Real Folks: Race and Genre in the Great Depression

(Duke University Press) This book analyzes the invention of “the folk” as figures of authenticity in the political culture of the Great Depression, as well as the critiques that emerged in response. Artists and intellectuals illuminated the fabrication and exploitation of folk authenticity, and skewered the racist populisms that prevented interracial working-class solidarity. Retman identifies a rich cultural tradition overshadowed by scholarly focus on Depression-era social realism. Retman is an associate professor of American ethnic studies at the University of Washington.