The 1930s was a golden age of literature as well as radio and motion pictures. Many of the books written during that decade are still widely read and considered classics to this day. This list is just a sampling of books which provided readers with an escape from Depression-era realities or helped to publicize major issues of the day.
- Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett (1930)
- The Good Earth, Pearl Buck (1931)
- Joy of Cooking, Irma Rombauer (1931)
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (1932)
- Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell (1936)
- Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (1939)
- Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers (1934)
- The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)
- And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie (1939)
- Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder (1932)
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neal Hurston (1937)
- As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner (1934)
- Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1934)