Freedom From Fear: Part 2: The American People in World War II: American People in World War II Pt. 2 (Oxford History of the United States)

by David M . Kennedy (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  2004

  $20.66

  Between 1929 and 1945, two great travails were visited upon the American people: the Great Depression and World War II. This volume tells the story of how Americans endured, and eventually prevailed, in the face of the unprecedented calamaties of World War II.

• New

  Paperback
  2004

  $20.65

  On October 24, 1929, America met the greatest economic devastation it had ever known. In this first instalment of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Freedom from Fear, Kennedy tells how America endured, and eventually prevailed, in the face of that unprecedented calamity. Kennedy vividly demonstrates that the economic crisis of the 1930s was more than a reaction to the excesses of the 1920s. For more than a century before the Crash, America's unbridled industrial revolution had gyrated through repeated boom and bust cycles, consuming capital and inflicting misery on city and countryside alike. Nor was the alleged prosperity of the 1920s as uniformly shared as legend portrays. Countless Americans eked out threadbare lives on the margins of national life. Roosevelt's New Deal wrenched opportunity from the trauma of the 1930s and created a lasting legacy of economic and social reform, but it was afflicted with shortcomings and contradictions as well. With an even hand Kennedy details the New Deal's problems and defeats, as well as its achievements. He also sheds fresh light on its incandescent but enigmatic author, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Marshalling unforgettable narratives that feature prominent leaders as well as lesser-known citizens, The American People in the Great Depression tells the story of a resilient nation finding courage in an unrelenting storm.