This book contributes significantly to the debate surrounding the importance of Ewan MacColl to the English folk revival. MacColl gave two extended interviews with co-editor Giovanni Vacca in 1987 and 1988 and these provide the impetus for a re-examination of his methods, his politics and his aesthetic aims. Great emphasis is placed on the importance of seeing MacColl as not only a British, but a European folk activist, through discussion of his hitherto barely known work in Italy, enabling a re-contextualization of his work within a broader European context. Peggy Seeger contributes a Foreword to the collection.