Since stepping onstage unannounced at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival, Joan Baez has occupied a singular place not just in music, but in the social history of the past six decades. She has mentored generations of singer-songwriters—most famously Bob Dylan—but has also raised her voice in sorrow and anger as a dedicated activist for causes from Martin Luther King's March on Washington to Live Aid in Philadelphia and the siege of Sarajevo in Bosnia. Music writer Elizabeth Thomson has been inspired by Baez throughout her life, and met with her during her farewell tour. With a discography by music historian Arthur Levy, this portrait is "destined to become the definitive word on the life and times of Joan Baez."—Americana Music