Modernity and the Great Depression : the transformation of American society, 1930-1941
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-257) and index.

Order, planning, and reason--in the depths of the Great Depression, this was what was needed. Kenneth J. Bindas suggests that this is what modernity offered--a way to make sense of the chaos all around. In Modernity and the Great Depression, Bindas offers a new perspective on power of modernism in early twentieth-century America. In the midst of a terrible economic, social, and political crisis, modernism provided an alternative to the response of many traditional moralists and religious leaders. Promoting a faith based in reason, organization, and planning, modernists espoused a salvation that was not eternal but rather temporal, and, for a generation with so little to hold onto, eminently practical--one that found virtue in pleasure and private pursuits. After surveying the contested definitional terrain of "modernism" and "modernity," Bindas tracks their course and influence through government programs as the Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Youth Administration; in the American Expositions and World's Fairs that heralded progress and a better future; on the efforts of women interior decorators to enhance the modern home; and--thanks to the proliferation of electricity and radio--on the popular and high-culture musical recordings and broadcasts that reinforced a shift away from traditional modes of performance and reception. -- Provided by the publisher. -- Adapted from the dust jacket.,Provided by publisher.