Cold Thanksgiving on the Great Lakes
For this Thanksgiving weekend, a story of friendship and a holiday on the seas from Michigander Fred Smith, interviewed by WPA writer Jerome Power in… Read More »Cold Thanksgiving on the Great Lakes
For this Thanksgiving weekend, a story of friendship and a holiday on the seas from Michigander Fred Smith, interviewed by WPA writer Jerome Power in… Read More »Cold Thanksgiving on the Great Lakes
In Denver, before an event at the Tattered Cover bookstore, I sat down with Gloria Johnston of Swing Vote magazine and Louie Wolfe at his… Read More »Taking it to the Rocky Mountain State
The recent Texas Book Festival featured, once again, authors discussing their books in the halls of the state capitol building, from literary biography in the… Read More »Talking Books in the Texas Legislature
Documentary pioneer Leo Seltzer, whose 1930s films are featured in the film Soul of a People, is the subject of my post today on the… Read More »“I Was Picketing with a Camera”
This post honors the range of voices that emerged from the Writers’ Project. Marking crime novelist Jim Thompson’s 103rd birthday a few weeks ago, my… Read More »Many Voices Sounding from the 1930s
“Why Studs Terkel?” asked the man on stage at the Wisconsin Book Festival Sunday. “Why Harvey Pekar?” Indeed. Paul Buhle, an oral historian and emeritus… Read More »Harvey Pekar Channels Studs Terkel and Honors Oral History
John Woods, in his review, says Soul of a People consists of “the stories and history of arguably an important piece of our twentieth century… Read More »An Important Piece of Our Cultural Heritage
On the National Mall last weekend, the National Book Festival brought out more than 100,000 readers and book lovers, an encouraging sight. In the History… Read More »Looking at History a New Way
This Saturday the 26th I’ll be at the National Book Festival talking with historian Douglas Brinkley about the WPA writers and what they found in… Read More »1930s culture coming to a screen near you…
Seventy years ago today, the WPA guide to Illinois came out as controversy swirled around the Federal Writers’ Project. Texas congressman Martin Dies was deep… Read More »Illinois Guide Anniversary and a Voice Against Intolerance