"It's difficult today to imagine how America survived the Great Depression--only through the stories of the common people who struggled during that era can we really understand it. These people are at the heart of this reinterpretation of one of the most crucial events of the twentieth century. Author Shlaes presents the neglected and moving stories of individual Americans, and shows how through brave leadership they helped establish the steadfast...

A memoir from a schoolteacher of growing up in the heart of the Midwest during the Great Depression describes life on an Iowa farm during a time of endless work, resourcefulness, no tolerance for idleness or waste, family, and kinship.

Presents the personal and public life of the thirty-second president of the United States giving particular emphasis to his New Deal programs.

Delves into the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and how it affected people, how the American public worked together to get through the massive hardships, and how the economy recovered with World War II. Examine the changes that swept the shaken nation during the first year - from the landslide victory of FDR in 1932 to Dust Bowl farmers. Americans sought release from the hard times wherever they could find it - from marathon dancing to going to the movies....

Presents an overview of the Great Depression through the words and writings of the time: more than twenty-five excerpts from speeches, poems, fiction and non-fiction works.

A revisionist perspective on FDR's presidency and the New Deal argues that such government programs as social security, minimum wage, and farm subsidies didn't work in the 1930s and do not work now, in a critical report that traces many modern problems to the FDR administration.