The New Deal for storytellers

Source Chicago Reader
Original Load Date Aug. 13, 2026, 9:01 a.m.
Last Updated Aug. 13, 2026, 9:01 a.m.
Original URL https://chicagoreader.com/books/book-review/american-made-federal-writers-project/

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Almost one hundred years ago, the federal government launched a program to employ out-of-work writers. It was 1935, the middle of the Great Depression. About 18 percent of Americans were unemployed—down from a peak of 25 percent but still high. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had introduced his ...