Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression
Encyclopedia
"Hard Times": An Oral History of the Great Depression (original: 1970/ latest edition: 2005) is a telling of the oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...

 of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 written by Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel
Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...

. It is a firsthand account of people of varying socio-economic status who lived in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

.

The first edition of the book was published in 1970. The 1986 print included a new introduction by Terkel. The latest edition was published in 2005.

Book One

  • The March
  • The Song
  • Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
  • Hard Travelin’
  • The Big Money
  • Man and Boy
  • God Bless’ the Child
  • Bonnie Laboring Boy
  • Three Strikes

Book Two

  • Old Families
  • Member of the Chorus
  • High Life
  • At the Clinic
  • Sixteen Ton
  • The Farmer is the Man
  • Editor and Publisher

Book Three

  • Concerning the New Deal
    New Deal
    The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...

  • An Unreconstructed Populist
  • Peroration (Includes interview with Hamilton Fish III
    Hamilton Fish III
    Hamilton Fish III was a soldier and politician from New York State...

    )
  • Scarlet Banners and Novenas
  • The Doctor, Huey, and Mr. Smith
  • The Circuit Rider
  • The Gentleman from Kansas (Interview with Alf Landon
    Alf Landon
    Alfred Mossman "Alf" Landon was an American Republican politician, who served as the 26th Governor of Kansas from 1933–1937. He was best known for being the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States, defeated in a landslide by Franklin D...

    )
  • A View of the Woods
  • Campus Life

Book Five

  • The Fine and Lively Arts
  • Public Servant – The City
  • Evictions, Arrests, and Other Running Sores
  • Honor and Humiliation
  • Strive and Succeed

Literary significance and reception

Hard Times is known for providing an equal representation of experiences across a broad spectrum of socio-economic status. It has been called "A true classic! Exceptional oral history of a wide strata of Americans caught up in the 'hard times' of the Great Depression."

External Links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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