Between 1933 and 1935, Lorena Hickok traveled across thirty-two states as a "confidential investigator" for Harry Hopkins, head of FDR's Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Her assignment was to gather information about the day-to-day toll the Depression was exacting on individual citizens. "One Third of a Nation" is her record, underscored by the eloquent photographs of Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and others, of the shocking plight of millions of unemployed and dispossessed Americans.
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"Some of the best reports ever written on the state of America's underprivileged." -- Sylvia Jukes Morris, Washington Post Book World "Hickok touches on every facet of the relationship between private misfortune and public relief efforts... The letters are written in a lively conversational style, full of anecdotes, wry asides, wicked characterizations of local politicians, and moving vignettes of enterprising and dedicated relief workers." -- Ann Banks, New York Times "Unlike the convoluted government documents one is accustomed to, Hickok's reports are really letters: persuasive, immediate, fiery, and memorable. The fear and hopelessness of the times are still palpable. The people are still vivid. What Hickok gave to her letters was passion." -- Rhoda Lehrman, New Republic "Hickok's lively writings, despite her biases, can serve as an informative and invaluable history of the early New Deal... Especially timely given current debates about the purpose and function of federally directed public welfare programs and services." -- John M. Herrick, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare "[Hickok's] letters paint a graphic picture of life in America during that period of the early New Deal when relief efforts were sputtering. She describes a desperate, bewildered America. Hickok's words provide an excellent understanding of how Americans felt about themselves and their country during this languid socioeconomic period... Her observations still provide uncommon perspicacity." -- Dennis Shockley, The Chronicles of Oklahoma ADVANCE PRAISE "Lorena Hickok was a singularly gifted witness to the calamity of the Great Depression. From one end of the country to the other, she stared long and hard into the human face of America's greatest economic failure and social catastrophe. A seasoned reporter, she recorded her impressions in spare, muscular prose that still packs a punch. Eleanor Roosevelt told Hickok that her writing would come to be regarded in future years as 'the best history of the Depression.' Readers of this memorable volume will surely agree." -- David M. Kennedy, author of Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great human insights into depression conditions,
By abqbeach (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression (Paperback)
Lorena Hickok, special investigator for Harry Hopkins, traveled the country reporting on the human dimension of life during the Depression, while at the same time evaluating the impact of New Deal policies and programs and support for Roosevelt. Her reports read like letters, honest and open, down to earth. She talked to governors, tenant farmers, labor leaders, children working in the fields, social workers, down and out transients, former press colleagues, people on the edge of survival - and everyone in between. Hickok struggles with issues of white collar workers on relief vs the working class and chronically poor. Her ignorance on race issues is apparent when visiting the South and Southwest, but reading these reports is also instructive on attitudes of the times. I picked up this book because I was interested in the life of Lorena Hickok, who was the AP's highest paid female reporter before taking the job with Hopkins, and intimate friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. What I got was a window into her world, but much more than that. Highly recommended for those interested in the US in the 1930s, the Depression years, and for fans of Hick.
5.0 out of 5 stars
fascinating,
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This review is from: One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression (Hardcover)
the author sends in reports to describe the conditions of different areas of our country during the depression to see how the New Deal was helping. she is writing to Truman's administator of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, Harry Hopkins. It is the best description i have read on the lives of the suffering during those most difficult times. I could almost feel their agony.
Excellent job and a great read if you have any interest in the lives of the starving during the depression
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Since we have not discussed as yet the form my reports to you are to take, I'm going to give you the first one in the form of a letter, telling you where I've been and what I've heard this last week. . . . Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
subsistence homestead unit, drouth area, reemployment director, county relief director, state relief committee, case work supervisor, white collar people, supplementary relief, rural rehabilitation program, corn loans, grade mentally, relief load, work relief jobs, work relief projects, tax warrants, relief clients, relief administrator, relief rolls, relief headquarters, citrus belt, allotment checks, relief administration, relief staff, relief business, relief standards Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North Dakota, New York City, West Virginia, Sioux City, South Dakota, New Mexico, United States, New Deal, New Orleans, Puerto Rico, Red Cross, San Antonio, Los Angeles, San Francisco, South Carolina, Twin Cities, Home Relief, Major Turner, North Carolina, United Mine Workers, Iron Range, Chamber of Commerce, Des Moines, Great Western Sugar, Imperial Valley New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Since we have not discussed as yet the form my reports to you are to take, I'm going to give you the first one in the form of a letter, telling you where I've been and what I've heard this last week. . . . Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
subsistence homestead unit, drouth area, reemployment director, county relief director, state relief committee, case work supervisor, white collar people, supplementary relief, rural rehabilitation program, corn loans, grade mentally, relief load, work relief jobs, work relief projects, tax warrants, relief clients, relief administrator, relief rolls, relief headquarters, citrus belt, allotment checks, relief administration, relief staff, relief business, relief standards Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North Dakota, New York City, West Virginia, Sioux City, South Dakota, New Mexico, United States, New Deal, New Orleans, Puerto Rico, Red Cross, San Antonio, Los Angeles, San Francisco, South Carolina, Twin Cities, Home Relief, Major Turner, North Carolina, United Mine Workers, Iron Range, Chamber of Commerce, Des Moines, Great Western Sugar, Imperial Valley New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 12
books:
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21
books
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- South Dakota (Rookie Read-About Geography) by Dale-Marie Bryan on 5 pages
- Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship, based on Eleanor Roosevelt's Private Papers by Joseph P. Lash in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- Eleanor and Franklin (Signet) by Joseph P. Lash in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- Eleanor Roosevelt: A Photoillustrated Biography (Read and Discover Photo-Illustrated Biographies) by Lucile Davis on page 304
- Tales from Shakespeare: Children's Classics by Charles Lamb on page 176
See all 12 books this book cites
- Breaking the Land: The Transformation of Cotton, Tobacco, and Rice Cultures since 1880 by Pete R. Daniel in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The Mythic West in Twentieth-Century America by Robert G. Athearn in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- And a Time for Hope: Americans in the Great Depression by James R. McGovern in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Eleanor Roosevelt and the Media: A Public Quest for Self-Fulfillment by Maurine H. Beasley in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Welfare, Democracy and the New Deal by William R. Brock on page 215, and page 265
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