The CCC was an important tool, one of many, used by the government to rescue America from the Great Depression. My brother, twenty-five years older than I, served in the CCC. What he gained from it was far different than the experience of young city men who saw their first wild animals when building rock railings along Glacier National Park roads. Both benefitted. My brother-in-law led a CCC crew on a Montana wildfire and can tell what they achieved and how they came close to being overrun by a grass fire. In addition to showing the contributions to conservation, an understanding of the CCC must include those things as well.
The CCC was up and running in a very short time and people with considerable vision enabled that to happen. Stan Cohen's book alludes to failures. Certainly, there were some shortcomings. Any comprehensive history must look at why those happened and what leaders did to compensate. The CCC concept has continued, and is continuing, in a number of state and federal programs. A history of the Great Depression program lays the foundation on which today's programs are built. I don't find that in this book.
This book is like a small-town pioneer museum. You know; the museums where you give up about halfway through the exhibits when you have seen five old sewing machines, three cream separators, and pile after pile of rusty old tools. You have read a few yellowed newspaper clippings taped to the wall and at the same time wished that someone had taken time to write better captions for the exhibits. You have glanced over many old posed photos wondering if there was anyone that you knew.
A reader begins "The Tree Army" with the same kind of anticipation. Progress slows as photo captions tell where and when but lack any guidance as to the photos' importance. When one reaches the back cover after several cycles of saturation, abandonment, and return; a person leaves with the feeling that it could have been interesting but where does one find the real story.
The back cover claims that: "This book traces the history of the CCC, `Roosevelt's Tree Army,' through text and photos." There are certainly lots of photos, nearly all black and white, some blurry, and most reproduced too small to show many details. The text is reasonably good as far as it goes, but it is skimpy and like the captions includes nearly endless lists of locations.
A brief glance at the book will find that the amount of space devoted to photos is about ten times that given to text. Typically, there are three or four photos per page. Many of the photos show buildings built by or for the CCC. There are lots of posed pictures of men in various uniforms. Looking at the captions leads one to wonder if the objective was simply to name as many locations and as many states as possible. For example, we find five people standing in front of a pole and canvas structure with a caption that reads only "Wise River Camp in Montana, 1933."
To understand how the CCC came about and the impact it had on individuals, their families, and the nation requires in-depth analysis. I am sure there must be more comprehensive sources on the history of the CCC. The internet, Amazon.com, and the local library are probably good places to start. "The Tree Army" contains a minimal bibliography but the most recent publication identified is 1986; disappointing since the book was supposedly revised before being reprinted in March, 2006.
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The Tree Army: A Pictorial History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942 Paperback – April 6, 1993
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Stan Cohen
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Stan Cohen
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Print length162 pages
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherPictorial Histories Publishing Co.
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Publication dateApril 6, 1993
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Dimensions8.4 x 0.5 x 10.9 inches
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ISBN-100933126115
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ISBN-13978-0933126114
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Product details
- Publisher : Pictorial Histories Publishing Co.; Revised edition (April 6, 1993)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 162 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0933126115
- ISBN-13 : 978-0933126114
- Item Weight : 1.4 pounds
- Dimensions : 8.4 x 0.5 x 10.9 inches
-
Best Sellers Rank:
#943,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #704 in Sustainable Business Development
- #2,255 in Environmental Economics (Books)
- #48,002 in United States History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2009
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Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2015
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As a kid in WV I was told of family members who were part of this great plan to provide work and a living conditions during the depression. So many fine projects were created and built that still are a large part of our national trust. Too little has been done to praise the leadership that had the foresight to create what we still have as an advancement to our national park system and to those who had no skills or future who became the workforce for the future.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2017
Verified Purchase
You need to read this to appreciate the CCC... I've worked in conservation jobs for most of my life and worked with some of the men who had participated in the Corps. They were in their golden years then and still doing good conservation work in the state park I began my career in.
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2013
Verified Purchase
A very interesting book about the three C's and what they did, where they were located, and what ultimately happened to them.
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2012
Verified Purchase
My wife's grandfather was in the Tree Army.I bought the book for her. She enjoyed it very much. The pictures in the book were of places he was at. It gave her a real view of the life he lived in the C.C.C.
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2017
Verified Purchase
Great book.
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2006
If you've visited many National or even State Parks, you more than likely have observed and benefited from the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was from such visits to the Parks that sparked my interest in learning more about the CCC.
Remarkably, there appears to be somewhat little written about the Corps, so Stan Cohen's "The Tree Army" became a must read for me. While it's described as a pictorial history (there are in fact plenty of pictures, and pictures often do say 1000 words), there is still sufficient reading to help paint a more complete description of the CCC.
Mr. Cohen adeptly covers the history of the CCC from the very beginning (thanks to the uncommon foresight of President Franklin Roosevelt) through its end during WWII, the dozens of camps, what camp life was like, the projects typically undertaken, and the training and education of the enrollees. Sufficient pictures help tell this story at all points. And to keep the record straight, the CCC undertook MANY, MANY projects outside of the State and National parks I alluded to earlier.
The story of the CCC does in fact need to be known by far more citizens today. What the CCC boys accomplished--both in their projects, financial support for them families during the Depression and post-Depression years, the skills and trades they learned in the CCC, and their immediate contributions to War World II--are just way to substantial to be overlooked.
This book is a nice introduction to all of that. Despite my three stars, this is a good book; I felt that, for my tastes, it needed to go into more detail on what the life of the average enrollee was like and paint an even more clear picture of the CCC and its impact on the communities it served.
Remarkably, there appears to be somewhat little written about the Corps, so Stan Cohen's "The Tree Army" became a must read for me. While it's described as a pictorial history (there are in fact plenty of pictures, and pictures often do say 1000 words), there is still sufficient reading to help paint a more complete description of the CCC.
Mr. Cohen adeptly covers the history of the CCC from the very beginning (thanks to the uncommon foresight of President Franklin Roosevelt) through its end during WWII, the dozens of camps, what camp life was like, the projects typically undertaken, and the training and education of the enrollees. Sufficient pictures help tell this story at all points. And to keep the record straight, the CCC undertook MANY, MANY projects outside of the State and National parks I alluded to earlier.
The story of the CCC does in fact need to be known by far more citizens today. What the CCC boys accomplished--both in their projects, financial support for them families during the Depression and post-Depression years, the skills and trades they learned in the CCC, and their immediate contributions to War World II--are just way to substantial to be overlooked.
This book is a nice introduction to all of that. Despite my three stars, this is a good book; I felt that, for my tastes, it needed to go into more detail on what the life of the average enrollee was like and paint an even more clear picture of the CCC and its impact on the communities it served.
18 people found this helpful
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