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A Cultural History Of The Great Depression
W.W. Norton & Co.
September 2009
On Sale: September 14, 2009
624 pages
ISBN: 0393072258
EAN: 9780393072259
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
From Agee to Astaire, Steinbeck to Ellington, the creative energies of the Depression against a backdrop of poverty and economic disaster. In this timely and long-awaited cultural history of the 1930s, Morris Dickstein, whom Norman Mailer called βone of our best and most distinguished critics of American literature,β explores the anxiety and hope, the despair and surprising optimism of distressed Americans at a time of dire economic dislocation. Bringing together a staggering range of materialsβfrom epic Dust Bowl migrations and sharecropper photographs to zany screwball comedies, wildly popular swing bands, and streamlined Deco designsβthis eloquent work highlights the pivotal role of culture and government intervention in hard times. Exploding the myth that Depression culture was merely escapist, it concentrates instead on the dynamic energy and insight the arts could provide and the enormous lift they gave to the nationβs morale. Dancing in the Dark shows how our worst economic crisis, as it eroded American individualism and punctured the American dream, produced some of the greatest writing, photography, and mass entertainment ever seen in this country. 24 illustrations.
 Media BuzzFresh Air - NPR - December 23, 2009
Studio 360 - October 17, 2009
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