The American Jitters: A Year of the Slump

New York/London: Charles Scribner's Sons. Fair. 1932. First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [ex-library book (pocket on front pastedown, library stamps on title page and top and bottom edges of text block), spine and front cover faded (gilt lettering too), shadows of removed labels on spine, small stain at top edge of rear cover]. The literary and cultural critic's observations of the American scene from the early days of the Great Depression. "This book is made up almost entirely of straight reporting of actual happenings. The exceptions are the Red Cross worker, who is a composite type and partly invented; the people at the Indian dance, who are largely invented and pure caricature; and the Fourth of July celebration at Carlsbad, of which the author knows only by hearsay. In some cases, for obvious reasons, I have changed names of persons and places. The chapters cover about a year between October, 1930, and October, 1931; and the present tense of the text is not that of the time of publication of the book but in each case that of the incidents dealt with." Lots of really interesting material here. Chapter XVII, "The Freight-Car Case," discusses the Scottsboro Boys. Chapter XXII, "The City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels," is mostly about two notable Los Angeles religious figures: the Rev. Robert Shuler and his "former lieutenant and present rival," Dr. Gustav A. Briegleb. Chapter XXIII, "Eisenstein in Hollywood," is about the great Russian film director's passage through the cinema capital on his way to Mexico to film his ill-fated documentary. .