Summary: An account of the Depression years, focusing on why the Depression lasted so long, and the impact it had on so many different kinds of “forgotten men” and women.

Many accounts of the Depression have focused on the magnetic leadership of Franklin Roosevelt, creating work programs, declaring bank holidays, and seeking to give hope to the “forgotten man.” Amity Shlaes also considers various forgotten people, but asks the searching question of why the Depression lasted so long.

We are introduced to an impressive array of characters, many who recur as central figures throughout the account. There is the brain trust around Roosevelt, the “best and brightest” of his generation, who conceived of a variety of social and reform programs, mostly ineffectual: Harold Ickes, Raymond Moley, and Rex Tugwell. We meet the entrepreneurs and business people who find themselves on the wrong side of a government crusade against business, from Andrew Mellon to electrification pioneers Samuel Insull and Wendell Willkie, to the Schechter Brothers, kosher poultry wholesalers prosecuted for violating regulations of the National Recovery Act, and ultimately vindicated in court.

There are a variety of colorful figures, from Father Divine, a cult leader teaching Black self-sufficiency, John Llewellyn Lewis, a strong labor leader, David Lilienthal who headed up the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federalized effort to bring electric power to the South and “Bill” Wilson, the Wall Street alcoholic who founds Alcoholics Anonymous and in the 1930’s writes AA’s Big Book.

The book is basically an argument that the reason the Depression lasted so long was that the financial tinkering, taxation, and New Deal programs and over-reaching attacks on business “forgot” the people who made the country prosper. It recognizes the value of public works efforts like the WPA, the foundations of which were laid in the Hoover administration resulting in important infrastructure development that both put money into and facilitated the economy.

The book raises important questions about the role of government in economic downturns, arguing a classic conservative line that an activist, interventionist approach may prolong an economic downturn. Yet it also reflects the pressure a government faces from those suffering the most to “do something,” to appear to have not forgotten the little guy.

I personally found the work a tough read because it tried to follow so many threads, so many figures in a chronological account that at time the narrative felt like a lot of disparate stories and events strung together rather than the cohesive and compelling accounts the best historians render.

In the end, a global war lifted the country out of the Depression. Shlaes leaves us wondering if it needed take that long. ( )

Politics in the United States today are divisive. How can I as an individual help? One of my personal goals is to encourage and participate in more political discussions, primarily with those that have a different point of view, and in doing so promote a low-emotion, reasonable approach to these conversations. To that end, this was another of my attempts to look at things from a different perspective. Most of my prior knowledge and impressions about Hoover, FDR and their presidencies, has come from the classroom. Independently I had not developed a strong opinion about Hoover and FDR as leaders or the success or lack thereof of their policies and programs.

I thought Amity Shlaes' The Forgotten Man was an excellent aid in furthering my understanding of this period. It addressed all aspects of this period (approximately 1927-1939): political, cultural, economic and business. She has previously written a biography of Coolidge, which provides her with an excellent foundation for exploring and interpreting Hoover's and FDR's presidencies. I felt throughout this book that the focus stayed on the events of the period. Shlaes lays out her arguments in the Introduction; the body of the book is then the narrative history of the period. Any message or theme came naturally out of how Shlaes presented the events and not from some obvious message that she tried to drive home. I felt as a reader I was allowed to form my own conclusions.

What are some of the arguments that Shlaes presents that make this a New History?

• It was the production demands of WWII that allowed the US to recover from the Great Depression, not the New Deal programs and policies.



• Many of Hoover’s and Roosevelt’s actions to help the economy actually had negative impacts and extended the length of the Depression.



• Both Hoover and Roosevelt placed too much emphasis on control and government planning, rather than encouraging the private sector and allowing the economy to adjust to market forces.



• Recovery from the Depression was negatively impacted by open confrontation between the private and public sectors in the US, unrecognized and misunderstood deflation, barriers created that discouraged international trade and frequent experimentation by government that created an environment of uncertainty that discouraged private investment.

I will want to read more of this period, but I found myself in general agreement with Schlaes interpretation. One of her primary themes is that we as a country responded to an economic downturn in the wrong ways, thus delaying the recovery and prolonging the pain. She also argues that we responded to a macroeconomic problem with microeconomic solutions. The historical events are provided in the context of the cultural, political and economic changes and trends taking place in the US and overseas.

I think anyone who is interested in this historical period will find this book enjoyable and beneficial. I do recommend you read the Introduction, then the body of the book, and then go back and reread the Introduction. This approach helped me to think through Ms. Shlaes arguments. ( )

Not an easy read...too many names and some jumping around in time. A very good history of the impact of government intervention in the economy leading up to and during the great depression. Some of the mistakes from that era are certainly being repeated today. History would tell you not to believe politicians when they describe actions as "temporary" or "necessitated by current events". Many of those policies, whether for good or bad, are with us forever. ( )

Should be required reading for every current elected official in federal government as well as senior staff members of the Federal Reserve. ( )

This book was informative but at times it was very slow and often had far too many details. However, it did give a very accurate feeling of the time and pointed out several changes that were adopted as to the federal government role for the nation. ( )