_'_It is Mr. Miller's notion, potentially a great one, that the Baums' story can help tell the story of America itself during that traumatic era.' _NEW YORK TIMES_ _ _When the stock market crashes, the once-financially comfortable Baum family lose everything and are forced to leave their lofty home in Manhattan to live with relatives in Brooklyn: how can their pride, purpose and artistic endeavours survive such a sudden and shocking reversal of fortune? A sweeping, hard-hitting look at the Great Depression of the 1930s, _The American Clock_ is a vaudevillian celebration of American resilience and optimism in the face of national crisis, and was performed on Broadway in 1980. This Methuen Drama Student Edition is edited by Jane K. Dominik, with commentary and notes that explore the play's production history (including excerpts from interviews with designers of the 1980 Broadway production) as well as the dramatic, thematic and academic debates that surround it.