During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. It isn’t surprising that a locale nicknamed the Constitution State has an impressive history—all of which is documented in the WPA Guide to Connecticut. The guide provides a comprehensive index of old and historic houses as well as an interesting timeline called “Connecticut Firsts” which lists historic happenings in the state from 1636 to 1936. The guide to the Nutmeg State also presents a number of tours through notable cities and towns, including New Haven and Yale University.

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. The WPA Guide to the smallest state in the United States, Rhode Island, is by no means the shortest guide in this series. The Ocean State has a rich and extensive history which provides plenty of material to be covered. Despite a small geographic region, there is plenty of historical sites, photographs of churches and houses, and plenty of driving tours.

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. Featuring one of the most historically rich regions of America, the WPA Guide to Massachusetts is an excellent comprehensive guide to the “Bay State.” Focusing on urban Boston, also known as the Cradle of Liberty, and including rural Plymouth, this guide features a comprehensive tour scheme to engage tourists and residents alike.

"Comprehensive . . .well organized . . . should be carried in every glove compartment of every car that traverses Connecticut highways."—Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Connecticut Welcomed and praised by newspapers across the state, Explorer’s Guide Connecticut gives visitors and residents alike detailed descriptions of attractions and little-known tips about the Nutmeg State. Veteran travel writers Barnett Laschever and Andi Marie Cantele again bring you authoritative advice on what to see, where to eat, and where to stay in the new edition of this trusted guide. Covering the state from the mountains in the north to the long and varied coastline in the south, from cities to backroads, this revised and expanded edition features extensive descriptions and detailed maps to guide readers effortlessly along many pleasant journeys for individual travelers and families. Historic and exciting Mystic Seaport, the rich collections of the Yale University museums, beach and skiing trips, and the many state forests and parks of Connecticut are just a handful of the attractions covered. Regional and downtown maps feature helpful icons and indicate places that are wheelchair-accessible, pet- and family-friendly, and of other special value. Features include: an alphabetical "What's Where" subject guide to aid in trip plan; regional and downtown maps; handy icons that point out family-friendly attractions, wheelchair access, special value, and lodgings that accept pets.

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. The Granite State has a rich history and varied landscape, beautifully presented in the WPA Guide to New Hampshire. The driving tours highlight the White Mountains, Lake Winnipesaukee, and the coast near Portsmouth. This New Hampshire guide also has traditional photographs of churches, landscapes, and colonial houses which give readers a feel for life in New England in the early 20th century.

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. The WPA Guide to Vermont takes the reader across the Green Mountain State from Lake Champlain to its namesake mountain range with chapters detailing the state’s significant literature, architecture, history and transportation. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, a popular author at the time of the guide’s initial publication, adds distinction to the volume with an essay entitled “Vermonters” which expounds on the unique spirit of the people of Vermont.

This public domain book is an open and compatible implementation of the Uniform System of Citation.

In the midst of the Great Depression, Americans were nearly universally literate—and they were hungry for the written word. Magazines, novels, and newspapers littered the floors of parlors and tenements alike. With an eye to this market and as a response to devastating unemployment, Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration created the Federal Writers’ Project. The Project’s mission was simple: jobs. But, as Wendy Griswold shows in the lively and persuasive American Guides, the Project had a profound—and unintended—cultural impact that went far beyond the writers’ paychecks. Griswold’s subject here is the Project’s American Guides, an impressively produced series that set out not only to direct travelers on which routes to take and what to see throughout the country, but also to celebrate the distinctive characteristics of each individual state. Griswold finds that the series unintentionally diversified American literary culture’s cast of characters—promoting women, minority, and rural writers—while it also institutionalized the innovative idea that American culture comes in state-shaped boxes. Griswold’s story alters our customary ideas about cultural change as a gradual process, revealing how diversity is often the result of politically strategic decisions and bureaucratic logic, as well as of the conflicts between snobbish metropolitan intellectuals and stubborn locals. American Guides reveals the significance of cultural federalism and the indelible impact that the Federal Writers’ Project continues to have on the American literary landscape.