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The Great Depression cover art

The Great Depression

By: James Ledbetter, Daniel B. Roth
Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
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Summary

This title offers a first-person diary account of living through the Great Depression, with haunting parallels to our own time.

Benjamin Roth was born in New York City in 1894. When the stock market crashed in 1929, he had been practicing law for approximately 10 years, largely representing local businesses. After nearly two years, he began to grasp the magnitude of what had happened to American economic life, and he began writing down his impressions in a diary that he maintained intermittently until he died in 1978.

Roth's words from that unique time seem to speak directly to readers today. His perceptions and experiences have a chilling similarity to our own era. Like many of us, Roth struggles both to understand and to educate himself about what was going on around him. He is sceptical of big government, yet ultimately won over by FDR's New Deal. This collection of his diary entries, edited by James Ledbetter, editor of Slate's "The Big Money," reveals another side of the Great Depression - one lived through by ordinary, middle-class folks, who on a daily basis grappled with a swiftly changing economy coupled with anxiety about the unknown future. It is highly topical - and timely.

The greatest financial disaster since the Great Depression has many Americans wondering what things were like as the Great Depression unfolded and people did not yet know how or when it would end. It is clear-eyed, readable - and eerily familiar.

In short, concise, and thoughtful entries, Roth chronicles the most telling moments of the Great Depression, from the drop in the price of movie tickets to Hoover's failed free-market solutions, to the rise in foreclosures in his hometown and how to benefit from 'bargains' at the much-diminished stock exchange. It is published one-year after the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros sent the world markets on a deep downward slide, and around the 80th anniversary of "Black Tuesday".

©2009 PublicAffairs (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about The Great Depression

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Expect the best but plan for the worse.

A second depression could occur if the Euro collapses, some believe it's inevitable I hope it doesn't but I think it will because Europe is in tremendous debt that it cannot pay back over the long term.
Non the less only time will tell.

This book is written as a diary and does an amazing job at putting across what it was like to have lived during a time of great shortage, struggle and anxiety.

It's not depressing because you don't engage on an emotional level with a central charcter.
Still it draws you in and I find it personally speaking - riveting!

I am a husband and father of two boys, this book is of great value to me due to the insights it offers it also aids me in my goal to become be a wise steward with finance.

Expect the best but plan for the worse.

Anybody who has the honour to read or listen to this audio-book owes the writer Daniel Benjamin Roth a great deal of thanks.

Let me be the first on this site to do so.

I am giving it 5 stars for the invaluable insight and indirect wisdom i have recieved by listening to it.
I took a chance on this book and it was more than worth my monthly credit!
I'm sure you can benefit from it too.

Go for it!!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Dry

Looking for an engaging narrative...got a statistical analysis of the DOW of the 30's
Disapointing...the balance was too 'stock' based.
Some interesting crumbs but no real meat...
Diary's are made to be 'personal' 'human' 'emotional'...this was neither

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

it's a great insight to a man's life story

for investors were facing the Great depression again 2022 as they say what happens in the past happens in the future

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • LC
  • 29-05-22

Very interesting and educational

I found this to be really educational, as well as very interesting. It was particularly interesting to compare it with recent events. It seems like a lot of it is very similar and very relevant. I also found it powerful to hear how events unfolded at the time when the future was still unknown. It has been a great lesson with respect to investing in stocks and bonds, and how human nature and behaviour comes into this.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A superb book

I really, really enjoyed this title.
It has a big focus on stocks, bonds and gilts etc. and some may be put off by this. I have an interest in financial matters and so it was perfect for me. It is a warning from history and it appears that the lessons it offers have not been learned.
I was surprised to read a criticism of 'The new deal' introduced by the Democrats during the depression, it challenged what I had previously read and it appears that it was second world war that came to the rescue of America.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A real indication of how bad the depression was

A real understanding of the Great Depression from an ordinary person's experience and not a second hand opinion. A true sense of how long it lasted, the depth of the depression and how people struggled for such a long time

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