Synopses & Reviews
In this groundbreaking interdisciplinary study, Loftis examines the artists who put a human face on the farmworkersand#8217; plight in California during the Great Depression, focusing on writer John Steinbeck, photographer Dorothea Lange, sociologist and author Paul Taylor, and journalist Carey McWilliams. Loftis probes the interplay between journalism and art in the 1930s, when both academics and artists felt an urgent need to be relevant in the face of enormous misery. The power of their work grew out of their personal involvement in both the labor struggles and the hardships endured by workers and their families. Steinbeck, Lange, and the other artists and intellectuals in their circles created the public images of their times. Works such as
The Grapes of Wrath or Langeand#8217;s
Migrant Mother actually helped mold public opinion and form government policies. Even today these works remain icons in our shared perception of that era. Loftis helps us understand why this art still seems the truest representation of those desperate times, three-quarters of a century later.
Review
andquot;Witnesses to the Struggle is a wonderful book, beautifully written and must read for labor, ethnic, economic, Western, and social/cultural historians, and for those who treasure Americana.andquot; CHOICE
Review
andldquo;The 1930s were a time, as [John] Steinbeck put it, when a tremendous amount of human drama unfolded for artists, writers and photographers to record. Loftis has captured the sense of drive and urgency that was felt then, both by the labor organizers and those recording the events.andrdquo; Palo Alto Weekly
About the Author
Anne Loftis is a journalist and researcher and the coauthor of
The Great Betrayal: The Evacuation of the Japanese-Americans During World War II and
A Long Time Coming: The Struggle to Unionize Americas Farm Workers and author of
California--Where the Twain Did Meet. She lives in Palo Alto, California.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Shadows in the Land of Sunshine
The Strikes, the Partisans, and the Press
Arbitration and Analysis
andquot;A Wildly Stirring Storyandquot;: Steinbeck's Interpretation
The Conversion of Carey McWilliams
Raids and Reaction
The Trial
Literary Repercussions
Following the Forgotten Americans
Paul Taylor Finds a Photographer
The Road to Grapes of Wrath
Voices from the Battlements
andquot;Something Must Be Done, and Done Soon!andquot;
Aftermath Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index