A review by judyward
Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression by Morris Dickstein

3.0

I enjoyed this book despite the fact that it was not as readable as I had hoped it would be. But then, I have a fascination with American history so, of course, I was hooked. Dickstein views the culture of the United States during the Great Depression has having a split personality. There are the plays of Clifford Odets and novels such as the Grapes of Wrath, and then there are Busby Berkeley productions and escapism through movies such as those starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. An interesting analysis of the wide varieties of cultural reactions to the realities of the 1930s.