About this item
Highlights
- It was the worst of times and the best of times.
- About the Author: The author of numerous books, T.H. Watkins was perhaps best-known as the author of Righteous Pilgrim, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography and a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
- 608 Pages
- History, United States
Description
About the Book
In this comprehensive, chronological look at the Great Depression, the author focuses on the struggles of ordinary people in grass-roots America, drawing on little-known oral histories, memoirs, local press, and scholarly monographs to capture the voices of men and women in a time of crisis. 5 photos.Book Synopsis
It was the worst of times and the best of times. It was an era of unprecedented crisis and a time of unprecedented courage. In a single, comprehensive volume, The Hungry Years tells the story of the Great Depression through the eyes of the people who lived it. Less concerned with the power brokers in Washington than with the daily struggles of ordinary people at the grassroots across America, it draws on little-known oral histories, memoirs, local press, and scholarly monographs to capture the voices of men and women in a time of extreme crisis. The result is a richly detailed narrative that traces the stages of the disaster chronologically without losing touch with the personal wounds it inflicted or the ways in which people responded.
Humane and compassionate, brilliantly researched, full of story and anecdote, The Hungry Years puts the reader at the very heart of the maelstrom that was the American depression.Review Quotes
"A terrific, moving book. The Hungry Years is narrative history at its best." --Geoffrey C. Ward
"A tour de force, an epic saga brimming with unforgettable anecdotes, glorious storytelling, and sound judgment. As a Great Depression historian, Watkins is in a class of his own." --Douglas Brinkley, director, The Eisenhower Center "A big-hearted, abundant narrative...Watkins draws compelling portraits of people oscillating between despair and hope and a political culture in the midst of historic transformation." --Henry Mayer, The Washington Post Book WorldAbout the Author
The author of numerous books, T.H. Watkins was perhaps best-known as the author of Righteous Pilgrim, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography and a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He died in 2000. At the time of his death he was Wallace Stegner Distinguished Professor of Western American Studies at Montana State University.