A New History of the Great Depression - The Forgotten Man

Amity Shlaes' Forgotten Man is as important a book as Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz's Monetary History of the United States for describing the Great Depression and the various personalties and policies meant to save the economy that only exacerbated the decline. The author writes well with a sense of discovery and without an agenda. I learned a lot reading this book and it is what made me so eager to read her next book, Coolidge.

Great book. I learned so much about Calvin Coolidge. He has become my favorite President. Hopefully, someday we will find another person willing to stand up and do the tough job and have the courage to cut waste out of the government

Amity Shlaes is one of my favorite writers. From my perspective, she has the unique ability of telling a story that is destined for no particular end other than the one at which you arrive.

Her research seems almost super-human; I can't begin to imagine how she sifts through information and distills it into the compelling, thought-provoking, and witty bits displayed in her final products.

As an aside, I am enjoying Cleveland immensely.

Excellent writing and pacing. Always entertaining and informative. Able to bridge the gap of those with little historical/political knowledge of the period and facilitate their understanding of the subject matter being addressed!
EXCELLENT!!!

Ms. Shales has given a new view of the depression and it's impact upon the people. Her style of writing is refreshing and keeps the reader involved. Perhaps this work should be mandatory reading for our representatives . I have been interested in the pre and post WWI era and it's impact on who grew up in this time period.

Just when you think you understand the history of the Depression years, along comes Shlaes and brings a perspective that does not rewrite history but refurbishes knowledge of the period in order for the reader to acquire wisdom. Read it with an open mind and regardless of your political preferences, you will not regret digging into this gem.
Mike Lubas
Rochester, NY

She presents facts as to why the depression lasted as long as it did compared to other economically down times in history and the effects it had on those not politically connected or in a union. Government does indeed make life harder for it citizens in the guise of helping.

Amity is a genius at reviewing the history of one of our most difficult economic periods. The similarities to what is currently taking place in our country are stark and compelling. If anyone wants to truly understand what may transpire with today's economic situation, they must read this book.

First saw this book while vacationing in a rental condo. When I started reading I became fascinated with the historical facts of the period and the research required to produce the book. I determined to secure a copy to finish reading it. Saw it on the store at the right price and made the purchase. Helps one understand what's happening in the political and social world today. "What goes around comes around."
Aes

Loved the narrative style of the book. History can be a dry, sterile read but this book makes it come alive with brevity. It doesn't drag on. Gave me a new perspective of the economic dynamics of the period.

I purchased the volume, half expecting it to be a conservative diatribe against FDR. Instead I discovered a superbly written, magnificent history, giving much background left unsaid in the standard textbooks. Shlaes has shown great passion in explaining the New Deal as an expression of modified socialist ideas and utopian dreams. Amazingly, since it was published in 2007, before Barry Obama was seriiously considered as president, the reader sees exactly the same outline for changing US society and political meddling in economics that Obama and his team has attempted in order to asuage the results of the Great Recession - and with the predictably same results.

Shlaes has provided an excellent demonstration of politicos repeating an agenda that failed 80 years ago just because they are convinced that no one knows more than they. This is a must-read for anyone seriously interested in US history..

I purchased the volume, half expecting it to be a conservative diatribe against FDR. Instead I discovered a superbly written, magnificent history, giving much background left unsaid in the standard textbooks. Shlaes has shown great passion in explaining the New Deal as an expression of modified socialist ideas and utopian dreams. Amazingly, since it was published in 2007, before Barry Obama was seriiously considered as president, the reader sees exactly the same outline for changing US society and political meddling in economics that Obama and his team has attempted in order to asuage the results of the Great Recession - and with the predictably same results.

Shlaes has provided an excellent demonstration of politicos repeating an agenda that failed 80 years ago just because they are convinced that no one knows more than they. This is a must-read for anyone seriously interested in US history..

I have never heard many of the perspectives in this book about FDR. It seems like I only got the progressive spin version of FDR. Very refreshing view of history from another angle.

It explains a lot about what was going on economically and politically during the depression. It is a must read if you want to balance out your "current" understanding of the Depression, WWII, and FDR.

Goes to show how big government does more to hurt people that big business who needs people in order to survive.

Everything the government does always effects some. I would call it punishment from out of control leaders.

Great read at a critical juncture in the American political and financial future. As the arc of the country is bending toward a socialistic entitlement state FDR Is the political playbook of the Obama administration

A great book on the depression and how Roosevelt listened to liberal people that thought that Stalin's method of government in Russia was the way to run a nation - a dictator with cronies that always said yes to the man in charge. How could Roosevelt believe that all rich people are evil just because they have money - it is the same story being told by the Democrats today in Washington. Their way to stop a depression or recession is to take from the rich and spread it all over the place to secure enough votes to keep you in office. If a program fails, blame it on someone else - especially your rival - and quickly start another program to take the heat off you. The author keeps you thinking on how the Great Depression could of ended sooner if somebody in the Roosevelt administration had the nerve to say "Enough is enough - Stalin's method of government does not work!".

Having ready Amity Shlae's Forgotten Man and Coolidge, I realize how little we really learned about what happened in the 20's and 30's in school. Text books have white washed the history of this period to fit the liberal-progressive narrative. Ms. Shlaes has done a great job of illustrating in detail the political and economic impact of the errant policies and progressive economic experimentation under the fabled "New Deal". While FDR didn't cause the Crash of 1929, his poor policies caused a normal cyclical recession to continue unnecessarily for 10-years scarring a generation of "forgotten men" and setting the stage for the systematic erosion of our Constitution that continues today under FDR-copycat Obama. It's a great book with a well research and very readable style - a must read.

Informative, well written history of the great depression that provides a different perspective. Many parallels to today's economy and politics. Not a quick read for me but an educational and enjoyable book.

I was reading this book during the 2008 presidential election and I could swear that now President Obama had read this book because many of the same tactics, strategies and public persona was so similar to FDR's administration. I highly recommed this book to anyone who wants to learn about America history and governance.

The Forgotten Man tells the other side of the Government approach to the depression. As is often the case, the more government tried to do, the worse the problem became. While many good things came out of the administration, more things added to the problem.

History repeats itself and this book "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression" tells it like it is! It is well written and allows the reader to see the bigger picture of what is really taking place in our economy! A must read because history repeats itself. Great Recession or Great Depression II? It's your call!

Even though I totally disagree with the authors take on history and the fact that she disagrees with nearly every other author who has ever written about the great depression and the Wall St. and political shenanigans and the total lack of GOP oversight that led up to it, I have to admit I appreciate her views and after watching here on CSPAN Books I appreciate her even more. She is a non antagonistic believer in her research who answers each and every challenging question from her interviewers with a smile and an engaging aplomb. If more conservatives were like her I might return to supporting the party I voted for over a 32 year span.

Most public school students are taught that FDR pulled the country out of the Great Depression with his New Deal. In this book, the author examines that assumption and shows it to be untenable. The author convincingly argues the point that government intervention (by both Hoover and Roosevelt) did not pull the country out of the depression--it prolonged it. In fact FDR viewed the economy as something to be experimented on, revealing the fact that he really did not understand it. While a little one-sided, the author does give credit to the New Deal where credit is due.

In our current economic situation, we would do well to understand that the wrong actions by government can turn a recession into a depression. Let's hope those mistakes do not get repeated, i.e. raising taxes and raising tariffs. For those interesting in history and interested in staying informed about economics and our current crisis--this book is worth your time.

This book is very thorough and well written. It finally puts the depression into a real perpective htat is different than the nromal glorious Roosevelt years . My father who lived through that time always told me that WWII was want brought the US out of the depression not Roosevelt and now I understand why.

The book's title, "The Forgotten Man", is somewhat misleading because the book focuses on personalities who were in the news during the depression. The Forgotten Man became a political football during Franklin Roosevelt's first election and was revived periodically in subsequent years. Both Republicans and Democrats claimed to represent this poor, unnamed sap, but to each party The Forgotten Man was a completely different individual. Democrats claimed he was the "man at the bottom of the economic pyramid", the "indispensable units" upon which the country's economic health rests. To Republicans he was the man of means who is legislatively obligated to help the more unfortunate. I thought, because of its title, that the book would shine more light on how everyday people coped with the unusual stresses placed upon them.

But the book provided an interesting account of some of the key players in business and government trying to remedy the damages caused by the depression. Its author, Amity Shlaes, has a reputation as a conservative, but she keeps her viewpoint fairly well in check, at least through the first half of the book. She has been criticized for the unemployment statistics she uses at the beginning of each chapter because she counts workers employed by government work projects as unemployed, a fact she acknowledges in the book, but I don't think this damages the integrity of the book too severely, though her readers are left in the dark about the impact of these projects.

The book uses as a pivot point a 1927 junket to Russia that included several men, such as Rex Tugwell, Stuart Chase, and Paul Douglas, who would later work in President Roosevelt's administration. An entire chapter is devoted to this brief excursion, which tends to make it seem as though Roosevelt had fallen under the influence of Communist sympathizers rather than just using people sympathetic to working people in programs designed to help them.

To sum up, Amity Shlaes gives a useful account of the Great Depression, though her viewpoint is narrower than I would have liked.

This is a very engrossing and quick read. Shlaes treats the subject from several angles and demonstrates the importance and consequences (intended and otherwise) of a variety of actions taken during this time. Her handling of the Schechter's poultry case is an excellent example of how she is able to sustain maximum interest in what could otherwise be a hidebound subject. She also demonstrates that Hoover was far from a committed laissez-faire president but rather also went for the same tools that FDR would use for a larger and longer time. Her overview of the promise of the 20's recasts that era as a time for the possible, with new advances (like electricity) showing neverending potential and how the New Deal diluted and eventually trickled the growth of that necessary technology through gvt competition by the TVA. It may be hard keeping all the players in your mind, but she often gives them a little tag so that you can recall who's doing what.

I enjoyed reading this book. It's a good alternate to the 'rah-rah FDR' version of history we always seem to hear. It's a good study on how the gov't needs to have a much lighter footprint in the private sector

Two main questions are still fiercely debated today regarding the Great Depression. The first is whether Hoover's supposed laissez-faire policies of non-intervention in the economy turned the depression into the Great Depression. The second is whether the New Deal helped the US economy to recover from the Depression or prolonged it.

In "The Forgotten Man", Amity Shlaes mostly focuses on the second question. She does so by following a few men who were involved in the New Deal (and some who weren't).

I found Shlaes' book to be well researched with plenty of very interesting information, which I hadn't known before. Having said that, "The Forgotten Man" is not without flaws.

At the outset, it often times loses focus of its premise. Shlaes goes on to discuss events (Andrew Mellon's art collection comes to mind) entirely unrelated to the subject, which do not help to support the premise of the book.

Secondly, she cites names and events with almost no interest to the reader and to the big picture she tries to convey. I found this to very tiring, making the narrative of the book quite hard to follow.

Thirdly, although I personally believe FDR's massive intervention in the economy did in fact prolong the depression; the premise of the book is far from being conclusive. Shlaes does show how FDR's interventions in some aspects of the economy weren't helpful, and sometimes, even harmful. However, she failed to connect all the dots together to provide more of an overall conclusion and a macro look on the New Deal.

This is an excellent book that captures the state of the nation, United States of America, around and during the Great Depression of the 1930's. Full of facts; well organized; and very readable (i.e., a person has an interest in history, economics, politics and a curiosity how political decisions have intended and unintended consequences).