Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal began as a program of short-term emergency relief measures and evolved into a truly transformative concept of the federal government's role in Americans' lives. More than an economic recovery plan, it was a reordering of the political system that continues to define America to this day. With this book, writer Michael Hiltzik offers fresh insights into this inflection point in the American experience. He shows how Roosevelt,...

"Marc Favreau documents the Great Depression--a time when Americans from all walks of life fell victim to poverty, insecurity, and fear--and tells the incredible story of how they survived and, ultimately, thrived. This is the story of the Great Depression in the United States, from the sweeping consequences of the market collapse to the more personal stories of individuals and communities caught up in the aftermath. Packed with photographs, primary...

A social history of the United States during the "roaring twenties." Examines American individualism and the decade that they knew Mah Jong and Mencken, Couéism and Coolidge, Listerine and Lindbergh, as well as Capone, Ford, Babe Ruth, the Teapot Dome, and bathtub gin.

Critically assesses the president's role in transforming American government and life during World War II, arguing that such programs as farm subsidies, minimum wage, and welfare are having continuing repercussions in the current economy.

Presents information about the Great Depression that left millions of Americans without jobs, including how people struggled to make a living in a time of high unemployment and how the government tried to solve the country's economic troubles.

"With The Money Makers, Eric Rauchway tells the absorbing story of how FDR and his advisors pulled the levers of monetary policy to save the domestic economy and propel the United States to unprecedented prosperity and superpower status. Drawing on the ideas of the brilliant British economist John Maynard Keynes, among others, Roosevelt created the conditions for recovery from the Great Depression, deploying economic policy to fight the biggest threat...

Amid the ravages of the Great Depression, the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) was founded in 1935 to address the country's rural poverty. Its efforts focused on improving the lives of sharecroppers, tenants, and very poor landowning farmers, with resettlement and collectivization programs, as well as modernized farming methods. In a parallel documentation program, the FSA hired a number of photographers and writers to record the lives...