Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date.
For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now.
Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression
A Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award "The definitive book about Depression culture for our time." —San Francisco Chronicle
Hailed as one of the best books of 2009 by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, this vibrant portrait of 1930s culture masterfully explores the anxiety and hope, the despair and surprising optimism of distressed Americans during the Great Depression. Morris Dickstein, whom Norman Mailer called "one of our best and most distinguished critics of American literature," has brought together a staggering range of material-from epic Dust Bowl migrations to zany screwball comedies, elegant dance musicals, wildly popular swing bands, and streamlined Deco designs. Exploding the myth that Depression culture was merely escapist, Dickstein concentrates on the dynamic energy of the arts, and the resulting lift they gave to the nation's morale. A fresh and exhilarating analysis of one of America's most remarkable artistic periods, with Dancing in the Dark Dickstein delivers a monumental critique.
A New York Times Notable Book, Los Angeles Times Favorite Book, San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2009, and Huffington Post Best Book.
1100872228
Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression
A Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award "The definitive book about Depression culture for our time." —San Francisco Chronicle
Hailed as one of the best books of 2009 by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, this vibrant portrait of 1930s culture masterfully explores the anxiety and hope, the despair and surprising optimism of distressed Americans during the Great Depression. Morris Dickstein, whom Norman Mailer called "one of our best and most distinguished critics of American literature," has brought together a staggering range of material-from epic Dust Bowl migrations to zany screwball comedies, elegant dance musicals, wildly popular swing bands, and streamlined Deco designs. Exploding the myth that Depression culture was merely escapist, Dickstein concentrates on the dynamic energy of the arts, and the resulting lift they gave to the nation's morale. A fresh and exhilarating analysis of one of America's most remarkable artistic periods, with Dancing in the Dark Dickstein delivers a monumental critique.
A New York Times Notable Book, Los Angeles Times Favorite Book, San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2009, and Huffington Post Best Book.
35.0
In Stock
51
Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression
A Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award "The definitive book about Depression culture for our time." —San Francisco Chronicle
Hailed as one of the best books of 2009 by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, this vibrant portrait of 1930s culture masterfully explores the anxiety and hope, the despair and surprising optimism of distressed Americans during the Great Depression. Morris Dickstein, whom Norman Mailer called "one of our best and most distinguished critics of American literature," has brought together a staggering range of material-from epic Dust Bowl migrations to zany screwball comedies, elegant dance musicals, wildly popular swing bands, and streamlined Deco designs. Exploding the myth that Depression culture was merely escapist, Dickstein concentrates on the dynamic energy of the arts, and the resulting lift they gave to the nation's morale. A fresh and exhilarating analysis of one of America's most remarkable artistic periods, with Dancing in the Dark Dickstein delivers a monumental critique.
A New York Times Notable Book, Los Angeles Times Favorite Book, San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2009, and Huffington Post Best Book.
Morris Dickstein (1940—2021) was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English and Theatre at the CUNY Graduate Center and the author of Gates of Eden, Dancing in the Dark, an award-winning cultural history of the Great Depression, and Why Not Say What Happened, a memoir.
Table of Contents
Preface xiii
1 Introduction: Depression Culture 3
Part 1 Discovering Poverty
2 The Tenement and the World: Immigrant Lives 15
3 The Starvation Army 50
4 The Country and the City 92
5 Hard Times for Poets 154
6 Black Girls and Native Sons 173
Part 2 Success and Failure
7 Beyond the American Dream 215
8 What Price Hollywood? 311
9 The Last Film of the 1930s; or, Nothing Fails like Success 342
Part 3 The Culture of Elegance
10 Fantasy, Elegance, Mobility: The Dream Life of the 1930s 357
11 Class for the Masses: Elegance Democratized 408
Part 4 The search For Community
12 The Populist Turn: Copland and the Popular Front 441
13 Who Cares?: The World of Porgy and Bess 464
14 The People vs. Frank Capra: Populism against Itself 477
15 Shakespeare in Overalls: An American Troubadour 496
16 Gender Trouble: Exposing the Intellectuals 507
17 Conclusion: The Work of Culture in Depression America 522
A significant historical work. A wonderful cultural historian, Morris Dickstein has written a book that lends testimony to the perseverance of the nation at that time.
