• Preface; 1. Spoken testimony, Unwritten History; 2. You won't hear it nicely John Dos Passos and James Agee; 3. Telling native American history John Neihardt, William Benson and Ruth Underhill; 4. Talking black, talking back Zora Neale Hurston; 5. Giving the people voice Tillie Olsen and the Communist Press; Notes; Bibliography.

'In this readable and engaging book, Michael Staub offers a corrective to those cultural histories that have seen Depression-era literature as having failed both politically and aesthetically because of its didactic sentimentality and topical politicism. Reexamining a wide range of cultural productions - documentaries, ethnographies, journal writing, folklore, and fiction - and the collaborations that produced them, he significantly extends the scope of previous studies … In a bold and refreshing move, Staub redirects our attention from the literate powers of elite editors to the oral powers of 'marginalized' speakers. In Voices of Persuasion, the subaltern can and does speak, and Staub shows us how to listen.' Hertha D. Wong, University of California, Berkeley