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The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.916
EAN: 9780066211701
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0066211700
Label: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 480
Publication Date: June 01, 2007
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: June 12, 2007
Studio: HarperCollins
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Editorial Review: 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 how the nation endured. These are the people at the heart of Amity Shlaes's insightful and inspiring history of one of the most crucial events of the twentieth century.
In The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes, one of the nation's most respected economic commentators, offers a striking reinterpretation of the Great Depression. Rejecting the old emphasis on the New Deal, she turns to the neglected and moving stories of individual Americans, and shows how through brave leadership they helped establish the steadfast character we developed as a nation. Some of those figures were well known, at least in their day—Andrew Mellon, the Greenspan of the era; Sam Insull of Chicago, hounded as a scapegoat. But there were also unknowns: the Schechters, a family of butchers in Brooklyn who dealt a stunning blow to the New Deal; Bill W., who founded Alcoholics Anonymous in the name of showing that small communities could help themselves; and Father Divine, a black charismatic who steered his thousands of followers through the Depression by preaching a Gospel of Plenty.
Shlaes also traces the mounting agony of the New Dealers themselves as they discovered their errors. She shows how both Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt failed to understand the prosperity of the 1920s and heaped massive burdens on the country that more than offset the benefit of New Deal programs. The real question about the Depression, she argues, is not whether Roosevelt ended it with World War II. It is why the Depression lasted so long. From 1929 to 1940, federal intervention helped to make the Depression great—in part by forgetting the men and women who sought to help one another.
Authoritative, original, and utterly engrossing, The Forgotten Man offers an entirely new look at one of the most important periods in our history. Only when we know this history can we understand the strength of American character today.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Why did the Depression last so long?
Following the 1929 stock market crash the nation entered an economic recession. President Hoover implemented many policies in an attempt to turn things around, but succeeded only in driving more banks into insolvency and increasing unemployment. He also sought to have government replace business as the spending engine in the economy, and initiated numerous projects, such as Hoover Dam in Arizona. But when conditions hadn't improved by the next election he was overwhelmingly swept out of office ... Read More
Rating:  - Great Depression revisited
This is a good look at the Great Depression from a different point of view. It was hard to put down. Really insightful as to Roosevelt's thinking.
Rating: - Big Government Intervention
What turned an economic recession into the Great Depression? Learn how the policies of two American presidents helped create and exacerbate the economic problems of the 1930's.
Rating:  - Poor title, poor content
I read this book thinking it would be a story about the "Forgotten Man," or maybe the forgotten men of the Great Depression. I anticipated stories about the real life, day to day struggles of those barely scraping by. Instead, this book is a history of the Great Depression era aristocracy. I learned plenty of FDR, Wilkie, Father Divine and others, all of whom are NOT the "Forgotten Man" of the Great Depression.
Additionally, while the book included some interesting facts and eye ... Read More
Rating: - Those that fail to learn from history....
Someone smart once said "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it".
Pass this book on to your children and your children's children.
Bill- Campbell CA
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