Book Description
The definitive and rollicking story of one of the best, and one of the wackiest, teams of all time, during one of the most vital eras in baseball.
With The Gashouse Gang, John Heidenry delivers the definitive account of one the greatest and most colorful baseball teams of all times, the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals, filled with larger-than-life baseball personalities like Branch Rickey, Leo Durocher, Pepper Martin, Casey Stengel, Satchel Paige, Frankie Frisch, and--especially--the eccentric good ol' boy and great pitcher Dizzy Dean and his brother Paul.
The year 1934 marked the lowest point of the Great Depression, when the U.S. went off the gold standard, banks collapsed by the score, and millions of Americans were out of work. Epic baseball feats offered welcome relief from the hardships of daily life. The Gashouse Gang, the brilliant culmination of a dream by its general manager, Branch Rickey, the first to envision a farm system that would acquire and "educate" young players in the art of baseball, was adored by the nation, who saw itself--scruffy, proud, and unbeatable--in the Gang.
Based on original research and told in entertaining narrative style, The Gashouse Gang brings a bygone era and a cast full of vivid personalities to life and unearths a treasure trove of baseball lore that will delight any fan of the great American pastime.
Customer Reviews:
Baseball lover's only!.......2007-09-23
Baseball in times long passed was a very different game, but like today there were some really wild characters to mke the game all the more interesting. The 1934 Cardinals, "The Gashouse Gang" were an exciting, odd collection of great ball payers who played for the love of the game in a way we wish today's players did.
If you love baseball you won't be able to put this down, and even if you don't it will be too intriquing to stop reading once you start. Well written, well researched and as entertaining as anything I've read this season. Highly reccommended!
The Gashouse Gang Personalities.......2007-09-15
This book climbs to the top wrung of my baseball ladder. Rather than a statistical or play-by-play book so common in baseball pages, this features personality development of some of the wackiest players of all time. Learn that Ducky Joe should have been Mean Joe, that Leo the Lip couldn't handle relationships, or that Dizzy Dean was really Jerome or Jay or Hanna or Herman, maybe that he was from Arkansas or Oklahoma or Texas -- well, you get it.
This book captures the thrill of a season and the joy of a team effort. It really makes you think of the Oakland Athletics of the Catfish days.
Just one observation: John Heidenry missed the point of the moniker, "Gashouse Gang." He can't figure out where it came from. He even ponders how "Gas Tank" became "Gashouse." During that day, electricity was provided by manufactured gas plants, sometimes called "witch's brew." The main structure was known as the "gashouse." The working class fellows who toiled away in those dirty gashouses were known as "the gashouse gangs." They cursed, they played dirty and hilarious tricks on each other, they had great and sour dispositions -- necessary to get through the tough days, and yes, their clothes were always filthy. Sound like the beloved Gashouse Gang?
Snag this book, and you will enjoy several hours of quiet time, if you can block out your own laughter.
Me 'n' Paul.......2007-09-02
In baseball, 1934 was a year to remember, a year in which the Saint Louis Cardinals, a scruffy team of misfits and malcontents, came from almost the graveyard to win the National League pennant, and then the World Series. While we learn a tremendous amount about the Cardinals, and especially the Dean brothers, Dizzy and Paul, there are others about whom we receive thumbnail biographies. Most importantly, Branch Rickey is focused upon for much of the early part of the book, and just reading about this remarkable man is sufficient reason to study this book. Other famous players make cameo appearances: Babe Ruth, Mel Otto, Mickey Cochrane, Leo Durocher, and Pie Traynor, with whom I was once priviledged to have an extensive conversation about baseball when I was in college. I also remember listening to Dizzy on the television announcing(?) games and talking about all kinds of extraneous subjects other than the game he was supposed to be calling. Of course, Dizzy is the centerpiece of this book, and he strides through it like a colossus. He did things then that would not be tolerated by a basseball organization today, and perhaps we are the pooorer for not having men such as him (and Curt Flood)to challenge what is considered the "right" way to act as a porfessional ball player. He's gone, and so are all of those famous old-timers, and the world misses them!
Great Father's Day gift.......2007-07-12
I gave this book to my 60 year old father for Father's Day. He hasn't read a book in years but is a huge baseball fan. He loved the book and stayed up late into the night reading it. Great for a Cardinals or baseball fan!
RICK SHAQ GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "73 YEARS AFTER WINNING THE WORLD SERIES "THE GASHOUSE GANG" ST LOUIS CARDINALS HAVE A BOOK!".......2007-06-13
Before I give you the details of this book, let me save some people their valuable time, by telling you who this book would appeal to! Old School Baseball fanatics, "Baseball Historians", Saint Louis Cardinal fans. If you think the designated hitter rule is good for baseball this book isn't for you.
73 years after the famous (To the above listed people.) Saint Louis Cardinals, hereafter known as "The Gashouse Gang", won the World Series, they have had an excellent book released on their exploits and accomplishments. As a self-acclaimed baseball fanatic, some of the statistics, and idiosyncrasies, I discovered in this book about famous old time players that I already knew about, were both interesting and amusing. The author's writing style is not anything you'll remember as out of the ordinary, since so much of the meat of the book, you can tell is repeated from old newspaper articles. But the detailed, meticulous, research should be applauded. As I've mentioned in my earlier reviews, I've read literally hundreds of baseball books, and memorized half the "Encyclopedia Of Baseball" when I was 10 years old, yet I learned even more details and amusing personality "quirks" of some of the old-time stars. I of course already knew that Dizzy Dean was a great pitcher, in the Hall Of Fame, and the last National League pitcher to win 30 games. What I didn't know, but learned here, was the absolute bottom of the barrel poverty he came from in the historically famous "dust bowl"! I knew he was a "wacky" character, but I didn't know, it went to the extent of him literally being the Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, of the baseball world in the 1930's, before there was an Ali. I didn't know that Dizzy held out and boycotted games, in a demand for an increased contract, in the middle of the season. I also got to learn much more about the great Ducky Medwick, (The last National League Player to win the Triple Crown 70 years ago.) who was one of my dear departed Mother's favorite players, when he later played on the Brooklyn Dodgers. I never knew he was such a New Jersey, street fighting, chip on the shoulder, ready to fight anyone, including his own teammates, type of guy! I learned more than I ever had known about what led up to one of the biggest name trades in baseball history, Rogers Hornsby for Frankie Frisch. The detailed background on Branch Rickey, before his famous relationship with Jackie Robinson, was also expertly detailed. The almost blow by blow reporting on the 1934 World Series between the Gashouse Gang and the star studded Detroit Tigers makes you feel like you were there. I could go on and on, but like I said in my opening sentences, these facts, that are exciting and educational to me, would only be exciting to the type of people I described in my opening.
Product Description
By the early 90s, a raging bull market was delivering spectacular returns, causing some to believe that a market collapse and subsequent depression would soon appear. As a result of these fears, some exited the capital markets altogether. Thereafter, the Internet took off causing the market bubble to swell, many high-tech stocks with seemingly limitless valuations. Over the course of its 13-year stretch, the market appreciated by over 600 percent, with average annual returns in excess of 18 percent. And we all remember what happened at the start of the new millennium. Even after the deflation of the Internet bubble, cautious investors who pulled out of the market a decade earlier missed out on spectacular returns since then. Many investors who entered the market near its peak suffered devastating losses. But most who remained invested since the early 90s are still much better off today. While this correction revealed the most recent illusions embedded within the economy, it s only a small part of what will be a larger correction in the coming years. Despite the scandals in corporate America and Wall Street, many investors fail to recognize that the post-bubble period is quite different from the Bull Run in the 90s. But today, the capital markets have been realigned with authenticity, and economics now control the investment cycle rather than hype generated by Wall Street. Accordingly, Wall Street and the U.S. Government can only hide the realities of America s decline for so long. Unfortunately, America entered the free trade paradigm as a losing participant from the start. While America remains as the centerpiece for the global economy, it relies on record debt to maintain its status as the world s strongest consumer marketplace. But this cannot last much longer. America s vulnerable role in the new economy threatens to erode the strength of its empire. Already, America has witnessed a gradual disappearance of its core citizens; the middle class. As well, poverty continues to grow while America s wealthiest quintile increases their wealth. These trends have been masked by record levels of credit-based spending and manipulation of economic data. For over two decades, several nations have benefited at the expense of America s job base and living standards. This led to a long period of excessive consumption relative to productivity. When the economic boom from the post-war period began to lose steam in the 60s, consumption began to exceed productivity, as Americans refused to acknowledge a decline in living standards. Up until the 70s, America fueled this consumption-production disparity using the surplus wealth generated during the post-war boom. During the 80s, America s growing consumption was compounded by massive government spending and a devastating oil crisis. Shortly thereafter, the consumer credit industry grew to meet the demands of a nation experiencing large productivity deficits. And today, America is vastly different than the post-war period. Rather than increases in net wealth, America s growth over the past two decades has been fueled by credit spending which has created the illusion of impressive productivity, while serving to mask declining living standards. As a consequence of these changes, America s financial industry is now one of its biggest and most profitable. Today, America is more dependent on foreign nations than anytime in its history. Declining oil reserves and a foreign-funded credit bubble have positioned the fate of this nation in the hands of the world. Soon, America will face the economic burden of 76 million aging boomers. Beginning in 2011, mandatory expenditures for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will start to grow rapidly. By 2025, these expenses will have swelled to unthinkable levels.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent presentation of data, some mistakes.......2007-10-11
The author did an excellent job compiling data that is extremely important to understand if one is to thrive in America in the next 2 decades. There will no doubt be sweeping changes to rectify our current account deficit and aging boomer population. The author shed light on the politics behind Greenspan & Co's delay when our country needs to address these problems now. Other topics include: the .com bubble, real estate / credit bubble, free trade, health care, social security, energy crisis, and education.
Yes there are typos and some minor implications that are incorrect, but I don't believe they affect the overall concepts presented. I have also read "The Dollar Crisis" and find both books to be honest presentations of America's current economic state. I would have enjoyed even more information on developing nations, but the title of the book focuses on America, so be it. Overall, I felt this book was an excellent read that is neither conservative nor extreme but simply a presentation of data and well-thought hypothetical analysis of what is to come for America. Only the typos keep it from getting 5 stars.
Riddled with inaccuracies.......2007-07-30
This book manages to cover all major problems faced by the United States in the next 20-30 years - trade deficit, healthcare crisis, education crisis, etc. - and it does so in a fairly comprehensive way, with large numbers of facts and graphs.
The reason why I can't give it more than 3 stars for this achievement is that the number of mistakes it contains (from misspellings to factual errors) is absolutely incredible. It seems that no one (other than the author) so much as read the book before it went to the printing press.
First of all, there are spelling errors. English is not my native language, yet I've been able to notice one spelling error every 20-30 pages. "Notices in-lue of gold" (p.2). "Right to bare arms" (p.25). "America will loose its technology edge" (p.61), and so on. There are factual errors as well. According to the author, Statue of Liberty was erected on Ellis Island (p.27), Berlin Wall fell "a few years" after 1991 (p.10), and Albert Einstein immigrated into the United States in 1940. He thinks that women who give birth after entering the United States illegally are guaranteed citizenship because their newborns become U.S. citizens (p.32) - but he either does not know or fails to mention that they have to wait for their child to turn 18 before they even have a shot at legalization. He frequently claims (or implies) that Chinese goods are cheaper because Chinese government and Chinese companies do not provide healthcare or retirement benefits to their workers (p.41), when in fact they do. All these problems make me wary of any other claims he makes in his book.
There are many interesting graphs and charts in the book, but at least some of them were "cooked up" by the author from third-party data, so they are not always reliable. One rather puzzling chart is located on p. 113. It is a pie-chart labelled "Factors Driving Rising Costs in Healthcare (2001-2002, in $ billions)". However, pieces of the pie are labelled with percentage values and clearly add up to 100% (e.g. "Increased Consumer Demand, 15%"). Author comments, "Someone explain to me the economics of increased consumer demand leading to a 15% increase in healthcare costs in one year". It's clear that he has no idea what's really shown on the chart.
The book is heavy on portrayal of various weaknesses in modern U.S. economy, but rather light on attempts to predict the future. There is almost no discussion about the impact of American crisis on the rest of the world. Author predicts major revaluation of the dollar, but does not provide any macroeconomic analysis of consequences of this revaluation. He seems to think that collapse will not occur at least until 2012, but he's not very clear why he thinks it won't be triggered by deflation of the real estate bubble.
Overall this is an interesting and comprehensive book that's worth reading for anyone who thinks that U.S. economy is doing well, but it's not scientific or reliable enough to be of real value for an investor.
I recommend "Dollar Crisis" as a complementary treatment of the U.S trade deficit / credit bubble problem.
A chilling but accurate expose of how we came to be in such economic peril as a capitalist nation.......2007-06-10
In writing "America's Financial Apocalypse: How To Profit From The Next Great Depression", the author draws upon his many years of experience and expertise as a business, financial, and investment consultant for two of Wall Street's largest investment firms and elsewhere in private financial markets. Strathis provides an impressively analytical explanation as to how the liberals on the left and the conservatives on the right are working in differing ways to destroy America's fiscal and economic well-being; how the federal government in Washington is dominated by corporations; how China has taken total advantage of America's trading policies to our nation's detriment. Readers will be shocked to learn how America is legally bankrupt; how today the 'American Dream' cannot be achieved by most American citizens; the truth concerning the future of Social Security; the inevitable and looming consequences of the present pension plan crisis; and why most Americans working today will not be able to retire as their parent were able to in the past. "America's Financial Apocalypse" also addresses just how the American government manipulates economic data; how the Bush administration is responsible for the worst economic recovery in American financial history; how the real estate bubble could cause the stock and bond markets to collapse; how America's political and economic fate is in the hands of foreign countries; why the American government is really allied to the Saudi Arabians despite the established identities of the 9/11 attack; the looming global oil crisis; Alan Greenspans dismal performance as a Fed Chairman; the plummeting value of the dollar in the international currency markets; and the continuing rise in value of precious metals and oil. After laying out all of these 'inconvenient truths' about America's economic future, Strathis also lays out how the wise and savvy investor can still profit from an inevitable depression that will collapse America's economy in the very near future. A chilling but accurate expose of how we came to be in such economic peril as a capitalist nation, "America's Financial Apocalypse" is especially recommended reading for its clear and methodical explanation of just how the individual investor can survive what will prove to be the 'Next Great Depression'.
This Book Has NO Comparable!.......2007-04-05
Finally, an insightful, detailed, and massive compilation of America's economy and investment markets. This book is HIGHY recommended.
The reviewer below is actually wrong in his simplistic assumption that deflation is the exact opposite of inflation. While deflation tends to cause a relative increase in buying power, this effect is only when deflation is modest and in the early stages. During a more prolonged period, deflation creates a decline in GDP and therefore purchasing power due to the relative effects on currency exchange rates.
I find it amazing that a person could give such a bad review over one statement that he thinks is wrong (when in fact it is not) despite all of the massive data and extensive coverage of material. If a reader chooses to cherry pick from within a massive resource such as this book, they will miss the forest from the trees.
Hold on there...........2007-04-05
After spending $55+ for this book, I started to leaf through it and promptly came across the following comment: "...rising gold prices usually result from a deflationary economy not an inflationary one, as investors seek to minimize the loss in buying power of their currency." So far as I know, a deflationary environment INCREASES the buying power of one's currency, as prices generally decrease during a deflationary episode. In other words, one can buy more loaves of bread per dollar in the bank. Gold is generally a hedge against inflation or fiat currency collapse, not deflation. Given what seems to me a basic error of this nature, I will be skeptical of other information in the book.
Book Description
Applied Austrian economics doesn't get better than this. Murray N. Rothbard's America's Great Depression is a staple of modern economic literature and crucial for understanding a pivotal event in American and world history.
The Mises Institute edition features, along with a new introduction by historian Paul Johnson, top-quality paper and bindings, in line with the standard set by The Scholars Edition of Human Action.
Since it first appeared in 1963, it has been the definitive treatment of the causes of the depression. The book remains canonical today because the debate is still very alive.
Rothbard opens with a theoretical treatment of business cycle theory, showing how an expansive monetary policy generates imbalances between investment and consumption. He proceeds to examine the Fed's policies of the 1920s, demonstrating that it was quite inflationary even if the effects did not show up in the price of goods and services. He showed that the stock market correction was merely one symptom of the investment boom that led inevitably to a bust.
The Great Depression was not a crisis for capitalism but merely an example of the downturn part of the business cycle, which in turn was generated by government intervention in the economy. Had the 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. The damage to the intellectual world inflicted by Keynesian- and socialist-style treatments would be limited from that day forward.
Customer Reviews:
Superb!.......2007-06-04
This book explains the Austrian business cycle theory with regard to the great depression. Buy it for it is the only book existing that really does that.
The only way to put an end to the dreadful business cycle is to adopt a system of 100 percent gold money reserve standard and to abolish the Federal Reserve. In such a system fractional reserve banking is also abolished and the money supply, when implemented, will never contract again.
I, unlike most Austrian economists, do believe also that Milton Friedman's and Ben Bernanke suggestions that the great depression could have been avoided if the Federal Reserve had not let the money supply contract during the years 1929-1932 are correct.
I also, unlike most Austrian economists, do believe that inflation targeting of 2% that many central bankers do today, will and already has brought low inflation rates (low decreases of the purchasing power of money) and a relative stability compared to the situation during the 70s. Inflation targeting should be supported if the alternative is unfettered central banks.
The difference, though, between Murray Rothbard and Milton Friedman and Ben Bernanke is that Murray Rothbard was a true Austrian economist who knew the very cause of the business cycles and therefore also knew the final solution for it that is, as mentioned, to adopt a system of 100 percent gold reserve money standard.
The gold standard was flawed but not because of the reason that it was a gold standard but due to the fact that it was not 100 percent gold money reserve standard. Rothbard supported a 100 percent gold money reserve standard and in such a system the money supply could never contract as banks could meet any withdrawals. The massive amount of bank failures would also, therefore, have been avoided. The cause of the great depression was the Federal Reserve System and fractional reserve banking.
It is true that history is full of examples of depressions prevailing long before the establishment of the Federal Reserve System in 1913, but not any depression was so severe and more importantly, the destructive seeds of fractional reserve banking were still prevalent during all those depressions. In other words, if the U.S. had adopted a 100 percent gold reserve money standard before all mentioned depressions, the money supplies would never have contracted.
Nothing could substitute a 100 percent gold reserve money standard.
I will now in a few words explain the Austrian business cycle theory so you can get a hint of what it is all about.
Recessions and The Great Depression were caused by Government Interventions!
In a purely free market (without Government intervention), the rate of interest is determined by people's "willingness to save and invest" (which is called people's time preferences) for future use, as compared to how much they are "willingly to consume now". If people change their "willingness to save" (time preferences) and want to save more, the additional savings will cause the rate of interest to fall (increased supply of savings), and businesses will borrow and invest these additional savings. When the Central Bank (for example The Federal Reserve) increases the money supply and expands bank credit (which Central Banks does everywhere and all the time and always "out of thin air"), it initially lowers the rate of interest and thereby misleads businessmen to act in a manner as if true savings have increased, which in turn leads businessmen to invests those supposed savings in capital goods. New projects that were not profitable before, will now suddenly with this lower interest rate, be profitable. While this process is working, the economy is in an inflationary boom phase (expansion). Capital goods such as stocks, real estate etc, will be more demanded and invested in, and prices of those will rise faster and more intensely in relation to consumption goods. As these supposed savings have worked their way through the economy, prices of goods, services and wages have generally increased to a height which prices for them would have not reached without these supposed savings.
As mentioned, people's "willingness to save and invest" have not changed (people's time preferences have not changed) for it was only the Central Bank that increased, out of thin air, additional "savings". When supposed savings have worked their way through the economy and are received, finally, in increased wages, people still spend their real wages in the same manner as before. They save/ consume in real terms and in same proportion to each other, as before mentioned increase in supposed savings. Because of this, a lack of savings will occur and the rate of interest will rise. Projects that businessmen have invested in and that seemed to be profitable when the rate of interest was lowered are now revealed to be unprofitable. All those investments are revealed to be malinvestments. Businessmen will stop investing in those projects and lay off workers. Prices of capital goods, real estate, stocks etc, will fall sharply and relatively to the fall in prices of consumer goods. The economy is in a depression phase. When those investments are liquidated, the economy is adjusted to people's "willingness to save and invest" and to consume. The economic structure corresponds to the ratio which people want to save and consume. The economy is now healthy again.
Now then, in the 1920s the Federal Reserve, in the US, increased the money supply and bank credit, which in the 30s resulted in The Great Depression. The same story goes with Japan during the 1980s, which during the 90s, resulted in a depression.
In Sweden we had banks lending out heavily during the late 80s, which also, led to a depression in the 90s.
All business cycles are caused by the same phenomenon. Economic crisis can occur because of other factors such as wars, boycotts, oil prices etc, but pure business cycles have in common the same cause.
I have tried, in a very few words and in a easy manner, to explain Ludwig von Mises business cycle theory, which is also called the Austrian theory of the business cycle. All faults are mine. Friedrich August von Hayek elaborated this theory and received in 1974 the Nobel Prize for this.
Björn Lundahl
Göteborg Sweden
Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles
Real economic history.......2007-04-17
I have read a lot of Murray Rothbard lately and can say this book (like all of Rothbard's others) offers an excellent analysis of economic history as it it not taught in business schools or discussed in the media. Always a joy to read. My only critic of the book is Rothbard's habit of over-using dense economic data that sometimes upsets the flow of reading, hence the 4 stars. I suppose I was reading a book on economics though so I know I shouldn't really complain.
Pornography for Economic Geeks.......2006-07-14
I really enjoyed this book, even though it dedicated itself to a rather dry discussion of the Austrian School of Ecenomics's explanations for the causes of the Great Depression. I have to say that I simply did not understand much of Economics until I started reading Rothbard because he argues that much of the Economic theories that I had such a hard time grasping were hard to understand because they were absurd.
It's definitely something that will allow you to argue with your econ teacher for hours.
Outdated Economic Interpretation and Political Activism. More Recent Works are More Accurate.......2006-06-01
This book is outdated by a few decades. Modern quantitative economic studies have considerably advanced our understanding of the Great Depression. Rothbard was famous for rejecting quantitative measurements in favor of philosophy (political activism) which does not compare to later research. For the economics of the Great Depression, I highly recommend the rigorous "Essays on the Great Depression" by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke or the old (and slightly outdated) "Monetary History of the United States" by Milton Friedman and Anna Jacobson Schwartz" (which helped Friedman win the Nobel Prize in Economics).
Other excellent books on the economics of the Great Depression include the rigorous 1996 "Golden Fetters" by Barry Eichengreen and Harold James. Another groundbreaking book on the economics of the Great Depression was the 1973 "A World in Depression" by Charles Kindleberger that focused on the international aspects (including the gold standard) and presents a sharply different interpretation than Rothbard, but Bernanke's book is even better.
For a reputable historians view of the Great Depression that is critical but of FDR, read David Kennedy's Pulitzer-Prize winning "Freedom From Fear."
Rothbard argues that the Federal Reserve first created inflation with a loose money policy and started the Depression, which was made worse by Hoover's actions to interfere with the natural correcting mechanisms of the economy. Rothbard is correct about the flawed actions by the Federal Reserve, but he does not properly explain the role of the disastrous gold standard in turning the contraction into the truly catastrophic Great Depression. (No surprise since Rothbard was a staunch believer in the gold standard.) The gold standard was a major cause.
Rothbard also does not adequately cover the effects of the massive collapse of the weakly regulated American financial system while Hoover was president and the subsequent contraction of money caused by the sharp drop in lending activity. Over 10,000 banks failed, which was a catastrophe. The banks were THE financial system of the United States at that time. That banking collapse further restricted the money supply when failed banks could not make any loans and solvent banks refused to make loans for fear of losing money.
The American economy would never have recovered from the massive banking collapse and the constrictive gold standard without intervention. The conventional economic thinking of tariffs, balanced budgets, the gold standard, and weakly regulated financial markets was wrong.
The Republican party had long been the party of tarriffs since the Civil War. The Smoot-Hawley tariff was named after two Republicans and pushed by the Republican leadership. Rothbard puts too much blame on Hoover to protect the Republicans. By the way, this is not meant to reflect on the Republicans of today, who generally oppose tariffs.
The Republican leadership back then staunchly supported a sound currency through a strictly balanced budget and the gold standard, along with high tariffs, which we now know was a disaster.
The Depression could not have ended - and did not end - until the disastrous gold standard was eliminated by FDR. The monetary contracton related to the gold standard and the banking collapse, which contracted loans and more money further, were the main causes.
With no disrespect to Rothbard or his views in general, this outdated dinosaur book on the Great Depession is simply outdated.
Solid.......2006-04-24
Murray Rothbard is one of the clearest writers in modern history, and this theories are well based. I loved every minute of this book, certainly a page turner for any economist.
A warning: This is not a pulp culture book. Instead it focuses on economic theory and government policies
Book Description
The study of two demagogues, whose vast popularity explains much about Depression-era America.
Customer Reviews:
A Fair Assessment of Controversial Figures.......2007-07-24
One of the things I've found in reading American history, and especially in books written about the era of the Great Depression, is that President Roosevelt had the greatest smear operation in American History. This operation has carried on to this day, 60+ years after his death. The "establishment" historians are merely foot maidens of the Roosevelt reputation, burnishing the legend of his greatness, overlooking his ineffectiveness both in dealing with the depression and the war, and smearing anyone who ever dared to question the legacy of this supposedly greatest of 20th century Americans. It is an operation that the Kims of North Korea could surely envy.
Two cases in point are Father Coughlin and Huey Long. Another is Charles Lindbergh. These men had the gaul, in their day, to oppose Roosevelt. Thus they have come down to us in our day as Fascists, anti-semites, Nazi sympathizers and Little Hitlers. None of these men was flawless. As a matter of fact, each had grievous faults. Long was a corrupt politician. Coughlin was a brilliant speaker who fell prey to his own over-emotionalism and then easily into rancor, both in politics and with his brethren in the church and who then stooped to the bitter personal attacks and bigotry that cost him the respect of general audiences. Lindbergh was naive and often filled with bloated self-importance; he was short sighted and illogical in many of his views and inarticulate in expressing them. Yet each in their time raised legitimate concerns with the policies of Roosevelt and, I think, were more or less sincere in their protests against the direction FDR was taking this country.
Personally, I think the ideas of Long, Coughlin and Lindbergh were purely crack-pot and founded on ignorance of basic economics and politics. Proof of this is the continued popularity of their ideas (maybe under a different name and guise) among the kooks of the modern lunatic fringe like, say, the Larouchites. These ideas would have been disastrous to the country had they been followed. Yet this is supposed to be a free country where political dissent is allowed; but because Coughlin, Long and Lindbergh dared to question the motives and actions of the idol of the American left, they have been eternally smeared through our history. Looking at this result, I would be moved to ask who were the real fascists: the Coughlins, Longs and Lindberghs; or FDR and his brain trust, and the lap dogs, both in the media of the day, and in the history books since, who have smeared and mischaracterized his opponents and who attempted to use the powers of government to intimidate them into silence.
Which makes this book different and admirable. The author reports on Long and Coughlin with all their warts and doesn't try to conceal any of their weaknesses; however, he is fair to them. He doesn't try to make every disagreement with FDR into evidence of Fascism. He connects the Long & Coughlin programs to legitimate public grievances and shows how wide spread among the public were the feelings that Long & Coughlin expressed. The book is not overly long, yet it is meticulously researched. And though I think, from reading it, that the author is an FDR admirer (just a feeling--I don't really know), he allows FDR's opponents the benefit of the doubt in the sincerity of their opposition.
My own opinion is that Long & Coughlin (especially Coughlin) underestimated the popular power of the presidency. I believe the people, in general, WANT to like the president, whoever he is. We see now, even with a president as unpopular as Bush, how hard it is to balk him, and how easily he has thwarted his congressional opponents in their efforts to reverse his policies. He retains, even in his lowest days, strong support from about 1/3rd of the population, and this is usually enough to maintain a hold on the direction of national policy.
We saw how Clinton held on to enough support, through all his sordid scandals, to frustrate his foes; how long LBJ held a blank check despite his mismanagement of Viet Nam, only losing grip at the very end; and even how such a boob as Carter retains a good measure of public popularity, even after his miserable performance as president and his almost 30 years of asinine behavior after leaving the White House.
FDR was completely ineffective in dealing with the depression. Every one of his programs, and every effort of the New Deal were failures. His value was mainly as a propagandist and cheerleader. He made the people feel better and they loved him and supported him for his good cheer and they elected him four times. He was a brilliant publicist and public speaker. His radio addresses were models of simplifying complicated issues without sereming to speak down to his audience. This was enough to cloud, in the mind of his listeners, the effectiveness (or, rather, ineffectiveness) of his administration.
The popularity of a Coughlin was transient and that of Long was more or less local (though it would have been interesting to see, had he lived, how far he could have gone in challenging FDR following the economic reversals of 1938, then what his stance would have been in the war debates of 1939-40, and if he could have made greater national inroads at this time).
A nation of people elect a president. They vote for him. To repudiate him, to turn against him, means admitting a mistake in electing him. Hence they cling to him long after he has proven a failure, an incompetent or a devious scoundrel. FDR was all of these, but neither Coughlin or Long could erode the people's faith in him because the people want to love their president and to hold on to the idea that their votes for him showed sagacity and wisdom.
Dissident Movements in America - fascinating topic.......2006-07-29
Praise has been heaped on Alan Brinkley's book in the past, and after reading it, I fully concur with the accolades that past reviewers have granted to this book.
Brinkley sets the tone for his book from the title - "Voices of Protest". He focuses the book on the two main characters (and I do mean characters) present in the subtitle - Huey P. Long and Father Charles E. Couglin.
Brinkley treats us to a brief biographical sketch of each of these flamboyant and ebulent personalities. Long in his silk pajamas receiving a German envoy, and Coughlin stripping down from his clerical garb to a sweat soaked politician are just a couple of the many images that grab the reader during the progression of this discourse.
After explaining who these men were, he goes into their social & political movements - a fascinating tale of Long's "Share Our Wealth" plan, and an equally rich telling of Coughlin's "Golden Hour of the Little Flower". Brinkley has chosen the title Voices of Protest because both of these movements became major political dissident movements in Depression-era America.
Brinkley does a fantastic job of explaining, in historiographic terms, why these movements gathered such steam and were able to become massive social movements rather than just political fodder. In addition to detailing these two major oppositional voices to FDR's new deal, Brinkley also gives us a chapter on other movements that were equally critical of the New Deal, but not nearly as widespread.
I found it especially interesting how Brinkley explained that Long was the primary reason why both of these movements flourished - after his assassination in 1935, both movements really seemed to fall apart.
I enjoyed this book tremendously - it gives new insight into the way that political dissonance took hold in the 1930's and what a big part of American society these two political movements became.
The Follies of Charismatic Leadership.......2006-01-19
On the eve of the Great Depression the great Spanish existential and political philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset published The Revolt of the Masses. In it he predicted the rise of mass man -- undifferentiated, unanchored and unthinking citizens of modern, western societies attached to none of the traditional sources of community, which were being destroyed by capitalism anyway. For Ortega y Gasset, these folks all too easily moved to charismatic, emotional leadership to give meaning in their political lives. Twentieth century thinkers like Dwight MacDonald and Hannah Arendt have explored some of the implications of Ortega y Gasset's work, noting its eerie forershadowing of Nazism, Fascism and Stalinism. American historians such as Richard Hofstadter, meatime, found in American radicalism the same linkages between charismatic leadership and mass man. In Hofstadter's telling this phenomenon folded within the tradition of radical critiques of American capitalism.
Hofstadter's works, most notably The Age of Reform, were pretty critical of the causes of the American attraction to radical politics, such as it was -- that attraction was fostered by emotional anxieties that all too often morphed into nostalgic, irresponsible, politically conservative, anti-Semitic, racist movements.
Alan Brinkley clearly relies of Hofstadter quite a bit, but with a much more sympathetic treatment of American mass politics and its causes. For him, the anxieties were fully justified. He focuses on the alternative visions offered by Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin in the 1930s to President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Brinkley argues both men attracted large followings accross the nation by the use of the radio and mass-circulation print publications. By 1935 their combined popularity was enough to scared the hell out of the Democratic Party and President Roosevelt, with the result that FDR pushed through the Second New Deal in the run-up to his 1936 re-election effort. Brinkley argues that Long and Coughlin emphasized redistribution of wealth and economic justice for the common man/consumer, not the New Deal concern with "stabilizing business" and "restoring business confidence." In a sense we have these two rabble-rousers to thank for Roosevelt's turn to the left in 1935 in the form of specific public policies such as the Social Security Act (which Long opposed for some technical federalist reasons, actually).
As part of his argument, then, Brinkley streses the positive, substantive aspects of Long's and Coughlin's message over the psychological anxieties stressed by Hofstadter and his scholarly followers. In what is probably the best chapter in Voices of Protest, "The Dissident Ideology," Brinkley connects the Long/Coughlin program with the anti-modern, anti-urban, anti-capitalistic radical political tradition informing American protest politics, from Thomas Jefferson to Orestes Brownsen to William Jennings Bryan.
Long's Share Our Wealth scheme of income redistribution thus, in Brinkley's telling, represented a geniune, substantive response to the economic hardships of the 1930s and their root cause -- not enough consumer power!
This is good as far as it goes I suppose. But Brinkley certainly could have emphasized more the rank irresponsibility of Long and Coughlin -- they must have known, for example, that simplistic schemes such as Share Our Wealth had zip chance of success. Even if they could succeed in the abstract, they could never be implemented logistically as Brinkley notes in passing. As Voices of Protest makes clear, Coughlin and Long -- despite, or perhaps because of, their manic energies -- had no patience or desire to construct meaningful, sophisticated, sustained politices to help their constituiencies. Long, for example, had no interest in Senate business for most of his term in that august body, no desire to manipulate the institution (a la LBJ for example) and form effective coalitions to bring about meaningful change.
This is a beautifully written, beautifully constructed narrative. Brinkley is a fine heir to popular/scholarly narrative/analytical history in the tradition of Commager, Nevins and Schlesinger. Voices of Protest covers alot of ground already well plowed by masters such as T. Harry Williams in his biography of Long. But Brinkley adds alot more archival sources and fascinating letters from the common people -- mass men -- who Long/Coughlin attracted. But for reformers looking for historical models on which to base effective, modern, sophisticated methods for political and economic change, they'll have to look elsewhere than the examples of Charles Coughlin and Huey Long. I don't think Brinkley emphasizes that quite enough and himself falls for their charismatic qualities -- a serious shortcoming in an otherwise fine book
an impressive piece of history..........2005-06-22
I marvel at the depth and range written in Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression by Alan Brinkley. Without very much firsthand information from Huey Long and Charles Coughlin, Alan Brinkley was able to portray the lives of these two unlikely figureheads of the Great Depression. From their small town beginnings to their national prominence to their movement's downfalls, Huey Long's and Father Coughlin's stories are on display for the history buff or even the average reader.
The first three chapters are devoted to the rise of Huey Long. Starting in Louisiana, he gets his first opportunity to shine in the public limelight as a railroad comissioner. His grass roots campaigning and fight for the lower classes changed the landscape of Louisiana politics from a state voting along religious lines to one voting along economic lines. As governor and a senator of Louisiana, Huey Long continuously fought for the redistribution of wealth and the rights of the local institutions. Rising to national prominence after his campaigning for Hattie Caraway who was the first woman to be elected to a full term in the Senate, Long used his newfound popularity to influence American politics during the Great Depression like no other except for one (Coughlin of course). From his influence on the Presidential Election of 1932 to his Share Our Wealth Plan, Voices of Protest contains all of the information one would want to know about Huey Long's rise and sudden fall after he was assassinated.
After Alan Brinkley discusses Huey Long's rise, he delves into the rise of Father Charles Coughlin. Surrounded by Catholicism from a very young age, Charles Coughlin was destined to become a priest. After getting through seminary, he finally received a new parish in Royal Oaks, a suburb of Detroit. Coughlin was always thought of as a great orator, but even that wasn't enough to pay for the increasing debt incurred by the new parrish. To make money for the church, Coughlin went to the local radio station to use his special talents as an orator. His radio sermons were soon heard across the nation. His influence with the radio was tremendous, causing him to begin a series of politically based chats (starting with his dislike of communism) that would throw him into the political arena as a man of influencial capabilities. Coughlin's tumultuous relationship with Franklin Roosevelt and his National Union for Social Justice are a couple more of the many topics discussed in this section of Vioces of Protest.
Alan Brinkley then moves on to discuss the similarities of Huey Long's and Charles Coughlin's movements, along with their relation to other movements (Socialist, Progressive, Communist) of the time and the political forces that they each, in their own right, become. Alan Brinkley also touches on each of their efforts towards organization in their respective parties and discusses in depth the followers of each's movements, including some alliances that were created solely for Long's and Coughlin's advancement politically or for others advancement. Finally, Alan Brinkley brings Huey Long's and Charles Coughlin's stories to an end with their eventual downfall and also elucidates on the aftermath of those downfalls.
There are two main quotes I would like to share here that I enjoyed as I read Voices of Protest. The first is on page 216 when Alan Brinkley discusses the uneasy alliances, and it is as follows: "Were these many protest movements to unite into a single force, they might be capable of toppling the entire structure of traditional party politics." The second is on page 243 when Brinkley discusses the downfalls of Long and Coughlin, and it is as follows: "Far more troubling for the crusades Long and Coughlin were preparing was a single, debilitating weakness: inability to wean their followers from Franklin Roosevelt." Both of these quotes represent hom much political power Long and Coughlin could have had and how much political power Franklin Roosevelt actually had. It is impressive to think about and enjoyable to read about, so I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Everyone enjoy!
Fascinating look at dissident America, circa 1930s.......2004-01-14
In many ways the Great Depression marked a turning point for American society. Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies significantly altered the scope and function of the federal government through a host of social programs engineered to revive the ailing economy. A restructuring of the banking system, restrictions on the stock markets, an increase in the size of the bureaucracy, and the development of Social Security were just a few of the changes wrought by the administration. Despite the various panaceas proposed and enacted by Roosevelt's government, the economic slump doggedly persisted year after year until World War II provided jobs for millions of out of work Americans. Roosevelt and his advisors were not the only people trying to cure the country of its economic ills, however. During the early and mid 1930s, several dissident social movements exploded onto the American scene promising an end to the Depression. Historian Alan Brinkley examines two of the biggest of these movements in "Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression."
The first 142 pages of "Voices of Protest" summarizes the life, rise, and various activities of Louisiana politician Huey Long and Catholic priest and radio personality Charles Coughlin. If you know a great deal about these two fascinating figures, you could probably skip these sections and not miss out on a great deal. Brinkley discusses Long's early life in Winn Parish, a Louisiana county with a long history of radical dissent dating back to the era of Populism. Arguing that this background imbued Long with a fondness for the common man, Brinkley outlines Huey's rise to power through the governorship of Louisiana and his eventual move into the United States Senate. Long was a corrupt politician who ran his state like a personal fiefdom, even after he went to Washington. Huey's political machine controlled every government job in the state, from the highest to lowest positions, and the man made ample use of this power to pack the state government with allies who would do his bidding. By the time the Senator proposed his "Share Our Wealth" palliative, he had an eager eye on the presidency. Long's plans for the country died with him when an assassin's bullet felled the Senator in the Louisiana Statehouse in 1935.
Charles Coughlin grew up in Canada and eventually joined the priesthood, moving to Royal Oak, Michigan in the 1920s. When his new church needed to raise funds to pay off a diocesan loan, he started a small radio program on WJR in Detroit. At first, the program consisted of short, harmless sermons. With the start of the Depression, Coughlin's broadcasts swiftly assumed political dimensions. His voice, described by many as one of the most arresting sounds ever heard on the airwaves, rapidly increased the size of his audience. As the donations poured in Coughlin expanded his radio network into a virtual empire. By the mid 1930s he was one of the most prominent figures in American society, a man looked up to by millions and a frequent guest at the Roosevelt White House. The priest and the president soon fell out over several issues, and Coughlin took his revenge on Roosevelt by forming the National Union for Social Justice and its attendant political branch, the Union Party, to unseat the president in the 1936 elections. The priest failed, and in a sign of decreasing popularity and bitterness he wholeheartedly embraced anti-Semitism and pro-German sympathies before the Catholic Church forced his retirement from public life in the early 1940s. Coughlin died in obscurity in 1979.
"Voices of Protest" takes off with chapter seven. Brinkley adroitly and convincingly analyzes the Long and Coughlin movements, explaining how the two men amassed such huge audiences with their populist rhetoric. The Depression, argues Brinkley, exposed the inherent flaws in a fundamental economic/social shift that had been going on in America for decades. The centralization and bureaucratization of business and government threatened traditional American ideas about the importance of localized society. When a stock market disaster in New York City caused workers in Lincoln, Nebraska or Des Moines, Iowa to lose their jobs, people worried anew about big business and power held in the hands of an anonymous few thousands of miles away. Long and Coughlin played on these fears by proposing programs that would restore power to local communities and the individual. Their programs ultimately failed because the economic move to centralization had already gone on for far too long. Additionally, the two men's ideas contained seeds of contradiction. In an effort to restore a traditional life highlighting locality and the individual, Long and Coughlin proposed big government schemes as a means of achieving their goals. The attempt to turn Share Our Wealth and the National Union for Social Justice into nationwide political organizations failed because of this focus on localization and an inability on the part of the two men to address the core issue of the problems they attacked, namely economic centralization.
The rest of "Voices of Protest" looks closely at the organization and followers of the Long and Coughlin organizations, other dissidents operating in the 1930s, and whether Long and Coughlin were American fascists. There are a few problems with the book. I think the author fails to strongly stress the positive aspects of these movements. For example, Brinkley barely mentions that these movements brought millions of Americans into the political life of the country at a time when participation was enormously important. Moreover, the dissident movements in the United States undoubtedly pushed Roosevelt to create important pieces of legislation during his second term as president. Social Security, for example, was an attempt to co-opt Francis Townsend's old age pension plan. Still, "Voices of Protest" is a winner that every person interested in 20th century American history should read.
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- Five Stars
- Zully's Review
- Perhaps The Best Christmas Book I've Ever Read
- The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift
- Bad choice
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Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift, Indianapolis, Indiana 1932 (Dear America Series)
Kathryn Lasky
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
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ASIN: 0439219434 |
Amazon.com
To 11-year-old Minnie Swift, Christmas, 1932, is not going to be the time of bounty she's used to. Instead, it has become the "Time of the Dwindling." The Great Depression has changed everything: Minnie's father is working fewer and fewer hours, her hungry family eats more and more aspic and "rumor of pork" (high up on the Vomitron, a zero-to-ten scale Minnie and her brother have invented to determine the vileness of their meager dinners), and a tiny orphan girl has joined their family from Heart's Bend, Texas. Minnie finds a worthy outlet in her daily journal, in which she records the sometimes troubling, sometimes exhilarating experiences of one winter month in Indianapolis during the depression. Nothing can subdue Minnie's lively spirit, although the disappearance of her father challenges her sorely.
Kathryn Lasky's latest addition to the Dear America series is chock-full of period details: Greta Garbo's hairstyle, The Shadow radio program, Charlie Chan, Hooverville shantytowns, Buck Rogers, Amelia Earhart, and phrases like yee gads and go-to-the-dickens. Minnie is an exuberant and witty chronicler of her family life, as well as the world outside. Young readers will come away from Christmas After All with a strong image of life in the 1930s, and a sense of the resiliency and ingenuity of many Americans during that deeply troubled time. A historical note and photos follow the diary, providing background to help readers understand the era in which the fictional Minnie lived. (Ages 9 to 14) --Emilie Coulter
Customer Reviews:
Five Stars.......2007-08-08
Another wonderful addition to the Dear America Series this one is about the Great Depression told through Minnie Swift diary about how the depression is effecting her family and those around her. The changes they have to make. Like only living out of the few rooms in their house their family can keep heated. As they prepare for what Minnie expects to be a joyless Thanksgiving and Christmas her cousin Willie Faye arrives from Texas and the Dust Bowl having an even harder life then Minnie. This book goes to show how far love in a family can go.
Zully's Review.......2007-01-26
Imagine you have to live with an orphanage girl that doesn't know what an adjective is. This is what Kathryn Lasky in the book Christmas After All talks about. It's a masterpiece of love ness. The love ness of the main character, Minnie is that she helps an orphanage girl that goes to live with them.
Minnie Swift is a young girl who is in 4th grade she is 11 years old. Minnie Swift lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.
One day an orphanage girl name Willie Faye got to their house she didn't know anything, so Minnie's parents put her in school and Minnie couldn't believe that they put Willie Faye in fourth grade, Minnie was so embarrassed. Minnie's fingers were tired from poking cloves into oranges.
Do people always help orphanages? Can we break our friendship with a person?
Minnie faces these issues in the book Christmas After All. Is four dollars a lot of money for you, well I don't think so, but in the book Christmas After All they think it's a lot of money. Would you use a fancy dress like a curtain? Well Minnie's sister wanted to do that, she wanted to put it in their room because they didn't have a lot of money to buy a curtain. Minnie didn't like that idea, and she didn't say anything because if she says that she doesn't like that idea lady her sister will get mad at her.
Jackie is Minnie's maid house. Jackie is kind of the color cinnamon, and Minnie wishes she could be that color of skin. In school Minnie was bored in Geography.
When they got back from school Willie Faye went to her room and start getting stuff so she could make earrings for lady that goes with her dress.
Christmas After All is a book of how people of the past help orphanage people. This book shows honesty for a lot of people. Christmas After All is for these who love a heart felt story and for those who have read this book before. For those people who help people will be a really, really good book.
I felt a good affection for this book, and you will too. " We have had Christmas after all."- Christmas After All.
Perhaps The Best Christmas Book I've Ever Read.......2006-11-22
The "Dear America" books are something I can take or leave. MY SECRET WAR was pretty good, as was WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES AGAIN (not really a Christmas book, but about the "Hello girls" in World War I), and the story of the Italian girl crossing the great plains. The Titanic book was average and the Pearl Harbor book was pretty bad. I've heard some pretty scathing criticisms about the two books involving Native American characters.
But in CHRISTMAS AFTER ALL, Kathryn Lasky has created a masterpiece within the diary format of the books.
It is the story of Minnie Swift, youngest of four sisters, her precocious genius younger brother Ozzie, and her parents during the days of the Great Depression. Dad's job is going badly and the family is reduced to shutting down rooms in their home to cut down on coal bills. They rarely have meat for supper, but eat a succession of aspics and "O'Grotons," as Minnie calls them. Then, as December begins, Willie Faye Darling comes into their lives. Willie Faye is the only daughter of cousins of Minnie's mother. Her parents, from a small town called Heart's Bend, Texas, have died after losing a battle with life in the Dust Bowl. Willie Faye is Minnie's age (11), but looks two years younger due to malnutrition and hardships. She arrives at the Swift home covered in dust and with a kitten named Tumbleweed whose nose she had to suction out morning, noon and night to keep him from smothering. Willie Faye has never seen an indoor bathroom, gone to a movie, read a Buck Rogers comic, or listened to the radio, so Minnie thinks that Willie Faye will have a lot to learn from them.
She never dreams what she--and the entire family--will learn from the fragile-looking but tough little girl from the Dust Bowl when the ravages of the Depression begin leaching away the family's security.
I have many of Lasky's other books and love them as well including PRANK, which takes place in East Boston, and her adult mysteries starring Calista Jacobs. But this story has a special magic to it, perhaps because it is based on Lasky's mother's experiences as well as her own and the characters ring true. Highly recommended.
The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift.......2006-10-30
The depression diary of Minnie Swift is about a girl trying to live during the Great Depression of 1930.It is cold, snowy, and miserable November right after Thanksgiving.Minnie and her family is trying to live through the troubles of the Great Depression. The biggest trouble is that her father lost his job and there is no more money coming into the family fortune.I really liked this book because it gives you an idea of what people faced during the Great Depression.The book reminds you of how fortunite that you have all that you need in life and that you don't have to worry about anything.
Bad choice.......2006-03-31
I did not care for this book. At first I thought it looked good because I used to find the depression interesting and I couldn't wait to tell my grandmother about I was reading about the depression. I didn't like it that much. It was very boring and Minnie writes so many entries in one day, she can't even write a full month's worth of diary entries. We all know about how hard it is during the depression and WHO CARES that she saw a bird at 11 PM or 12 AM!
Book Description
A perennial backlist performer.
Customer Reviews:
Bias masquerading as history.......2007-08-02
This was an extremely disapointing book. Just plain silly!! At this late date all but the most doctrinaire of socialists agree that the policies advocated by both Hoover and FDR were ruinous from an economic standpoint. No one before or since has advocated raising taxes, raising the price of material and labor, and demonizing the business sector (to say nothing of the other myriad benighted policies and palatives) during an economic downturn. That is why both the duration and severity of the "Great" Depression of the 1930's are unprecedented in this country. Additionally, the author betrays his childish biases by consistantly abandoning his stated topic to attack the economic policies of the 1980's. What is the connection????????? Future generations will recognize FDR for what he was... A brilliant politician, dilettant demagogue who truely fooled most of the people most of the time.
Well written historical account........2006-10-09
McElvaine provides a well researched and scholarly account of an era that changed a nation and unsufficient political system forever. He does so through meticulous research and close examination of social, political, economic, ethnic, and individual structure leading up to, and directly after the great fall. Once more, McElvaine ties together a copious amount of research with astute, well reasoned observations that actually lessen the complexity of the often misinterpreted era. Like many of the other reviews state, this book is truly a great source for research. It is unfortunate, however, that McElvaine, time and again, attempts to correlate Depression era failure(s) to Reagan administration policy of the 1980s - largely the time when McElvaine was compiling information for this book. In the first few chapters alone, Reagan's name, or policy, is brought up repeatedly. By the time you have reached the middle of the book, you may begin to feel as though you are not only reading about the Great Depression but are also playing a game of "Where's Waldo" (except inserting the name of Ronald Reagan instead). I do not bring this point up to defend Ronald Reagan's legacy or his tenure in office. In fact, I am neither Republican nor did I vote for Ronald Reagan. It is simply that the tone that the author presents, reminiscant of whining, distracts one from the book's actual theme - The Great Depression. However, if you are able to get beyond this single point, the work presented here stands on its own, and regardless of distractions, is well worth exploring.
Nice social history of the Depression Years.......2006-10-08
Robert McElvaine has taken a different approach to studying the Great Depression - instead of looking primarily at how the Roosevelt administration attacked the depression, he looks at how the years affected the people of the United States.
This is not to say that he excludes consideration of Hoover or FDR and thier respective administrations from the book - quite the contrary, in fact. McElvaine explains that the American people thought Hoover was exactly what they wanted in 1928 when they elected him, and how the Roosevelt administration attempted to focus its goals on improving the lot of the general populous (i.e. making the banks feel safe again, as opposed to the nuts & bolts of the legislation to resolve the banking crisis that FDR faced immediately upon taking office).
I found McElvaine's consistent use of letters from affected Americans to the President and First Lady to be very interesting and a valuable addition to the argument that McElvaine was making; that FDR was a source of hope & inspiration to so many, although he may not have been the world's greatest economic theorist.
The one complaint I have about this book is the all too-frequent referrals to the Reagan administration, or how something similar happened forty years later. I understand that the author is simply attempting to put the history in a context that the reader may understand better, but this will not serve the readers of today that don't know the Carter/Reagan years as well as some of us that are a little older.
Overall, I would recommend this volume to anyone who has an interest in what effect this horrendous economic crisis had on the people of America, as long as the reader expects to look at the people & not the policies of the administration.
Biased book but worth a read.......2006-01-27
The definitive book on the Great Depression (GD) of the US has not been written yet. If it were, you would see facts such as: the GD was not as severe in term of lost output over one or two years as other past depressions in the US, what the GD exceeded in was unemployment over a long period of time (> 2 yrs); how the Fed. Reserve contributed to the GD; how the "market crash" of 1929 actually started out as a routine stock market correction but was made worse by the Fed Reserve; how the make-work policies of Roosevelt as aided by Keynes failed to stimulate the economy out of depression; how the GD was used as a cover to make the US economy more socialist (perhaps a necessary evil in view of the worldwide popularity of communism at the time). And so forth.
BTW I have not read this book.
Left-leaning in its bias, but nevertheless informative.......2005-09-10
Robert McElvaine's account of the economic collapse and cultural shock wrought by the Great Depression effectively re-creates this singular national trauma. The author clearly traces how Presidents Hoover's and Roosevelt's responses shaped the country's modern-day expectations of the role the federal government is expected to play in the daily lives of its citizens. In addition to its causes, McElvaine paints a compelling picture of the challenges faced by working class people in the Depression's wake, as well as its affects on traditional American values. For example, he writes of how the uniquely American characteristics of independence, rugged individualism, and self-reliance that had been celebrated throughout our country's history were called into question in light of the impact of the economic collapse. Although these attitudes were revived as World War II brought a return to prosperity, the new roles assumed by Washington - both as the provider of societal entitlements and as consumer watchdog - had become irrevocably entrenched.
The author's central thesis is based upon the demonization of those twin capitalistic ideologies derisively labeled by McElvaine as the "consumption ethic" and the "philosophy of unlimited productivity," which he claims escalated out of (government) control until the economy collapsed in 1929. American society's single-minded pursuit of riches might have received the endorsement of Adam Smith during simpler times, claims McElvaine, but the modern automated mass-production techniques employed by huge corporations had destructively warped America's free-market system. What emerged from the economic wreckage was recognition by the intelligentsia that unregulated capitalism was insufficient for the needs of modern-day America. It was subsequently conceded by the country-at-large that the power of the state would be needed to stimulate both prices and consumption. As a result, the conservative "hands-off" philosophy of Herbert Hoover was rejected by voters, to be replaced with the progressive "tax, spend, and regulate" agenda of Franklin Roosevelt.
Utilizing a wide variety of historical books and monographs by prominent Washington insiders, labor leaders, and historians, the book is chronologically organized into fifteen chapters beginning with the end of World War I and progressing through two decades to the start of U.S. involvement in World War II. McElvaine effectively weaves a tale outlining philosophies and day-to-day machinations of Roosevelt's "brain trust" with the everyday hardships endured by the "great unwashed" as both groups struggled against the tide of America's economic calamity. Each chapter begins with an illuminating picture from the era that provocatively sets the emotional tone for that chapter's topic.
Displaying a clear bias against wealthy achievers and entrepreneurs in favor of the working poor ("The self-interest of the poor coincides with justice, that of the rich with injustice.") the author also displays an unapologetic admiration for Roosevelt's policies, though he does admit to their ultimate ineffectiveness. But McElvaine forgives these failures because the president's intensions were noble. Roosevelt is thus judged by the author on the basis of his intensions, not by the success of his programs. The book is clearly moralistic in its structure, and McElvaine's descriptions of America's pre-industrial habits, customs, and family life are compared favorably with old-fashioned ideals. McElvaine longs for those pre-industrial virtues, bemoaning the fast-moving, mass-producing, conspicuous consumption of post-World War I America.
![The Great Depression in America [Two Volumes]: A Cultural Encyclopedia](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21W6VQZ4C2L.jpg)
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The Great Depression in America [Two Volumes]: A Cultural Encyclopedia
William H. Young , and
Nancy K. Young
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0313335206 |
Book Description
Everything from Amos n' Andy to zeppelins is included in this expansive two volume encyclopedia of popular culture during the Great Depression era. Two hundred entries explore the entertainments, amusements, and people of the United States during the difficult years of the 1930s. In spite of, or perhaps because of, such dire financial conditions, the worlds of art, fashion, film, literature, radio, music, sports, and theater pushed forward. Conditions of the times were often mirrored in the popular culture with songs such as "Brother Can You Spare a Dime," breadlines and soup kitchens, homelessness, and prohibition and repeal. Icons of the era such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George and Ira Gershwin, Jean Harlow, Billie Holiday, the Marx Brothers, Roy Rogers, Frank Sinatra, and Shirley Temple entertained many. Dracula, Gone With the Wind, It Happened One Night, and Superman distracted others from their daily worries. Fads and games - chain letters, jigsaw puzzles, marathon dancing, miniature golf, Monopoly - amused some, while musicians often sang the blues. Nancy and William Young have written a work ideal for college and high school students as well as general readers looking for an overview of the popular culture of the 1930s. Art deco, big bands, Bonnie and Clyde, the Chicago's World Fair, Walt Disney, Duke Ellington, five-and-dimes, the Grand Ole Opry, the jitter-bug, Lindbergh kidnapping, Little Orphan Annie, the Olympics, operettas, quiz shows, Seabiscuit, vaudeville, westerns, and Your Hit Parade are just a sampling of the vast range of entries in this work. Reference features include an introductory essay providing an historical and cultural overview of the period, bibliography, and index.
Product Description
From McDougal Littell, Volumes 1-7 "In Depth Resources Review Unit 1- 7 - Beggining to 1877, Bridge to 20th Century, Modern America Emerges (two copies), The Twenties & Great Depression, WWII and Aftermath, Living w/ Great Turmoil, Passage to new Century" Including Alternative Assessment, Planning for Block Schedules, Formal assessmant, Spanish Translations, Reading Study Guide, Lesson Plans, & Reading Study Guide. Like New.
Customer Reviews:
A great book!.......2006-12-14
I liked this history book! It is about a girl who is going through the Great Depression. Her dad lost his job during the Depression. They had a boarding house to help pay the mortgage in 1934. There is a picture that shows what Kit's house looked like. That is why I liked it.
Hard times with a human touch.......2006-03-20
This is not the book I would normally buy but I'm interested in the Depression years in the US and I'm also a publication designer. Using the neat Amazon facility 'Search Inside' the book convinced me this would be a good addition to my design library. The book's production really is first class, so a tip of the hat to Will Capello who art directed it.
Don't be put off by it only being sixty pages long because there is a lot of information in words and images, all presented in an elegant, creative way. The four chapters are divided into themed spreads and each of these uses a scrapbook design style to display the photos and graphics, for instance, pages sixteen and seventeen about the 1932-33 Winter of Despair has a short introduction and ten images with detailed captions. To avoid the feeling that history might come across as being distant and remote a really nice touch is the use of paintings showing Kit and other girls relating to the events described on many pages. If I have a criticism it is that there is no further reading list. The text is such that it will certainly arouse any reader's curiosity to find out more.
'Welcome to Kit's World 1934' is a visual delight and gives a human touch to the dramatic events of the Depression years.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
History, scrapbook style.......2004-06-02
I bought Welcome to Kit's World: 1934 last year when I was faced with a challenge: I was trying to assemble a credible family scrapbook that would feature pictures and stories from the early 20th century - particularly the 1930s - but I realized that I understood very little about that important decade in American history other than what I knew from a few books like Steinbeck's. My grandpa's stories about growing up were priceless, and deserved pages that honored both the look and feel of their time. I needed a quick way to "catch up" on the Thirties (and a source for collage photos to scan).
Thank goodness for Pleasant Company. If you haven't heard about their American Girl books and dolls let me tell you that they may be this generation's solution to getting girls ages 7 to 12 interested in history. Kit is a fictional character in a series of books written to appeal to girls in that age range. Growing up in the 1930s, she deals with issues typical of that generation as well as everything young people from any time deal with, so modern readers can truly relate to her.
Kit is made more real in the mind's eye when put in the context of this Welcome To book. The book's organization takes us from the prosperous late 20s that set it up, through the Depression and onto the New Deal at the end. We find hundreds of era photos of people, places and things that made up the fabric of life back then. Richly supplemented with illustrations, the visuals are grounded with chapter introductions and short blurbs that contain interesting trivia. I can see how it would be a good resource for school reports in grade school, but it's arranged in a fun way for kids so that they'll read it even when they don't "have" to.
Worth owning if you have a grade school child in the house. Check out the other Welcome To books for some of the other fictional girls: colonial times, pioneer days, Victorian era, 1940s, etc; history will come alive for them.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle.
Wow!.......2002-03-24
All I can say is Wow! Welcome to Kit's World is fantastic! The Book exlpores life during the Great Depression, from how people saved money, to how Hollywood entertained them. Also has Amelia Earheart, talks about the Cincinnati Reds Baseball team, Ernie Lombardi, the Dust Bowl, the Roaring Twenties, hoboes and tramps, etc. An overall good book, but it does repeat parts of the Peek into the Past sections from other Kit books, and even recycles some of the pictures. But otherwise a good read, and not unlike the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness book series.
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