The Playbook

'GRIPPING AND FIERCELY URGENT.' - FINTAN O'TOOLE 'FASCINATING, TIMELY, AND DEEPLY RESEARCHED.' - THE SPECTATOR 'AN ABSORBING, NECESSARY BOOK.' - AYAD AKHTAR From the 'Winner of Winners' of the Baillie Gifford Prize, a timely and dramatic story of a utopian American experiment, and the self-serving politicians that engineered its downfall. 1935. As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's progressive New Deal, the Work Progress Administration is created to support unemployed workers, including writers, artists, musicians and actors. The Federal Theatre Project, a major part of that programme, begins to stage critically acclaimed, subsidised and groundbreaking productions across America, including Orson Welles's directorial debut, a landmark modern dance programme and shows that sought to tell the truth about racism, inequality and the dangers of fascism. 1938. An opportunistic Texas congressman, Martin Dies, head of the newly formed House Un-American Activities Committee,