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Talk about Trouble - by Nancy J Martin-Perdue & Charles L Perdue (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- 'Things ain't now like they used to be nohow, ' a Virginia native told a WPA worker in the 1930s.
- About the Author: Nancy J. Martin-Perdue has been a freelance writer for twenty years and is currently scholar-in-residence in the department of anthropology at the University of Virginia.
- 516 Pages
- History, United States
Description
About the Book
Talk about Trouble: A New Deal Portrait of Virginians in the Great DepressionBook Synopsis
'Things ain't now like they used to be nohow, ' a Virginia native told a WPA worker in the 1930s. Indeed, a central theme unifying the hundreds of life histories recorded by Virginia Writers' Project fieldworkers between 1938 and 1941 is that the narrators all bear witness to the vast socioeconomic and cultural changes brought about by the Great Depression and the New Deal's responses to it. These never-published VWP narrative interviews, however, have remained largely unknown and unavailable to readers until now. Talk about Trouble presents 61 Writers' Project life histories that depict Virginia men and women, both blacks and whites, and offer a cross-section of ages, occupations, experiences, and cultural and class backgrounds. Headnotes set the context for each life history and introduce people and themes that link individual events and experiences. One hundred sixty photographs, most taken in the state by Farm Security Administration or Virginia WPA photographers, add graphic texture and backdrop to the stories and lives recounted.Review Quotes
A massive and handsome book, fittingly illustrated with Farm Security Administration photographs.
"Georgia Historical Quarterly"
Their fascinating and valuable contribution is to give voices, faces, and feelings to these typical Virginians surviving troubled times.
"Virginia Magazine of History and Biography"
"A massive and handsome book, fittingly illustrated with Farm Security Administration photographs.
"Georgia Historical Quarterly""
"Their fascinating and valuable contribution is to give voices, faces, and feelings to these typical Virginians surviving troubled times.
"Virginia Magazine of History and Biography""
A collection of superb oral histories recalling the harsh reality of surviving during the Depression years.
"Roanoke Times"
A fascinating and important book that virtually any student of the American experience will profit by reading.
"Journal of American History"
An engaging visit with people struggling with adversity decades ago.
"Richmond Times-Dispatch"
About the Author
Nancy J. Martin-Perdue has been a freelance writer for twenty years and is currently scholar-in-residence in the department of anthropology at the University of Virginia. Formerly a geologist, Charles L. Perdue Jr. has a Ph.D. in folklore from the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught in the departments of English and anthropology at the University of Virginia for the past twenty-four years.