Washington Square Memoirs -- The Great Urban Folk Boom: 1950-1970 (2012)

It's too easy to dismiss Cold War-era folk music as the earnest, mewling imprecations of white, privileged kids railing against social injustice; a lot of enduring music emerged from that all-too-brief cultural efflorescence. This well-annotated three-CD set culls the best-known tracks (''Blowin' in the Wind,'' ''Walk Right In'') with material from the movement's brightest lights (Eric Von Schmidt, Carolyn Hester) and left-of-center eccentrics (the Holy Modal Rounders, Dave Van Ronk).