Edward Robb Ellis (1) (1911–1998)

4730. A Nation in Torment The Great American Depression 1929-1939, by Edward Robb Ellis (read 20 Jul 2010) This history of the Depression is by a diarist newsman rather than by a historian. But much of it is absorbing reading. I thought his chapters on Insull, the 1929 Crash, the Bonus Army, Hoover, Technocracy, March 1933, the NRA, Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and Dr. Townsend are all well done and good reading. The biggest failure of the book is that there are no footnotes and so one cannot tell what he used for sources often. His attitude toward Hoover and FDR and Harry Hopkins corresponded with mine--always a factor adding to enjoyment of a book. Not a profound study but a good book to read.… (more)

2980 A Diary of the Century: Tales from America's Greatest Diarist, by Edward Robb Ellis (read 18 May 1997) Ellis was born 22 Feb 1911 in Kewanee, Illinois, and in 1927 he began keeping a diary and he continued keeping it till this book was published in 1995. There is much I don't like about the man revealed in this book--made up of excerpts from his diary (less than 1% of the total)--he is an agnostic, an alcoholic, a womanizer at times, and totally amoral sexually, a pot-smoker, and he writes at times like a second-rate journalist (which he was, till 1962). The diary as published leaves out prominent events, and puts in some asinine stuff. But, tho when I was half way thru I'd have quit reading if I were a quitter, by the time I was done I was glad I kept reading and I am quite interested in much he had to say. He was a great reader and is avidly interested in books, and his diary--the Guinness Book of Records in 1981 listed his diary as the world's biggest--has made an exceptional book.… (more)