Political writings /Theodore Dreiser ; edited by Jude Davies.

This volume gathers Dreiser's most important political writings from his journalism, memoirs, and long out-of-print books.

Includes bibliographies and index.

PART 1: 1895-1910 -- Historical Commentary -- America, Europe, and Cuba -- Women's Suffrage -- The Toil of the Laborer -- Helps the Municipality Owes the Housewife -- The Problem of the Dying Baby -- The State of the Negro -- The Day of Special Priviledges -- The Death of Francisco Ferrer -- PART 2: 1911-1928 -- Historical Commentary -- From "The Girl in the Coffin" -- From "Life, Art and America" -- American Idealism and German Frightfulness -- From "More Democracy or Less? An Inquiry" -- Dreiser Sees No Progress -- A Word Concerning Birth Control -- Contribution to "The Rights of a Columnist: A Symposium on the Case of Heywood Broun versus the New York World" -- From "Dreiser Looks at Russia" -- PART 3: 1929-1937 -- Historical Commentary -- Dreiser Discusses Dewey Plan -- John Reed Club Answer -- Mooney and America -- On the Communists and Their Platform -- The American Press and American Political Prisoners -- Speech on the Scottsboro Case -- Interview with Nazife Osman Pasha -- From "Tragic America" -- Introduction to "Harlan Miners Speak: Report on Terrorism in the Kentucky Coal Fields" -- America -- The Child and the School -- Editorial Note on the New Deal and Soviet Policy -- The "Is Dreiser Anti-Semitic?" Correspondence -- Flies and Locusts -- "They Shall Not Die" Indicts North as Well as the South -- Contribution to "Where We Stand" -- Dreiser Denies He Is Anti-Semitic -- Contribution to "What Is Americanism? A Symposium on Marxism and the American Tradition" -- Epic Technologists Must Plan -- Mea Culpa -- Statement on Russia and the Struggle against Fascism in Spain -- Contribution to Symposium, "Is Leon Trotsky Guilty?" -- From "A Conversation: Theodore Dreiser and John Dos Passos" -- PART 4: 1938-1945 -- Historical Commentary -- War Is a Racket -- Equity Between Nations -- American Democracy Against Fascism -- Loyalist Spain: July 1938 -- Statement on Anti-Semitism -- The Dawn Is in the East -- From "Civilization: Where? What?" -- Theodore Dreiser and the Free Press -- From "America Is Worth Saving" -- From "Writers Declare: We Have A War To Win" -- Broadcast to the People of Europe -- Broadcast to the People of Germany -- What to Do -- Theodore Dreiser Joins Communist Party -- Interdependence

Synopsis: Theodore Dreiser staked his reputation on fearless expression in his fiction, but he never was more outspoken than when writing about American politics, which he did prolifically. Although he is remembered primarily as a novelist, the majority of his twenty-seven books were nonfiction treatises. To Dreiser, everything was political. His sense for the hype and hypocrisies of politics took shape in reasoned but emphatic ruminations in his fiction and nonfiction on the hopes and disappointments of democracy, the temptations of nationalism and communism, the threat and trumpets of war, and the role of writers in resisting and advancing political ideas. Spanning a period of American history from the Progressive Era to the advent of the Cold War, this generous volume collects Dreiser's most important political writings from his journalism, broadsides, speeches, private papers, and long out-of-print nonfiction books. Touching on the Great Depression, the New Deal, and both World Wars as well as Soviet Russia and the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, these writings exemplify Dreiser's candor and his penchant for championing the defenseless and railing against corruption. Positing Dreiser as an essential public intellectual who addressed the most important issues of the first half of the twentieth century, these writings also navigate historical terrain with prescient observations on topics such as religion, civil rights, national responsibility, individual ethics, global relations, and censorship that remain particularly relevant to a contemporary audience. Editor Jude Davies provides historical commentaries that frame these selections in the context of his other writings, particularly his novels.

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