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...

A cultural history of the 1930s by the author of Gates of Eden explores the anxiety, despair, and optimism of the period while evaluating such factors as the Dust Bowl migrations, "screwball comedy," and swing band music to evaluate how...