"A remarkable book.., unquestionably brilliant, that fundamentally overturns most of our preconceptions about American art. After reading this, nothing looks quite the same. Dijkstra wonderfully fulfills the two goals of a great art historian: He makes us look, and he makes us think." --Henry Adams, former Curator of American Art, Cleveland Museum; Chair, Department of Art History, Case Western Reserve University

"Challenging orthodoxy...this bold study illuminates a dark corner of our past, and rehabilitates a neglected generation in modern American art. Another important contribution from one of our most independent-minded, insightful, and indispensable critics." --Charles C. Eldredge, formerly Director, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian; Hall Distinguished Professor of American Art and Culture, University of Kansas

From the 1920s until the end of World War II, a distinctly American form of Expressionism evolved in the United States. This was an art distinct from Regionalism, the now better known style of the period. Unlike the Regionalists, Expressionist artists were often outsiders to what was then the American mainstream. Many were the children of turn-of-the-century immigrants from Eastern Europe (William Gropper, Ben Shahn, Harry Sternberg, Jack Levine, Philip Guston), Southern Europe (Louis Guglielmi, Theodore Hios, Rico Lebrun), or Asia (Yasuo Kuniyoshi); many were African-American (Jacob Lawrence, Hale Woodruff, Charles White). But whatever their background, all of these men and women brought a new spirit of idealism to American art.

Many of the Expressionists had grown up in the urban ghettoes of the East Coast or Chicago, and as a result they were deeply concerned with the social problems of poverty and the difficult lives of working people. Their social consciousness only grew during the Great Depression. Some held militant Marxist views, and most were active in populist and left-wing causes. Even those who were not, however, tended to be sympathetic to the labor movement and to the problems ofworking people in hard times, and their art reflected this point of view. Although they did not share a coherent style, most made use of unconventional color systems and deliberate distortions of form as a way to express personal and social concerns. Thus, their art is best understood as a form of Expressionism firmly rooted in American experience rather than one based on European models...

I. Erasing a Movement 

II. The Corporate Take-Over of American Art 

III. American Expressionism: The Historical Framework 

IV. American Antecedents 

V. Depression Economics 

VI. The Fascism of Everyday Life 

VII. Character and the Characteristics of Exclusion 

VIII. The Body of Nature

IX. What We Build Is What We Destroy 

X. The War Inside Our Heads 

Epilogue 

Bibliography

Index

Photograph Credits