First Person America

By Ann Banks

Book Overview

Between 1938 and 1942 the Federal Writers' project set out to create a first-person portrait of America by sending young writers - many of whom later became famous - around the country to interview people from all occupations and backgrounds. This book presents 80 of these diverse life histories, including the stories of a North Carolina patent-medicine pitchman, a retired Oregon prospector, a Bahamian midwife from Florida, recent immigrants to New York, a Key West smuggler, Chicago jazz musicians. Historian Eric Foner called First Person America the finest example yet of an increasingly important genre of oral history.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393307816
• ISBN13: 9780393307818
• Release Date: April 1991
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Fresh in today's economic climate

This book was originally published in 1980, but two things make it very meaningful in 2009. First, there is an obvious similarity between the stories of these persons who lived through the Great Depression and families caught up in today's chaos. When allowances are made for differences in technology, many of these persons displaced in the '30's could be people in similar situations speaking today. The second thing that is thought provoking is the continuity between what happened 75 years ago and what is happening today. The book is a very good read--excellent stories and quite well edited.