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This is an excellent book for these economic times and it puts it all into perspective. Love Studs Terkel. If only for his name.
Thank you. It could have come in sooner, but it came in great condition.
I have mentioned elsewhere my own disagreement with the popular media title for this now fast dwindling generation. Again, kudos and adieu Studs. In the present case the review of Hard Times: An Oral History Of The Great Depression serves a dual purpose. In this age of 24/7 media coverage with every half-baked journalist or wannabe interjecting his or her personality into somebody else's story this was, and is, rather refreshing. As I have done on other occasion when I am reviewing more than one work by an author I am using some of the same comments, where they are pertinent, here as I did in earlier reviews.
Of course this journalistic virtue does not mean that Studs did not have control over who got to tell their stories and who didn't to fit his preoccupations and sense of order. He includes other stories, like that of the society photographer Zerbe who took the Depression with blinkers on and never missed a beat and was barely aware that it had occurred or that of the lumpen proletarian extraordinaire Kid Pharaoh , who do not easily fit into any of those patterns but who nevertheless have stories to tell. He has a point he wants to make and that is that although most "ordinary" people do not make the history books they certainly make history, if not always of their own accord or to their own liking. I do not want to repeat that analysis here but, for the most part, the stories here confirm at least part of my thesis that the members of this generation, at the end, had some qualms about the lessons they took from the hard, hard struggles of the 1930's. One thing that I noticed immediately after reading this book, and as is true of the majority of Terkel's interview books, is that he is not the dominant presence but is a rather light, if intensely interested, interloper in these stories.
In this series the first Studs Terkel book reviewed was that of his "The Good War": an Oral History of World War II.Strangely, as I found out about the recent death of long time pro-working class journalist and general truth-teller "Studs" Terkel I was just beginning to read his "The Good War", about the lives and experiences of, mainly, ordinary people during World War II in America and elsewhere, for review in this space. And grievances, just, unjust or whimsical, to spill. For better or worse the interviewees get to tell their stories, unchained. As with other authors once I get started I tend to like to review several works that are relevant to see where their work goes. That was really the period of their `fifteen minutes of fame'. Those stories, as told here, are certainly a mixed bag.
First, this book serves as Studs attempt to reflect on the lives of working people (circa 1980 here but the relevant points could be articulated in 2008 and thus can serve as a cautionary tale as well) from Studs' own generation who survived that event, fought World War II and did or did not benefit from the fact of American military victory and world economic preeminence, including those blacks and mountain whites who made the internal migratory trek from the South to the North. Secondly, always hovering in the background is one of Studs' preoccupations- the fate of his generation- `so-called "greatest generation".
That would seem not to have been the case although it would seem that since the publication of this book, the economic standing of the large majority of Americans has actually decreased. The book was published in 1970 and much of the research was accordingly done during the second half of the '60s which was also quite a turbulent time in the United States. It expands the range off thinking about the '30s and I am sure opened avenues of thinking to historical researchers who wanted to broaden the scope of recollections about the Depression. He interviews those who worked in social services attempting to alleviate some of the pains of the Depression. Accordingly, a question which Terkel most frequently asks his subjects is how people would react to a Depression at that time. Author Studs Terkel interviews people who lived through the Depression and gets their takes on that difficult period. This really is a gem of a book. Having not studied much Depression history in nearly 20 years, at least not in any great depth, and certainly not having heard people offering their own accounts of their experiences during the Depression, this book was tremendously enlightening.
Many also thought that a worse Depression was coming. As a former grad student in History, I found this book fascinating. He interviews many who were help during the '30s-many of whom were black. By virtue of his speaking to such a wide variety of people, one does not believe that one has a limited understanding of the range of experiences had by people during this time period. He interviews men who were factory workers during the Depression.
Terkel interviews old retired farmers. The stories and their specificity of recall are fascinating. If you think you're only getting a limited perspective about the experiences of the '30s, please read this book. This allows the reader to see the subjectivity of history and introduces points of view (the poor, women, black and Latino people) which one might not read of in a textbook. With the current economic troubles in the United States (and the world), it was interesting to read of the difficulties experienced by many people during the Depression. We see history from the point-of-view of those with a wide variety of economic backgrounds. We hear the experiences and memories of those who lived through it from multiple points of view.
As mentioned, he interviews business magnates. It was also intriguing to read of the belief of some that the Depression did not extend past 1936. Most thought little of the ability of those coming of age or boomers during the '60s to weather the travails of the Depression. It was also very interesting to read of the strong anti-Roosevelt-ism among many business magnates and the highest ranks of the upper-middle class.
Most though, seem to just want to forget it.One fine elderly woman - my grandmother - was incredibly generous and loving to others the rest of her life, because of living through it. If a similar Depression occurred today, it would happen. My parents and other relatives and some of my older friends went through it.
He frequently brings up the possibilities of revolution during the 1930s when so many ordinary and poor people lost just about everything. And that is also the reflection of many voices in this book.I highly recommend this book to everyone. But the message comes through clearly that the Americans of those years firstly still had respect for law and order and the government, and secondly they had a kind of optimism or set of positive 'it will pass' illusions that kept them going.Reading how people were treated back then, it is nonetheless a wonder that they really didn't rise up and overthrow the entire capitalist system.
This is the first book I've read on America's experience of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Also he has a definite Left-oriented sort of outlook - and after reading this book it becomes entirely understandable. More than anything else, it taught me to understand more clearly how and why different generational values and perceptions were formed from that period - and how they have come to impact succeeding generations.
One man whom I knew, frequently brought it up and with great bitterness and anger, often directing that anger to others around him - especially those who were younger and didn't go through it - while others had little or nothing to say and seemed to brush it aside. It still stuns me to see how these people with similar experiences could react so differently so many years later.The author, being a Chicago man, places a lot of emphasis on the Depression as it hit that city and its citizens.
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