Music and the Great Depression
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2013
Keywords
music, Great Depression, jazz, Tin Pan Alley
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2241306
Abstract
From roughly 1929 through 1941 the United States experienced the most serious economic crisis in its history. At its worst, in the winter of 1932–3, the US gross domestic product shrunk 46%, investment in the economy dropped 98%, and unemployment hovered around 25%. Dramatic as these numbers are, they cannot convey the larger sense of fear, anxiety, shame, and uncertainty that gripped millions of Americans, especially those already at the bottom of the economic hierarchy. Given the enormous reach of the Depression, it is not surprising that the era’s concerns saturated American’s cultural life: film, literature, visual art, sports, leisure, fashion, and—in all of its enormous variety—music, absorbed, reflected, and commented on the economic collapse.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Music and the Great Depression, in C. Garrett (Ed.), The Grove Dictionary of American Music, Second Edition, Oxford University Press
Scholar Commons Citation
Berish, Andrew S., "Music and the Great Depression" (2013). Humanities and Cultural Studies Faculty Publications. 14.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/hcs_facpub/14
