Wall to Wall America
Post Office Murals in the Great Depression
Karal Ann Marling
$25.00 paper ISBN 978-0-8166-3673-0
368 pages, 130 b&w plates, 5 7/8 x 9, 2000
Karal Ann marling is professor of American studies and art history at the University of Minnesota. She is author of numerous books on American culture, including The Colossus of Roads (also published by the University of Minnesota Press), Designing Disney’s Theme Parks, Graceland: Going Home with Elvis, and George Washington Slept Here.
Marling tells the complex story with unflagging gusto, wit, and learning.
National Review
It’s impossible in this limited space to do justice to the vast range Marling covers, the scores of amusing anecdotes she tells or the variety of provocative questions she poses. Wall-to-Wall America is a groundbreaking book.
The Nation
This book is an outstanding example of how to restore art to the larger culture and to see it as social expression for both artist and audience.
American History Review
This work raises serious questions about public art patronage.
Library Journal
Marling has created one of the freshest and finest contributions to the study of American culture in the last generation.
New York Times Book Review