California in the 1930s

Alive with the exuberance, contradictions, and variety of the Golden State, this Depression-era guide to California is more than 700 pages of information that is, as David Kipen writes in his spirited introduction, «anecdotal, opinionated, and altogether habit-forming.» Describing the history, culture, and roadside attractions of the 1930s, the <i>WPA Guide to California</i> features some of the very best anonymous literature of its era, with writing by luminaries such as San Francisco poet Kenneth Rexroth, composer-writer- hobo Harry Partch, and authors Tillie Olsen and Kenneth Patchen.