Wpa Writers Publications

Author : David A. Taylor
Publisher : Turner Publishing Company
Page : 307 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2010-04-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780470885888

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Soul of a People by David A. Taylor Pdf

Soul of a People is about a handful of people who were on the Federal Writer's Project in the 1930s and a glimpse of America at a turning point. This particular handful of characters went from poverty to great things later, and included John Cheever, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, and Studs Terkel. In the 1930s they were all caught up in an effort to describe America in a series of WPA guides. Through striking images and firsthand accounts, the book reveals their experiences and the most vivid excerpts from selected guides and interviews: Harlem schoolchildren, truckers, Chicago fishmongers, Cuban cigar makers, a Florida midwife, Nebraskan meatpackers, and blind musicians. Drawing on new discoveries from personal collections, archives, and recent biographies, a new picture has emerged in the last decade of how the participants' individual dramas intersected with the larger picture of their subjects. This book illuminates what it felt like to live that experience, how going from joblessness to reporting on their own communities affected artists with varied visions, as well as what feelings such a passage involved: shame humiliation, anger, excitement, nostalgia, and adventure. Also revealed is how the WPA writers anticipated, and perhaps paved the way for, the political movements of the following decades, including the Civil Rights movement, the Women's Right movement, and the Native American rights movement.

Author : Scott Borchert
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2021-06-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780374719050

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Republic of Detours by Scott Borchert Pdf

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice | Winner of the New Deal Book Award An immersive account of the New Deal project that created state-by-state guidebooks to America, in the midst of the Great Depression—and employed some of the biggest names in American letters The plan was as idealistic as it was audacious—and utterly unprecedented. Take thousands of hard-up writers and put them to work charting a country on the brink of social and economic collapse, with the aim of producing a series of guidebooks to the then forty-eight states—along with hundreds of other publications dedicated to cities, regions, and towns—while also gathering reams of folklore, narratives of formerly enslaved people, and even recipes, all of varying quality, each revealing distinct sensibilities. All this was the singular purview of the Federal Writers’ Project, a division of the Works Progress Administration founded in 1935 to employ jobless writers, from once-bestselling novelists and acclaimed poets to the more dubiously qualified. The FWP took up the lofty goal of rediscovering America in words and soon found itself embroiled in the day’s most heated arguments regarding radical politics, racial inclusion, and the purpose of writing—forcing it to reckon with the promises and failures of both the New Deal and the American experiment itself. Scott Borchert’s Republic of Detours tells the story of this raucous and remarkable undertaking by delving into the experiences of key figures and tracing the FWP from its optimistic early days to its dismemberment by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. We observe notable writers at their day jobs, including Nelson Algren, broke and smarting from the failure of his first novel; Zora Neale Hurston, the most widely published Black woman in the country; and Richard Wright, who arrived in the FWP’s chaotic New York City office on an upward career trajectory courtesy of the WPA. Meanwhile, Ralph Ellison, Studs Terkel, John Cheever, and other future literary stars found encouragement and security on the FWP payroll. By way of these and other stories, Borchert illuminates an essentially noble enterprise that sought to create a broad and inclusive self-portrait of America at a time when the nation’s very identity and future were thrown into question. As the United States enters a new era of economic distress, political strife, and culture-industry turmoil, this book’s lessons are urgent and strong.

Author : Federal Writers' Project
Publisher : Pantheon
Page : 430 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 1938
Category : New Orleans (La.)
ISBN : 0394715888

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The WPA Guide to New Orleans by Federal Writers' Project Pdf

Author : Writers' Program (U.S.)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 648 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 1959
Category : Arizona
ISBN : UCR:31210001314739

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Arizona, the Grand Canyon State by Writers' Program (U.S.) Pdf

Author : Wendy Griswold
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2016-08-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9780226357836

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American Guides by Wendy Griswold Pdf

In the midst of the Great Depression, Americans were nearly universally literate--and they were hungry for the written word. With an eye to this market and as a response to unemployment, Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration created the Federal Writers' Project. They produced the Project's American Guides, an impressively produced series that set out not only to direct travelers on which routes to take and what to see throughout the country, but also to celebrate the distinctive characteristics of each individual state. The series unintentionally diversified American literary culture's cast of characters--promoting women, minority, and rural writers--while it also institutionalized the innovative idea that American culture comes in state-shaped boxes.

Author : Federal Writers' Project
Publisher : Trinity University Press
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2013-10-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781595342454

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The WPA Guide to Washington by Federal Writers' Project Pdf

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. The WPA Guide to Washington exhibits the beauty and individuality found in the Pacific Northwest. The guide takes the reader on a journey across the Evergreen State, from Seattle to Spokane with the Cascades in between. Essays on the state’s large lumber industry and its role in the westward expansion are included.

Author : Writers' Program (U.S.),United States. Work Projects Administration
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 62 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 1942
Category : American guide series
ISBN : UOM:39015033686711

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Catalogue, WPA Writers' Program Publications by Writers' Program (U.S.),United States. Work Projects Administration Pdf

Author : Christine Bold
Publisher : Univ. Press of Mississippi
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : History
ISBN : 1578061954

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The WPA Guides by Christine Bold Pdf

In 1935 the FDR administration put 40,000 unemployed artists to work in four federal arts projects. The main contribution of one unit, the Federal Writers Project, was the American Guide Series, a collectively composed set of guidebooks to every state, most regions, and many cities, towns, and villages across the United States. The WPA arts projects were poised on the cusp of the modern bureaucratization of culture. They occurred at a moment when the federal government was extending its reach into citizens' daily lives. The 400 guidebooks the teams produced have been widely celebrated as icons of American democracy and diversity. Clumped together, they manifest a lofty role for the project and a heavy responsibility for its teams of writers. The guides assumed the authority of conceptualizing the national identity. In The WPA Guides: Mapping America Christine Bold closely examines this publicized view of the guides and reveals its flaws. Her research in archival materials reveals the negotiations and conflicts between the central editors in Washington and the local people in the states. Race, region, and gender are taken as important categories within which difference and conflict appear. She looks at the guidebook for each of five distinctively different locations -- Idaho, New York City, North Carolina, Missouri, and U.S. One and the Oregon Trail--to assess the editorial plotting of such issues as gender, race, ethnicity, and class. As regionalists jostled with federal officialdom, the faultlines of the project gaped open. Spotlighting the controversies between federal and state bureaucracies, Bold concludes that the image of America that the WPA fostered is closer to fabrication than to actuality. Christine Bold is director of the Centre for Cultural Studies and an associate professor of English at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario.

Author : Linda Adler-Kassner
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2008-04-10
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780874217001

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The Activist WPA by Linda Adler-Kassner Pdf

One wonders if there is any academic field that doesn’t suffer from the way it is portrayed by the media, by politicians, by pundits and other publics. How well scholars in a discipline articulate their own definition can influence not only issues of image but the very success of the discipline in serving students and its other constituencies. The Activist WPA is an effort to address this range of issues for the field of English composition in the age of the Spellings Commission and the No Child Left Behind Act. Drawing on recent developments in framing theory and the resurgent traditions of progressive organizers, Linda Adler-Kassner calls upon composition teachers and administrators to develop strategic programs of collective action that do justice to composition’s best principles. Adler-Kassner argues that the “story” of college composition can be changed only when writing scholars bring the wonders down, to articulate a theory framework that is pragmatic and intelligible to those outside the field--and then create messages that reference that framework. In The Activist WPA, she makes a case for developing a more integrated vision of outreach, English education, and writing program administration.

Author : Federal Writers' Project
Publisher : Pantheon
Page : 818 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 1982
Category : History
ISBN : MINN:31951001216801L

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The WPA Guide to New York City by Federal Writers' Project Pdf

This tour guide for time travelers offers New York lovers and 1930s buffs an endlessly fascinating look at life as it was lived in the days when a trolley ride cost five cents, a room at the Plaza was $7.50, and the new World's Fair was the talk of the town. Hailed by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books ever written about the city. Photos. Maps.

Author : Federal Writers' Project,Federal Writers' Project; Norman K. Risjord
Publisher : Minnesota Historical Society
Page : 969 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2008-10-14
Category : Wisconsin
ISBN : 9780873517119

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The WPA Guide to Wisconsin by Federal Writers' Project,Federal Writers' Project; Norman K. Risjord Pdf

Author : Federal Writers' Project (Me.),Federal Writers' Project. Maine
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 592 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 1937
Category : History
ISBN : UVA:X000230113

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Maine by Federal Writers' Project (Me.),Federal Writers' Project. Maine Pdf

Author : J. J. Butts
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 188 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : History
ISBN : 0814214770

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Dark Mirror by J. J. Butts Pdf

"Shows how Black writers such as Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison participating in the Federal Writer' Project of the 1930s responded to and shaped New Deal programs and ideology"--

Author : Federal Writers' Project
Publisher : Trinity University Press
Page : 634 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2013-10-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781595342331

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The WPA Guide to Ohio by Federal Writers' Project Pdf

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. For a reader interested in small town life in the early 20th century, the WPA Guide to Ohio is an excellent resource. A series of photographs by Ben Shahn for the Farm Security Administration is well complemented with 17 selective essays about the political, industrial, and cultural life in the Buckeye State. The essay on the economy provides interesting information on the labor movement in Ohio.

Author : Writers' Program (Wash.)
Publisher : North American Book Distributors, LLC
Page : 806 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 1972
Category : Washington (State)
ISBN : UOM:49015000640020

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Washington by Writers' Program (Wash.) Pdf

Washington: A Guide To The Evergreen State of the American Guide Series written by the FWP reviews the history of Washington.