Picturing Migrants: The Grapes of Wrath and New Deal Documentary Photography . Charles M. Russell Center Series on Art and Photography of the American West. By James R. Swensen.

Abstract

Picturing Migrants: The Grapes of Wrath and New Deal Documentary Photography . Charles M. Russell Center Series on Art and Photography of the American West. By James R. Swensen. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015. xi + 256 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $34.95.) In this richly illustrated, carefully researched book, James R. Swensen, assistant professor of the history of photography at Brigham Young University, reveals the fascinating interplay between Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographs and the print and film versions of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939). While other scholars have noted some of the connections, Swensen devotes sustained attention to them. In addition to the photographs themselves, Swensen draws upon interviews with the photographers, the papers of Steinbeck and FSA head Roy Stryker, journalism, agency records, and hundreds of secondary sources. The author convincingly argues that FSA photographs … Brian_cannon{at}byu.edu