David A. Taylor's guest appearances

David A. Taylor

The Not Old - Better Show

Enoch Pratt Free Library Podcast

Dorothy Butler Gilliam

Cokie Roberts

Myra Sklarew

David Smith

Rich Karlgaard

Kate Black

Colson Whitehead

Michael Pollan

Chris Mason

Alan Alda

David Young

Lidia Bastianich

John Edward

Cory Booker

Ben Carson

OwlTail

Creativity in Dark Times: Artists and Writers of the New Deal - David A. Taylor Smithsonian Associates Artist Interview Series Welcome to The Not Old Better Show. I’m Paul Vogelzang, and this is episode #456. When the U.S. and world economies collapsed into the Great Depression in 1929, creatives of all kinds faced a bleak future. The Jazz Age was dead. Among government programs designed to spur the economy back to life, President Franklin Roosevelt included the Federal Writers’ Project and the Federal Arts Project. No one expected an American renaissance. Yet FDR said, “One hundred years from now, my administration will be known for its art, not its relief.” And yet another quote I love, for many reasons: HARD TIMES: Somebody once said that the great oxygen of the US is optimism. What happens if we can’t breathe,  or eat, or go to work, go outside? We need arts. That of course, is our guest today, David A. Taylor, who’ll be appearing via Zoom at the Smithsonian Associates presentation, Creativity in Dark Times: Artists and Writers of the New Deal. Check out the web site for Zoom details. Artists and writers comprised the Federal Writers Project and produced scores of travel guidebooks, histories, and a trove of thousands of life histories including the narratives of former slaves. Artists supported by the government produced landscapes, murals, street scenes, portraits, sculptures, and abstracts. Author David Taylor looks at some of the artists and writers for whom the government’s programs gave them a new purpose: recording American life. Some later ranked among the most creative minds of the 20th century as screenwriters, poets, bestselling novelists, ands artists. They included recipients of the National Book Award, the National Medal of Arts, and the Nobel Prize for Literature. David A. Taylor will discuss with us how, in focusing on America, those artists could stir controversy, seen in censored travel books, banned works, and murals denounced by citizens’ committees even up to the present. By tracing how these artists and works cut against the grain of public opinion and convention, Taylor examines art’s power in shifting American identities. David A. Taylor teaches writing at Johns Hopkins University and was lead writer and co-producer of the Smithsonian Channel documentary Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story. Please join me in welcoming to The Not Old Better Show, via internet phone, David A. Taylor. Please go here for more information about David A. Taylor's upcoming presentation at Smithsonian Associates: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/creativity-in-dark-times-artists-and-writers-of-new-deal

Creativity in Dark Times: Artists and Writers of the New Deal - David A. Taylor Smithsonian Associates Artist Interview Series Welcome to The Not Old Better Show. I’m Paul Vogelzang, and this is episode #456. When the U.S. and world economies collapsed into the Great Depression in 1929, creatives of all kinds faced a bleak future. The Jazz Age was dead. Among government programs designed to spur the economy back to life, President Franklin Roosevelt included the Federal Writers’ Project and the Federal Arts Project. No one expected an American renaissance. Yet FDR said, “One hundred years from now, my administration will be known for its art, not its relief.” And yet another quote I love, for many reasons: HARD TIMES: Somebody once said that the great oxygen of the US is optimism. What happens if we can’t breathe, or eat, or go to work, go outside? We need arts. That of course, is our guest today, David A. Taylor, who’ll be appearing via Zoom at the Smithsonian Associates presentation, Creativity in Dark Times: Artists and Writers of the New Deal. Check out the web site for Zoom details. Artists and writers comprised the Federal Writers Project and produced scores of travel guidebooks, histories, and a trove of thousands of life histories including the narratives of former slaves. Artists supported by the government produced landscapes, murals, street scenes, portraits, sculptures, and abstracts. Author David Taylor looks at some of the artists and writers for whom the government’s programs gave them a new purpose: recording American life. Some later ranked among the most creative minds of the 20th century as screenwriters, poets, bestselling novelists, ands artists. They included recipients of the National Book Award, the National Medal of Arts, and the Nobel Prize for Literature. David A. Taylor will discuss with us how, in focusing on America, those artists could stir controversy, seen in censored travel books, banned works, and murals denounced by citizens’ committees even up to the present. By tracing how these artists and works cut against the grain of public opinion and convention, Taylor examines art’s power in shifting American identities. David A. Taylor teaches writing at Johns Hopkins University and was lead writer and co-producer of the Smithsonian Channel documentary Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story. Please join me in welcoming to The Not Old Better Show, via internet phone, David A. Taylor. Please go here for more information about David A. Taylor's upcoming presentation at Smithsonian Associates: <a href="https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/creativity-in-dark-times-artists-and-writers-of-new-deal" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/creativity-in-dark-times-artists-and-writers-of-new-deal</a>

#456, Creativity in Dark Times: Artists and Writers of the New Deal - David A. Taylor

As a prelude to the Star-Spangled Sailabration, an international parade of ships sailing into Baltimore's Inner Harbor June 13 - 19, David Taylor talks about the U.S. Navy's official commemorative book of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. Taylor and coauthor Mark Collins Jenkins present historical recollections, personal reminiscences of the war, and detailed histories through vibrant images and intimate stories. The book features photographs, period illustrations, historic documents, maps, letters, ephemera, and artifacts, including fascinating finds from the Navy's most recent underwater excavation of the war's lost ships.David Taylor is the author of the award-winning books Soul of a People: The WPA Writers' Project Uncovers Depression America; Ginseng, the Divine Root; and Success: Stories, a fiction collection. He has written and co-produced documentary films for PBS, the National Geographic Society, Discovery Channel, and the Smithsonian Channel, including "Soul of a People," which was nominated for a 2010 Writers Guild award. Recorded On: Tuesday, June 12, 2012

As a prelude to the Star-Spangled Sailabration, an international parade of ships sailing into Baltimore's Inner Harbor June 13 - 19, David Taylor talks about the U.S. Navy's official commemorative book of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. Taylor and coauthor Mark Collins Jenkins present historical recollections, personal reminiscences of the war, and detailed histories through vibrant images and intimate stories. The book features photographs, period illustrations, historic documents, maps, letters, ephemera, and artifacts, including fascinating finds from the Navy's most recent underwater excavation of the war's lost ships.David Taylor is the author of the award-winning books Soul of a People: The WPA Writers' Project Uncovers Depression America; Ginseng, the Divine Root; and Success: Stories, a fiction collection. He has written and co-produced documentary films for PBS, the National Geographic Society, Discovery Channel, and the Smithsonian Channel, including "Soul of a People," which was nominated for a 2010 Writers Guild award. Recorded On: Tuesday, June 12, 2012