Every period of U.S. history has produced unique varieties of American literature. The Great Depression (1929–41), the most severe economic crisis the nation had ever experienced, was no exception. Talented writers produced an array of books. Some, following their own interests and passions, wrote without much regard to the conditions surrounding them in the 1930s. Others crafted books that revealed much about Americans caught in the economic devastation of the Depression; these socially aware books are known as proletarian (working-class) literature. Authors of such literature looked with disgust on the wealth that a few Americans had amassed at the expense of the majority of the people. The books they wrote had themes that supported working-class individuals and promoted the idea of economic cooperation rather than competition. Proletarian themes became a hallmark of Depression-era literature.

Several proletarian writers of the 1930s went on to fame...