From Library Journal
The current Congressional debate over federal funding for the arts echoes the controversy surrounding the Federal Theater Project (FTP) and Federal Writers' Project (FWP), which were inaugurated in 1935 as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal. This book focuses on the FTP and FWP in Michigan and the Midwest, a region that Sporn (English emeritus, Wayne State Univ.) sees as being more typical of the United States than either coast. In Michigan, a diverse immigrant worker population, made up primarily of auto assembly line workers, was exposed to a rich variety of drama and literature, with roots in black, Yiddish, Polish American, and other ethnic cultures. Sporn grew up in the Bronx during the Great Depression and had his first taste of live theater at an FTP-funded outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This is a well-written and -researched "labor of love" that will be of interest to scholars who want an in-depth look at past consequences of federal support for the arts.?Howard E. Miller, Alliance Blue Cross & Blue Shield Lib., St. Louis
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
