David Eldridge is a Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Hull. He specialises in the history of American culture and is the author of Hollywood’s History Films (I.B. Tauris, 2006).

This book provides an insightful overview of the major cultural forms of 1930s America: literature and drama, music and radio, film and photography, art and design, and a chapter on the role of the federal government in the development of the arts. The intellectual context of 1930s American culture is a strong feature, whilst case studies of influential texts and practitioners of the decade -- from War of the Worlds to The Grapes of Wrath and from Edward Hopper to the Rockefeller Centre -- help to explain the cultural impulses of radicalism, nationalism and escapism that characterize the United States in the 1930s. Key Features: * 3 case studies per chapter featuring key texts, genres, writers and artists * Chronology of 1930s American Culture * Bibliographies for each chapter * 22 black and white illustrations