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Dancing In The Dark: A Cultural History Of The Great Depression (2009)

by Morris Dickstein(Favorite Author)

3.05 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0393072258 (ISBN13: 9780393072259)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: Never were high hopes so devastatingly dashed. The author admits that it's too difficult to write an exhaustive cultural history of the Great Depression, and it is, but he chooses to focus on what I consider it's least interesting subjects. Honestly, I was 350 pages in before I was even briefly engaged. So much time was devoted to literature, and I like Steinbeck and Nathanael West, but it was bone dry. Summary after summary of works deemed important. Promises of discussing horror films of the 30s broken, but Woody Allen's THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO is invoked several times, and yes! We will dissect CITIZEN KANE for the gazillionth time! The writing is pretentious. There is no author or composer that doesn't have an ian tacked on to it to make it an adjective. The chapter on... more Broadway musicals was most interesting, but too little too late.
review 2: I'm not sure what people were expecting from this one. It struck me as a great overview of the literature and film of the era, with some interesting sections on music, dance and industrial design thrown in for good measure. Dickstein posits a convincing thesis that is buttressed by the material he analyzes. There are plenty of great *social* histories of the Depression, which is what I think people seem to have been looking for. That is not this book. Instead, it sets itself specific parameters, and does a fine job of achieving them. less

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