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AMERICAN HISTORY
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GREAT DEPRESSION
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Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief
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Jan 29, 2011 10:57PM
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It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the world's economy can decline.[2] The depression originated in the U.S., starting with the fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929 and became worldwide news with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday). From there, it quickly spread to almost every country in the world.
The Great Depression had devastating effects in virtually every country, rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped while international trade plunged by ½ to ⅔. Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and in some countries rose as high as 33%.[3] Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by approximately 60%.
Facing plummeting demand with few alternate sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as cash cropping, mining and logging suffered the most.
Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s. However, in many countries the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the start of World War II.
Remainder of article: Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_De...
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The Great Depression (1929-1939)
http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/gloss...
Ann Marie Low (no author photo available)I read this a couple of years ago and found it to be an interesting insight into the everyday life of someone living in the Dust Bowl. There are journal entries, excerpts of letters, etc. in it. I was very much intrigued by children going off to be school teachers in other poor towns hit hard by the Dust Bowl Era (and Great Depression), the fluctuating prices on grains, livestock, and dairy goods, and the impressions farmers had of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) groups doing work around their farms and neighborhoods.
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Have this on my to-read list, might be of interest to others:
by
Timothy EganPublishers Weekly
Egan tells an extraordinary tale in this visceral account of how America's great, grassy plains turned to dust, and how the ferocious plains winds stirred up an endless series of "black blizzards" that were like a biblical plague: "Dust clouds boiled up, ten thousand feet or more in the sky, and rolled like moving mountains" in what became known as the Dust Bowl. But the plague was man-made, as Egan shows: the plains weren't suited to farming, and plowing up the grass to plant wheat, along with a confluence of economic disaster—the Depression—and natural disaster—eight years of drought—resulted in an ecological and human catastrophe that Egan details with stunning specificity. He grounds his tale in portraits of the people who settled the plains: hardy Americans and immigrants desperate for a piece of land to call their own and lured by the lies of promoters who said the ground was arable. Egan's interviews with survivors produce tales of courage and suffering: Hazel Lucas, for instance, dared to give birth in the midst of the blight only to see her baby die of "dust pneumonia" when her lungs clogged with the airborne dirt. With characters who seem to have sprung from a novel by Sinclair Lewis or Steinbeck, and Egan's powerful writing, this account will long remain in readers' minds. (Dec. 14)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From The New Yorker
On April 14, 1935, the biggest dust storm on record descended over five states, from the Dakotas to Amarillo, Texas. People standing a few feet apart could not see each other; if they touched, they risked being knocked over by the static electricity that the dust created in the air. The Dust Bowl was the product of reckless, market-driven farming that had so abused the land that, when dry weather came, the wind lifted up millions of acres of topsoil and whipped it around in "black blizzards," which blew as far east as New York. This ecological disaster rapidly disfigured whole communities. Egan's portraits of the families who stayed behind are sobering and far less familiar than those of the "exodusters" who staggered out of the High Plains. He tells of towns depopulated to this day, a mother who watched her baby die of "dust pneumonia," and farmers who gathered tumbleweed as food for their cattle and, eventually, for their children.
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Presentation made at Cato Institute:
Location:
Cato Institute
Washington, DC
Event Date:
06.01.09
Speakers:
Amity Shlaes
by Amity ShlaesSummary
Amity Shlaes, syndicated columnist and author of the bestselling The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, discusses the Great Depression and how it relates to the current financial crisis.
She explores the economic atmosphere that led to the Depression, and proposes ways to avoid the mistakes of the 1930s.
Bio
Amity Shlaes is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a columnist for Bloomberg. Her work has appeared in publications from National Review to the New Yorker. She is the author of Germany: The Empire Within, The Greedy Hand: How Taxes Drive Americans Crazy and What to Do about It, and, most recently, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression.
Other Book:
Amity ShlaesHighlights of Talk:
* The Monopoly Board Game's Origins in the New Deal
* Andrew Mellon and Bank Regulation in the 1920's
* The Environment of Economic Freedom in the 20's0
* The Role of Taxation in the Great Depression
* Other Regulatory Causes of the Depression
* The Persecution of Old Businesses and Business Leaders
* Responses to Roosevelt's
* Comparisons to the Current Crisis
* Growing Government Control of the Economy
* Modern Views of the Great Depression
* Comparing Obama's and Roosevelt's Plans
* Additional Causes of the Depression
* Different Views of Economic Theory
Video presentation on Fora TV:
http://fora.tv/2009/06/01/Amity_Shlae...
Note: I wasn't that impressed; but others might be.
Alisa: I'm going to add that to my growing mountain of books to be read. ;) I've always been fascinated with agricultural history, but it's one of those areas that seems to get overlooked quite often.
by
Timothy Egan
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Surviving the Dust Bowl
http://video.pbs.org/video/1311363860/#
Note: Highly recommended
Timothy Egan has written a great, readable book. Two others that I enjoyed were the classic study by Donald Worster
Donald Worster (no photo available) and the charming, heartbreaking story of the impact on the children who moved with their parents to California's Central Valley
by Jerry Stanley.
The History Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Great Depression: A Diary (other topics)The Great Depression: A Diary (other topics)
Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919–1939 (other topics)
Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time (other topics)
Free to Choose: A Personal Statement (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Benjamin Roth (other topics)Benjamin Roth (other topics)
Lizabeth Cohen (other topics)
Ira Katznelson (other topics)
Milton Friedman (other topics)
More...
