The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (0195326342) - Reviews and Prices
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The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (0195326342) - Customer Reviews, Information, Ratings, and Prices
The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (0195326342) - Reviews and Prices
The New Deal shaped our nation's politics for decades, and was seen by many as tantamount to the "American Way" itself. Now, in this superb compact history, Eric Rauchway offers an informed account of the New Deal and the Great Depression, illuminating its successes and failures. Rauchway first describes how the roots of the Great Depression lay in America's post-war economic policies--described as "laissez-faire with a vengeance"--which in effect isolated our nation from the world economy just when the world needed the United States most. He shows how the magnitude of the resulting economic upheaval, and the ineffectiveness of the old ways of dealing with financial hardships, set the stage for Roosevelt's vigorous (and sometimes unconstitutional) Depression-fighting policies. Indeed, Rauchway stresses that the New Deal only makes sense as a response to this global economic disaster. The book examines a key sampling of New Deal programs, ranging from the National Recovery Agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission, to the Public Works Administration and Social Security, revealing why some worked and others did not. In the end, Rauchway concludes, it was the coming of World War II that finally generated the political will to spend the massive amounts of public money needed to put Americans back to work. And only the Cold War saw the full implementation of New Deal policies abroad--including the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Today we can look back at the New Deal and, for the first time, see its full complexity. Rauchway captures this complexity in a remarkably short space, making this book an ideal introduction to one of the great policy revolutions in history.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Stern-lantern illumination:
Several decades after the event, the Great Depression and the New Deal are still as hotly debated as if they were our contemporaries. Not just the ever-elusive relationship of cause and effect are subject to emotional and ideological debate, but even the `plain facts' are not unanimously identified. What brought the depression about is probably more readily agreed upon than the question: what was the effect of the New Deal policies of the Roosevelt government? This is still at the heart of today's political... more info
A Great Deal About the New Deal:
In 1928 the stock market crash occurs. A crisis is looming. Many see it coming but don't agree with how it should be dealt with. President Hoover wants business to cooperate and private institutions to offer charity and relief. Congress wants to pass tariffs and does, and the Federal Reserve Board restricts the money supply. All three hasten the crisis that looms by the time Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes president. He offers the country a New Deal that amounts to a stimulus of work projects and... more info
Stick It in Your Shirt Pocket ...:
... or slide it into your laptop case! It's that small, and though the print is also small, it's a marvel of concision and coherence. I picked it up from a revolving rack of "Very Short Introductions" at a university bookstore, and read it just for curiosity. I was a history major, once upon a time, and I did teach history at the college level very briefly, so I didn't expect a plethora of new information or an epiphany of new interpretation. In fact, I didn't expect to be favorably impressed, but I was!more info
Another great volume in a marvelous series of books:
I've become completely addicted to Oxford University Press's Very Short Introduction series. I primarily get them to read at lunch (I usually read heavier books on my commute, but as I walk around doing my lunchtime chores -- yes, I read while I walk -- I like to carry these lighter books, and they make great back ups to my main book if I finish them). Just about every book that I've read in the series has been good and several of them very good. Only one or two have been bad. This book provides a... more info
