American Culture in the 1930s

This book provides an insightful overview of the major cultural forms of 1930s America: literature and drama, music and radio, film and photography, art and design, and a chapter on the role of the federal government in the development of the arts. The intellectual context of 1930s American culture is a strong feature, whilst case studies of influential texts and practitioners of the decade -- from War of the Worlds to The Grapes of Wrath and from Edward Hopper to the Rockefeller Centre -- help to explain the cultural impulses of radicalism, nationalism and escapism that characterize the United States in the 1930s. Key Features: * 3 case studies per chapter featuring key texts, genres, writers and artists * Chronology of 1930s American Culture * Bibliographies for each chapter * 22 black and white illustrations

Vivid, wide-ranging and original, David Eldridge is a perceptive guide, conducting his readers through the maze of American culture in the 1930s. This is a book to inspire students, inform general readers and challenge scholars to generate further research. -- Nicholas J. Cull, Director of the Public Diplomacy Program, University of Southern California Each chapter handles a different form of 1930s expression with a sure and light touch, and Eldridge's synchronic approach matches the multifarious ethos of the era very well. -- Catherine Gander, University of East Anglia Journal of American Studies This particular volume will be of interest to historians of American culture who are not specialists in the interwar period, and it would also be a good book for instructors to consider using in undergraduate courses on the period. The book contains detailed timelines of various cultural developments in the 1930s as well as a thorough and well-chosen bibliography, features that add to a solid synthetic cultural history of the 1930s. -- Michael Stamm, Michigan State university American Journalism Vivid, wide-ranging and original, David Eldridge is a perceptive guide, conducting his readers through the maze of American culture in the 1930s. This is a book to inspire students, inform general readers and challenge scholars to generate further research. Each chapter handles a different form of 1930s expression with a sure and light touch, and Eldridge's synchronic approach matches the multifarious ethos of the era very well. This particular volume will be of interest to historians of American culture who are not specialists in the interwar period, and it would also be a good book for instructors to consider using in undergraduate courses on the period. The book contains detailed timelines of various cultural developments in the 1930s as well as a thorough and well-chosen bibliography, features that add to a solid synthetic cultural history of the 1930s.

David Eldridge is Director of American Studies at the University of Hull. He specialises in the history of American culture and is the author of Hollywood's History Films (I.B. Tauris, 2006).