The Great Depression

On October 29, 1929, better known as Black Tuesday, the stock market crashed, abruptly ending a decade of prosperity and catapulting the United States into the Great Depression, arguably the worst economic crisis the country has ever experienced. During the years that followed, until U.S. entry into World War II in 1941, unemployment was at an all-time high, hundreds of banks foreclosed, and a sense of hopelessness pervaded the nation. It was only when America was drawn into the war that the United States finally emerged from the Great Depression.

With updated narratives and testimonies, The Great Depression, Updated Edition provides hundreds of firsthand accounts of the period-including memoirs, letters, speeches, and newspaper accounts-that illustrate how historical events appeared to those who lived through them. Among the eyewitness testimonies included are those of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Huey Long, Lionel Robbins (who coined the term "The Great Depression"), and hundreds more. In addition to the firsthand accounts, each chapter provides an introductory essay and a chronology of events. This updated edition includes 22 new photographs, a new appendix with 10 graphs, and a revised introduction, as well as relevant documents, capsule biographies of more than 200 key figures, and much more.