Great Depression

An insightful collection of essays focused on American men, women, and children from a range of economic classes and ethnic backgrounds during the Great Depression.

Who were the people waiting in the bread lines and living in Hoovervilles? Who were the migrants heading North and West? Did anyone survive the Depression relatively unscathed? Giving a voice to stories often untold, Great Depression: People and Perspectives covers the full spectrum of American life, portraying the experiences of ordinary citizens during the worst economic crisis in the nation’s history.

Great Depression shows how specific groups coped with the traumatic upheaval of the times, including rural Americans, women, children, African Americans, and immigrants. In addition, it offers revealing chapters on the conflict between social scientists and policymakers responding to the crisis, the impact of the Depression on the health of U.S. citizens, and the roles that American technology and Hollywood movies played in helping the nation survive.

• 11 expert contributors, including well-established scholars who bring new perspectives to the study of the Great Depression
• A wide range of primary sources such as news articles, photographs, diaries, and letters that provide a deeper understanding of daily life during the Depression

Hamilton Cravens is Professor of History at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. His published works include Ideas in American Culture and Before Head Start: The Iowa Station and America's Children.