Dancing in the dark: a cultural history of the Great Depression

Introduction: Depression culture

pt. 1. Discovering poverty. The tenement and the world : immigrant lives

The starvation army

The country and the city

Hard times for poets

Black girls and native sons

pt. II. Success and failure. Beyond the American dream

What price Hollywood?

The last film of the 1930s, or, Nothing fails like success

pt. III. The culture of elegance. Fantasy, elegance, mobility : the dream life of the 1930s

Class for the masses : elegance democratized

pt. IV. The search for community. The populist turn : Copland and the popular front

Who cares? : the world of Porgy and Bess

The People vs. Frank Capra : populism against itself

Shakespeare in overalls : an American troubadour

Gender trouble : exposing the intellectuals

Conclusion : the work of culture in Depression America.