1939 - Into The Dark

By Paula Phelan

1939 - Into the Dark a novel of historical fiction set in New York City during the year 1939. Jason Rothman a lesser-known playwright has his first Broadway hit, a sitting room comedy, after years of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0977819213
• ISBN13: 9780977819218
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: ZAPmedia
• Length: 243 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Characters Take You Back to the Trials and Tribulations of 1939

I really enjoyed this novel as it took me on an adventure to a time that I did not know much about. It is amazing how the events in 1939 still effect our day to day lives today. As the Great Depression ended and WWII was beginning to erupt abroad, 1939 takes you beyond the history books and into the lives of actual people who were dealing with the events of that time. Playwrights, dancers and artists take stage in this novel as you experience New York City and its 1939 World's Fair, World Series, the MOMA, Central Park and of course Broadway. This novel is great for anyone who enjoys a book full of great characters, history and the arts.

A Year to Remember

This book let me live vicariously through the inhabitants of 1939. I could feel how once money and position are stripped away from a person all that is left is one's integrity. And how when so many individuals have survived a life-threatening event a bond is formed that transcends race or class. For the first time I truly grasped that the individuals who lived through the depression actually thought, by 1939, that this might be the way life would be everyday moving forward. Which for me, helped to explain why there was so little outcry as to the events taking place in Europe. This book gave me a better understanding of my grandparents and other members of my family by experiencing their day-to-day lives via the characters of 1939 - Into The Dark. I read Ms. Phelan's first book 1919 Misfortune's End and enjoyed it as well. I was surprised to find each book stood on its own with minimal cross over of characters. Both books are textured by the lives of several lead characters and with each novel I found myself wanting to read more history to find out what happened next.

Amazing work uncovers America's under reported history

There were so many pivotal events that took place in 1939 that I was unaware of - not the least of which was that World War II I began September 3, 1939. Also I didn't realize the Committee on Un-American Activities was already so powerful. The realization that Americans fully knew what was going on in Germany and yet felt powerless to do anything resonated with today and Darfur. And then there is the art... the author did a cleaver thing in giving voice to a war correspondent and an art critique both given one page commentaries each month to share what is going on. The art critique highlights the great movies (many we still admire today) and theater of the day (much of which still appears on Broadway as revivals). By the end of the book I empathized the with the characters, fell in love with New York City all over again, and was left wanting to know how these braves souls fared - not in the way I have been told history but how Paula Phelan discovers and shares America's under reported history.

Great look at the under reported history of 1939

This novel is a fascinating look at some of the most interested historical figures in New York City in 1939. With the World's Fair under way and the War breaking out abroad, 1939 was a pivotal year in New York. Phelan's expert research and creative flair hook you in and don't let you put it down until you are finished. I'm looking forward to the next novel in the series.