows us that change is possible,” and no other song is as identified with movements for social change as “We Shall Overcome.” Evolving from slave songs, spirituals and hymns, it was a song of labor protest in union halls in the 1930s, an anthem of the civil-rights movement, a rallying song during the Vietnam War and now a song adopted by protest movements around the world. Stotts’s enthusiasm for his subject is palpable in this clear and accessible volume rooted in extensive research. The useful bibliography includes recordings, films, websites and a selection of titles for young readers. Well-chosen photographs with informative captions, engravings, drawings and lyrics support the text, as do Cummings’s full-page illustrations, which visualize the theme of each chapter. A fitting celebration of a song that has helped to create a better world. Includes a CD of Seeger singing “We Shall Overcome.” (source notes) (Nonfiction. 8-12)