Reviews for American 1930s: A Literary History

The average rating for American 1930s: A Literary History based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-02-20 00:00:00 Loretta M. Owen Very well-organized and thoroughly readable. The first chapter discusses the literature of the twenties, particularly the experience following WW I in order to put the thirties in perspective. He touches on the historical context of the Depression and the New Deal in the introduction, but the majority of the book is focused on American Literature of the time period. He devotes a chapter to Historical fictions, one to the African American experience, and one to Southern history (Gone with the Wind is addressed in this chapter). Interwoven in each chapter are black and white photos of famous paintings from the period as well and he discusses the interplay between literature and art of the 1930s. For me a good indicator of a 5 star book is whether it leads me down other roads of reading, or whether it's just a literary dead end (2 stars). "The American 1930s: A Literary History" was a bit like being in the center of Times Square; I took a moment to pause but it will lead me to many other great books of American Lit and I will have to come back to this one as a reference point.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-06-15 00:00:00 Gabriel Ferrari What I learmed is that Thoreau was a hippie, romantic and luddite who one day stopped paying taxes due to his opposition to war and slavery. Harold Bloom joins a series of perspectives on the author from contemporaries and critics (interesting to think he lived in the same time as Louise May Alcott, and that she came from a progressive, first wave feminist family, seeing as Little Women is hailed as the ultimate cornerstone of traditional young girls' literature). Thoreau remains yet to be read, but this was a good introduction, I guess.