Great Depression History Memoirs

The Great Depression was not a crisis for capitalism but merely an example of the downturn part of the business cycle, which was generated by government intervention in the economy. Had this book appeared in the 1940s, it might have spared the world much grief. Even so, its appearance in 1963 meant that free-market advocates had their first full-scale treatment of this crucial subject.

In this dramatic and fascinating account, Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter shows how Franklin Delano Roosevelt used his first 100 days in office to lift the country from the despair and paralysis of the Great Depression and transform the American presidency.

A “compelling” (New York Times) and personal daily account of the experience of the Great Depression in the mid-west, full of anxieties about the economic future, with powerful echoes for today. In the early 1920s, Benjamin Roth was a young lawyer fresh out of the army. He settled in...

For four consecutive years Shirley Temple was the world’s box-office champion, a record never equaled. By early 1935 her mail was reported as four thousand letters a week, and hers was the second-most popular girl’s name in the country. What distinguished Shirley Temple from every other Hollywood star of the period - and everyone since - was how brilliantly she shone.

The Great Depression was one of the most trying eras in American history. All aspects of the US were affected. After the stock market crash of 1929, the nation was thrust into a decade of turmoil and change - in government, the economy, and culture. Many of the changes brought about by the Great Depression remain today.

A first-hand account of farm life in the 1930s As a teenager during the Great Depression, Bud faces many hardships and family tragedies. With only an 8th grade education, he works hard to help his family put food on the table and stay together. When farmers are earning only 8 cents for a bushel of wheat, the family does whatever it takes to survive. Supporting each other through tough times, Bud and his family demonstrate a can-do attitude and pride in what they can accomplish. The only way to get by is through their strong work ethic and frugal ways. Even after losing their home, they ...

Harry S. Dent predicted our current economic crisis, and he foresees still more to come. He predicts that we are headed further towards a major depression reminiscent of Japan’s major recession more than a decade ago, from which their real estate market has yet to recover. With the current...

Take a journey through one of America’s toughest times, the Great Depression. This audiobook dives into the daily lives of people who faced job loss, poverty, and homelessness with incredible bravery.

The Great Depression was more than an economic collapse — it was a test of endurance, faith, and determination for millions of people across America and around the world. In this compelling and accessible history, Surviving the Great Depression takes readers on a journey through one of the most challenging eras of the twentieth century. Blending clear explanations with vivid storytelling, it explores not only the causes and consequences of the Depression but also the ways ordinary people coped, adapted, and found hope in the darkest of times. Inside, you’ll discover: The Stock Market ...

In the minds of historians and the American public alike, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of our greatest presidents, not least because he supposedly saved America from the Great Depression. But as historian Jim Powell reveals in this groundbreaking book, Roosevelt's New Deal policies actually prolonged and exacerbated the economic disaster.

The New Deal shaped our nation's politics for decades, and was seen by many as tantamount to the "American Way" itself. Now, in this superb compact history, Eric Rauchway offers an informed account of the New Deal and the Great Depression, illuminating its successes and failures.

In 2006, Ben S. Bernanke was appointed chair of the Federal Reserve, capping a meteoric trajectory from a rural South Carolina childhood to professorships at Stanford and Princeton, to public service in Washington's halls of power. There would be no time to celebrate, however - the burst of the housing bubble in 2007 set off a domino effect that would bring the global financial system to the brink of meltdown.

We all have our stories. This one is mine. Born in 1935 in rural Louisiana, Barbara Jean Wilkinson Stinson grew up during the Great Depression and came of age in the 1940s and ’50s—a time when faith, family, and hard work shaped both character and community. In The Way I Came to See Things, she reflects on nine decades of lessons learned, from her childhood in the small town of Gilliam to her career, marriage, and lifelong commitment to kindness and service. Told with warmth, humor, and honesty, this memoir captures what it meant to grow up when neighbors looked out for one another, ...

In the best-selling tradition of The Devil in the White City, award-winning author Brian Hicks tells the explosive story of the Morro Castle, the elegant luxury liner that burned off the coast of New Jersey on September 7, 1934. The captain died under mysterious circumstances seven hours before his ship caught fire off the New Jersey coast.

This “elegant and sobering” (The New York Times) history reveals how Germany’s fractured republic gave way to the Third Reich, from the breakthrough of the Nazi party to the rise of Hitler Amid the ravages of economic depression, Germans in the early 1930s were pulled to political extremes...

Shortly before Christmas 1933 in Depression-scarred Canton, Ohio, a small newspaper ad offered cash gifts to seventy-five families in distress. Readers were asked to send letters describing their hardships to a benefactor calling himself Mr. B. Virdot. The author’s grandfather, Sam Stone, was...

The central volume in the definitive biography of America's most important First Lady. "Engrossing" (Boston Globe). The captivating second volume of this Eleanor Roosevelt biography covers tumultuous era of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the gathering storms of World War II, the years...

A Wall Street Journal and National Bestseller! The man who predicted the worst economic crisis in US history shows you how to survive it. The current crisis is not like 2008 or even 1929. The New Depression that has emerged from the COVID pandemic is the worst economic crisis in U.S. history...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A powerful selection of the letters Tom Brokaw received in response to his towering #1 bestseller The Greatest Generation. “When I wrote about the men and women who came out of the Depression, who won great victories and made lasting sacrifices in World War...

Angela’s Ashes comes home to the Bronx in Mary Higgins Clark’s brilliant, touching, charming, and bittersweet memoir of a childhood during the Depression. Mary Higgins Clark’s memoir begins with the death of her father in 1939. With no money in the house—the Higgins Bar and Grill in the...