Swingin' the Dream

1998 Outstanding academic books list choice

Long before organized baseball or the armed forces experienced racial integration, the big band jazz and swing culture of the depression years was breaking down barriers. This book explores the fan culture and how the music served as a bridge between white American identity and a national culture.During the 1930s, swing bands combined jazz and popular music to create dreams for a depression generation. This book explores that world, taking a look into the musical and racial integration. Long before organized baseball or the armed forces experienced racial integration, the fan culture that surrounded these big bands had broken down many barriers that separated people from different racial backgrounds. The author aims to show how a dance subculture forged in the late 1920s and early 1930s, became a music genre that symbolized American society. The book tells the story of swing's rapid rise and the music and culture that bolstered a nation during one of its lowest periods.