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The Travel Habit

On the Road in the 1930s

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    • Grapes of Wrath Bibliography
    • A Cool Million Bibliography
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In the News

 

FSA photographer on exhibit in Norwich

 

Get your kicks on Route 66

 

Film to explore Steinbeck, Ricketts friendship

 

John Steinbeck's Trip Down Route 66
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Recent Posts
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Commercialization of the American People

How the travel industry shaped American commercialization

by alexanderB

"The American Roadside," by James Agee speaks about an interesting aspect of the Great Depression. Unlike many of the personal horror stories and pains of the time, Agee looks at Consumerism of the time. He offers a view into commercialism and how the tourism industry led to effects on other larger things...

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Strength in Words and Images

How Agee and Evan's piece works cohesively.

by alexanderB

James Agee's piece, "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men," was a slower read than some of the other pieces we have read this semester. His reasoning for writing such a piece, however, is fascinating to me. He seemed to set out to write something where his thoughts were the main motive behind the piece. Some...

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Writing Style as a Literary Tool

Kromer's diction and writing style add to his overall message.

by alexanderB

Tom Kromer's, "Waiting for Nothing," was an intense story of people facing the roughest times of their lives throughout the Great Depression. As compared to other readings we've had this one particularly resonated with me due to its intensity and darkness. Many previous readings haven't alluded...

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Religion of Landscape and Humanity

similarities in Casy's religion and Steinbeck's views

by tessa


“I ain’t gonna baptize. I’m gonna work in the fiel’s, in the green fiel’s, an’ I’m gonna be near folks. I ain’t gonna try to teach ‘em nothin’. I’m gonna try to learn. Gonna learn why the folks walks in the grass, gonna hear ‘em talk, gonna hear...

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What's so Cool?

Grossing-out the reader until they see the truth

by MaggieMay

Wests “A Cool Million” is shockingly grotesque. For some reason, the combination of unflinching optimism and the sickening occurrences in the novel is jarring to the reader. The events of the book (rape, human trafficking, abuse, etc.) somehow offend my feminine sensibilities. A book such as this that was...

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Anderson and Asch

Hope

by walterwhite

Both of our writers, Anderson and Asch, speak to wide variety of people from different professions. While Anderson speaks of the miners, Asch speaks of people he see whe ntravelling across America using different modes of transport. There is an effort to emphasise the gulf in wealth between different people, for...

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Flip-Flip-Flipadelphia

The unchanging city of Philadelphia

by MaggieMay

I grew up in Trenton, NJ which lent itself to frequent field trips in grade school to our nation’s birthplace, Philadelphia. The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and all of the popular tourist sites seemed to have been popular destinations, even during The Great Depression, which is really no surprise....

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Agee

Detail

by walterwhite

Agee, in his Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, goes int o great and detail in order to give an accurate representation of reality. He attempts to resolve the conflict between subject and object. Though a noble attempt, he can sometimes be obscure. There is no doubt that Agee has a concrete aim in using this particular...

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NYC WPA Travel Guide vs. NYC Today

The WPA guide was fascinating to see because it shows how NYC has changed over the years.

by alexanderB

It was quite fascinating to read about the WPA travel guides. I looked through a couple different ones from different cities. My favorite has to be New York, however, because I’m aware of the many places they mention as I have grown up here. I found it fascinating how many of the areas they named in the guide...

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WPA Travel Guides

Morristown, New Jersey. Then and Now.

by Alexander

Having lived in New York City for the past eight years or so, I rarely like to share that I was born and raised in New Jersey. New Yorkers seem to have an innate distaste for everything New Jersey. But for all the ways I have acclimated to New York, the distaste for New Jersey is not one of them. Having grown up...

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New Haven, CT

The Facts and What Attracts

by jacob_g

Being a New Haven boy, I was very eager to crack open Connecticut: A Guide to its Roads, Lore, and People, published by the Federal Writers' Project in 1938, and discover what I don't know about my town, what I do know that the writers didn't, and what has changed between 1938 since. With a logically...

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New York, New York, Then and Now

Is it silly that I find that they wrote a travel guide for Staten Island the most amazing thing?

by justaguy

I was born and raised in New York City. I love learning about the city’s history, so when I saw that there was an old travel guide about the five boroughs I jumped at the chance to read it. I was immediately surprised at how large the travel guide was. At over 800 pages, it was more of a dictionary of New...

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Folk culture and history in the Maine WPA Guide

an emphasis on the historic over the modern

by tessa

I started reading the Maine (where I'm from) WPA guide to look for what about it was similar or different from what I would expect to find in a guidebook today. One interesting difference, that I assume is resultant of the fact that these are government funded books, is that there are no specific references to hotels,...

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Bell Labs

Traffic, Innovation & History

by Madelaine

As a Jersey Girl, born and raised, it only seemed right to look at the WPA guide for New Jersey. The state is undoubtedly filled with rich history from various Presidents vacationing along our shores (fist pump, fist pump) to scientific theories being proved. The culture and educational history of the New Jersians...

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WPA Guide- California

An ideal account

by walterwhite

The WPA guide seems to do a pretty good job in promoting California with an extensive list of things to do in the state, with descriptions that embellish the pure volume of attractions. The activities are wide ranging from museum to natural places of interest e.g. fishing, hunting, and the hills. The description...

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