John L. Thomas, in discussing regionalism in the United States, argues that historian and writer Lewis Mumford as the dean of American regionalists in that he espoused acceptance of regionalism “as a cultural motive” which should underlie regional planning. Thomas states that American regionalists often view the pioneers as people who destructively gouged the landscape, but he says that the real heroes were those pioneers who settled down, developed a sense of place, and had deep personal feelings of their own history in their regions.
In the second segment [13:42], Townsend Ludington speaks about writer John Dos Passos, who was an important and innovative American novelist in the 1920s and 1930s. His novels Manhattan Transfer and the trilogy U.S.A. provide cinematic, multiple points of view and use varied narrative techniques.
At the time of the interview, Thomas, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1986-87), was professor of history at Brown University.
Ludington, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1985-86), was professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
