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Acknowledgments I would like to thank Barbara Foley for her careful reading of the manuscript ; her insights helped to refine several ideas on both African American literature and the interwar American Left. Thanks to Joseph Skerrett, former editor of MELUS, who published an earlier version of chapter 5 and assisted (perhaps unknowingly) in fine-tuning ideas I presented from chapter 6 at a MELUS conference. Sincere thanks to Bill Mullen and James Smethurst for their valuable comments on chapter 2 and their stimulating conversation over the years on African American literature and the Left. I am also indebted to Houston A. Baker Jr., whose summer seminar on ‘‘African American Voices: Language, Literature, and Criticism in Vernacular Theory and Pedagogy’’ (Pennsylvania State University, College Park, June 21–25, 1994) helped to shape my comprehension of black literature and theory. My understanding of the culture and politics of the 1930s benefited from an NEH Summer Institute I attended in 1995 at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, entitled ‘‘The Thirties: American Literature, Art, and Culture in Interdisciplinary Perspective.’’ The biannual working-class studies conference at Youngstown State University’s Working -Class Studies Center never failed to enrich my appreciation of working -class culture and politics. California State University, Northridge, provided me with vital reassigned time to conduct research for this project . The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, under the direction of Sarah Cooper, made available indispensable archival materials on the American literary and political Left. Many conversations with my longstanding friend Ralph Leck have undoubtedly influenced my own view of the importance and function of critical theory. Heartfelt thanks to my parents, Victor and Helen Dawahare, whose daily labors have helped to shape this writer’s confidence in the working class. And, finally, profound thanks to Krista Walter, my intimate companion, whose indefatigable standards for critical thinking and writing have enriched this project in more ways than I can express. This page intentionally left blank ...

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