The Great Depression: A Diary

by Benjamin Roth, James Ledbetter (Editor), Daniel B Roth (Editor)

Overview

When the stock market crashed in 1929, Benjamin Roth was a young lawyer in Youngstown, Ohio. After he began to grasp the magnitude of what had happened to American economic life, he decided to set down his impressions in his diary.

This collection of those entries reveals another side of the Great Depression—one lived through by ordinary, middle-class Americans, who on a daily basis grappled with a swiftly changing economy coupled with anxiety about the unknown future. Roth's depiction of life in time of widespread foreclosures, a schizophrenic stock market, political unrest and mass unemployment seem to speak directly to readers today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781586489014
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	08/31/2010
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	223,175
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 11.28(h) x 0.76(d)

About the Author

James Ledbetter is the editor of "The Big Money," Slate.com's website on business and economics.

Daniel B. Roth, son of Benjamin Roth, is the chairman of the law firm of Roth, Blair, Roberts, Strasfeld & Lodge in Youngstown, Ohio.

Table of Contents

Preface Daniel B. Roth vii

Introduction James Ledbetter xiii

Chapter 1 June 5, 1931-October 17, 1931 1

Chapter 2 October 20, 1931-November 11, 1932 33

Chapter 3 November 19, 1932-April 22, 1933 77

Chapter 4 April 26, 1933-December 28, 1933 109

Chapter 5 January 10, 1934-November 6, 1936 145

Chapter 6 December 4, 1936-September 11, 1939 185

Chapter 7 September 12, 1939-December 31, 1941 219

For Further Reading 253

Acknowledgments 255

Editorial Reviews

A Youngstown, OH, attorney during the Great Depression, Roth emerges as researcher and author in this diary, edited by his son Daniel Roth and James Ledbetter (editor, "The Big Money," Slate.com). Tracking both the social evolution in his town and the disruptions to the American economy during the 1930s and early 1940s, Roth wrote clearly, with an attorney's eye for detail about the drastic changes occurring; modern readers will see striking parallels between the economy then and now. Roth, an active Republican, clearly explained why he disagreed with New Deal policies and why he ultimately adjusted his reactions. Editors' notes add needed historical information to clarify Roth's explanations of market trends and events that might otherwise be fuzzy to today's average reader. Though the stock market quotes can become rather tedious, they are still helpful for comparing to trends historical and current. VERDICT This diary, while not rich in personal detail, is an excellent choice for those interested in the local and economic impact of the Great Depression.—Sara Miller, Atlanta-Fulton P.L. Syst., GA\

Library Journal

Charles R. Morris, The Trillion Dollar Meltdown
“Benjamin Roth has left us a vivid portrait of the Great Depression that is all the more powerful for the similarities and differences with the financial upheavals of today. Roth enables us — in ways no historian can match — to immerse ourselves in the sense of despair that Americans of that era felt and their hope that the economy would revive, long before it did. To read the diaries now is both enlightening and chilling.”

Jonathan Alter, The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope
“We imagine the Great Depression at two extremes—Franklin Roosevelt's jaunty smile and the haunting images of Dustbowl destitution. But in between were everyday middle class strivers like Benjamin Roth, trying to sort through the wreckage. FDR and the WPA may be long gone but the professional class remains, and the record of its struggle in the Depression has been thin until now. Roth's incisive diaries are more than a precious time capsule. They speak to our economic hopes and fears directly, and to the bewilderment of our own time."

From the Publisher