The Great Depression: America in the 1930s [Paperback]

T. H. Watkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1995 | Series: Great Depression (Book 1)

The Great Depression of the 1930s turned the lives of ordinary Americans upside down, leaving an indelible mark on the nation's psyche. The Great Depression: America in the 1930s is award-winning historian T. H. Watkins's lively political, economic, and cultural account of this age of hardship and hope. This companion volume to the public television series The Great Depression tells the story of a decade of disaster, challenge, and change. It begins with the most devastating economic crash in modern history and recounts an epic narrative of human suffering, social turmoil, and a political revolution that transformed the outline of American life and government - from unprecedented federal programs such as Social Security, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and massive public works projects to local grass-roots movements whose energies helped forge a new relationship between citizens and their government, citizens and their presidents. During this great era a new kind of hope was born, one that would not only help lead the way out of the despair of the depression but would live on to inspire postwar crusades for civil rights, women's rights, environmentalism, and other social movements. Illustrated with more than 150 photographs, documents, and posters - many of them published here for the first time - The Great Depression stands as the essential chronicle of a decade that shaped America's consciousness and character forever in an age not unlike our own.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Former American Heritage editor Watkins augments this engaging study of the Depression with numerous news clips, documentary stills and period photographs.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-A captivating companion volume to the PBS series. Watkins offers a panoramic view of this challenging and painful decade, and includes approximately 150 photographs, posters, and documents. The book surveys the era's business closures, bank failures, labor movements, unemployed, disenfranchised, soup-kitchen lines, apple sellers, drought, farmers' strikes, and homeless. Students will appreciate the depth of coverage, the primary-source material, the photographs, the comprehensive index, and the list of additional resources. Anyone interested in history and specifically the cause-and-effect relationships between history and modern life will relish this book.
Sue Davis, Cedar Falls High School, IA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books; 1st Paperback Ed edition (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316924547
• ISBN-13: 978-0316924542
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,067,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough, well researched, informative, thought provoking, May 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Great Depression: America in the 1930s (Hardcover)

T.H. Watkins takes the reader on a fascinating journey into life in America during the late 1920's and 1930's in his book "The Great Depression-America in the 1930's".Well-researched, thoroughly written, and graced with an astounding collection of photos that truly capture the pain and desperation of America at the time, this book belongs on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in American history, politics, and societal behavior.

Millions of Americans who had been raised on the belief that hard work, discipline, and thrift would see them through were shell shocked by their sudden fall upon hard times-due of course to events largely out of their control. As never before, suddenly the adequacy of self-sufficiency and individualism (qualities inherent in the model of the "good American") were called into question, and with the forces of international economics, politics, growing industrial unionism, racism, adverse weather conditions, and historical fate combining to produce a bitter pill to swallow, it is easy to see why the 1930's was a time for some of the most angry, chaotic, and divergent politics ever.

As one would expect, the dealings of the Hoover and FDR administrations are given much mention in this book, but so too are many other locales of political activity. From Louisiana Senator Huey Long's bellicose populist calls to "share our wealth", to the concerted efforts of Midwest farmers in intimidating foreclosing bankers, to the fears expressed by world watching Republicans and Democrats alike that America was writing its own dangerous Bolshevik script-Watkins' book drives home the idea that the politics of this era was interesting not for its own sake or for its ideological diversity, but because there was a real sense of urgency and crisis-politics really did matter.

While the author examines the Great Depression through the eyes of many different types of people, including the world's most powerful businessmen and politicians, it is the stories! coming from the poverty stricken that are the most heartbreaking. One account told the story of a teacher in dirt poor Appalachia ordering a sickly thin girl to go home and get something to eat-only to hear from the girl that she couldn't, because it was her brother's turn to eat that day.

While the book is certainly full of stories depicting the hard times of the downtrodden and the ugly injustices that they endured (and also sometimes inflicted), there are also stories about struggling Americans who steadfastly never gave up, and retained their streak of gritty self-determination-even if it meant selling apples in New York or oranges in New Orleans for a nickel a piece to make ends meet. As I read of the hardships that Americans faced during the Great Depression, and their ways for coping with the tough times, I can't help but wonder how today's instant-gratification society-with all of its consumer debt and poor saving habits-would cope under similar adverse conditions. Watkins concludes his book with a tribute to the people of the Great Depression era, remarking that "if we shape our world half as well as the men and women of the 1930's, we will have gone a long way towards honoring our own obligation to the future."

Fine words from a fine historian and author.

Erich Overhultz, B.A., M.P.A. Florida Atlantic University [e-mail]

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brother,can you spare a dime?..., February 12, 2004

By 

J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Depression: America in the 1930s (Library Binding)

This is the first book I've read that is totally about the Great Depression.However,I have read all of Steinbeck's,Erskine Caldwell's and numerous by and about Woody Guthrie as well as many about Capone and other Gangsters.While these were all about the same period,they tended to zero in on specific ways of life,even though one aspect of the depression did not escape the effect of another.The black sharecroppers in the Deep South of Caldwell,the bootlegging,clubs and turf wars of Chicago of Capone and Ness,the Dust Bowl migrations of the Oakies of Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie give detailed insight of people living through these times but but each went on almost oblivous to each other.What Watkins has done is to deal with every
thing during the Depression and somewhat ties it all together. This is was no mean feat.
He leaned towards Government,Big Business ,Politics , Unions and other Organizations and shows how they were the source of the problems and in the final analysis had to be the solution. It was not the honest,hard working ,good,trusting majority of the people who suffered so much,that brought on this mess and they were sure helpless to correct it.As a matter of fact most of the systems prevented them by law and control from doing so.
Watkins gives most of the credit of getting things turned around to FDR and there is no doubt that he had to fight everyone to do it;in many cases his own party.This has often been the case in America from the times of Washington to Bush of today.Often the President stands alone and as Truman said "The buck stops here!" The great presidents had what it took to deal with the challenges of their times.The less great did not.
America was flat on its back and pulled itself up by its bootstraps without the help of any other country.In only a few years became strong enough to lead the charge to defeat the enemies in WWII.
The Commander of the Japanese Fleet that led the Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor said it all.."I fear all we have managed to do is to wake a sleeping giant." How right he was!
The book is well researched,well written,well organized with many excellent photographs.On top of that, it is easy reading--for a History book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FDR's influence, June 14, 2010

By 

Bernard L. Kapell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Great Depression: America in the 1930s (Paperback)

This book very accurately portrays life in the 30's and the crucial role FDR played in ameliorating the devestating conditions of that era.Many current day commentators downplay or belittle the role that FDR played in this regard. This book corrects that misconception and sets the record straight.
Unfortunately, the photographs, though excellent and some of which I had never seen before, were of very poor quality in the paperback edition.