The troubled life of one of the ‘60s biggest folk acts is examined with unflinching honesty and moving compassion in Michael Schumacher’s engrossing biography of Phil Ochs, There But for Fortune. It doesn’t end well, of course, as Ochs’ descent into madness and paranoia and his death by suicide at the age of 36 makes for a painful literary journey. In this day and age, when the taking of one’s life and mental illness are much-discussed topics, Ochs’ tragic tale seems especially timely.

Tracing Ochs’ ambitious rise and harrowing fall in a flowing, well-researched tome that moves at a brisk pace, Schumacher offers a complete and utterly fascinating portrayal of Ochs that leaves no stone unturned. Expertly weaving a wide range of insightful interviews with musical peers, as well as family members and friends who tried to save Ochs from himself but were often pushed aside, Schumacher seamlessly tells a story of unmet expectations, dysfunction and career highs and lows.

A complex figure, the passionate Ochs relished political and social debate, had a keen intellect and was engaging and charismatic with a single-minded drive that was always at odds with his inner demons and self-destructive tendencies. Schumacher captures it all with remarkable insight and tight prose, painstakingly sketching out a fully realized, real-life character who had an up-and-down relationship with Bob Dylan and wrote stirring topical songs and anti-war anthems such as “I Ain’t Marching Anymore” and “The War is Over” while Vietnam raged on. He also struggled mightily with alcohol, manic-depression and personal hygiene. The train wreck of his taking on the John Train persona is particularly tough to read on an emotional level.

Without unduly romanticizing it, There But for Fortune, issued by the University of Minnesota Press, intensely studies the burgeoning—and surprisingly competitive—‘60s folk scene and Ochs’ place in it. In revisiting the societal and political tumult of the period, following Ochs to the deep South for an education in the Civil Rights Movement and detailing his involvement in the anti-war movement, Schumacher employs the zeal of a journalist searching for the truth and a historian’s passion for the subject matter.

—Peter Lindblad