What was it like to be a hobo?

September 26, 2006 5:31 PM

I am interested in 1930's America, specifically, the political climate of the time and the lives of hobos and workin' folk. What books, fiction or nonfiction, could you suggest to broaden my knowledge about this era?
posted by lazy robot to Society & Culture (20 answers total)

Robert McElvaine's Down and Out in the Great Depression. The biggest gem in my history concentration.
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:39 PM on September 26, 2006

Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck covers the Dust Bowl and California migrant workers, and should be available anywhere.
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:42 PM on September 26, 2006

Steinbeck.
posted by holgate at 5:49 PM on September 26, 2006

For something from the far left, and the deep South, I would suggest Robin D.G. Kelley's (nonfiction) Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression. The Communist Party actually played a major organizing role among blacks in the South, and Kelley's book does a great job of looking at the strengths and weaknesses (and there were many of both). It's probably not what you would expect.
posted by graymouser at 6:09 PM on September 26, 2006

Best answer: The Areas Of My Expertise by John Hodgeman is a complete guide to all known Hobo-lore, both real, imaginary, and vegi-sexual. Included is information on various forms of hobo communication, secret societies, and a comprehensive list of hobo names. It also contains all knowledge in the universe, or at least the knowledge worth knowing.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:20 PM on September 26, 2006

Go East Young Man (the autobiography of William O. Douglas, former Chief Justice) features some passages about hoboes and "ridin' the rods". Or check out this wikipedia entry on books and films about hoboes and freighthopping.
posted by jdroth at 6:28 PM on September 26, 2006

Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle.

Studs Terkel's Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:29 PM on September 26, 2006

My favorites about the era are mostly Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row and Tortilla Flat. His depictions, although very true and poignant, are sometimes very romanticized; which is why I love them.

Another relevant work about that era is the novel Seabiscuit, which is apparently based on fact.
posted by snsranch at 6:40 PM on September 26, 2006

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, by James Agee and Walker Evans is a haunting account of what it was like to be a white sharecropper in Alabama in the 30's. If you find it compelling you might want to read And Their Children After Them which is sort of a "where are they now" look at the descentants of those three tenant farmer families. The book is not, in any way, a hobo story, but it gives a good idea of what the likely alternative to the hobo lifestyle would be for the poor and unskilled in 1936.
posted by jessamyn at 6:41 PM on September 26, 2006

I second Hard Times by Studs Terkel.
posted by bda1972 at 7:32 PM on September 26, 2006

I really enjoyed the book Ten Lost Years. It's a collection of stories told by people who lived through the 1930's in Canada, and you get everything from hobos riding the rails to families who barely noticed the Depression at all. All the stuff in between those extremes is the best.
posted by Ohdemah at 8:01 PM on September 26, 2006

Harry Partch's Bitter Music contains long sections of the journals he kept while he was a hobo. He also wrote a couple of compositions based on his experiences. U. S. Highball has the strongest narrative of them all. Make sure to get a proper recording, not the Kronos Quartet one. The disc I linked to also contains other pieces inspired by his time on the bum.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 8:08 PM on September 26, 2006

You Can't Win , by Jack Black, was cited by William S. Burroughs as his main inspiration. The time period is earlier than what you said you are looking for, but will absolutely provide insight into the history and background into that subculture. Please check it out.
posted by theperfectcrime at 8:20 PM on September 26, 2006

of that subculture, of course.
posted by theperfectcrime at 8:35 PM on September 26, 2006

If you're open to comics, try Kings in Disguise.
posted by jessenoonan at 9:30 PM on September 26, 2006

Can't forget Bound for Glory, by Woodie Guthrie.
posted by mikel at 9:57 PM on September 26, 2006

For prose dealing with working folk in that era, check out Erskine Caldwell's "Tobacco Road." See also John Fante's excellent "Wait until Spring Bandini" and "1933 was a Bad Year."
posted by rudster at 11:08 PM on September 26, 2006

Look at Jim Tully, a hobo-carney whose work has recently been rediscovered.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:17 PM on September 26, 2006

Seconding mikel, also Woody Guthrie: A Life by Joe Klein.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 2:51 AM on September 27, 2006

Surviving the Dust Bowl [PBS film]. Manuscripts from the Federal Writer's Project 1936-1940. Wikipedia's link farm for the Works Progress Administration. Wikipedia pages for the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Rural Electrification Administration describe the process of bringing electrical power and telephone communications to rural America in the 1930's and '40's.
posted by paulsc at 6:11 PM on September 27, 2006