Writers on the Left: Episodes in American Literary Communism

Communism in American Life

by Daniel Aaron

Writers on the Left provides a chronicle of the involvement of American writers with the critical style and politics of communism. Emphasizing the golden age of American communism, Aaron traces the movement's bohemian origins to its demise in the early 1940s. Aaron creates a perceptive portrait of writers like Max Eastman, Floyd Dell, John Reed, Mike Gold and Joseph Freeman. Aaron also discusses the attractions of communism for more ambivalent but influential fellow travellers such as Edmund Wilson, Malcolm Cowley, Theodore Dreiser, Richard Wright and Langston Hughes.

Genres: History, Literary Criticism, Criticism

494 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

The son of Jewish immigrants, Daniel Aaron was an American writer and academic who helped found the Library of America. Aaron earned a BA from the University of Michigan, and in 1937 earned the first Ph.D. in "American Civilization" from Harvard University. Aaron taught at Smith College and at Harvard from 1971 until his retirement in 1983.

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My only complaint is that there are not any women included.