Customer Reviews

Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression

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This book is a compilation of oral recountings of the Great Depression of the 20th Century, taken by Studs Terkel. The book can be regarded as an excellent primary source of information from a historical point of view. These are anecdotes from people ranging from sharecroppers on up to highly placed executives, politicians, and professionals. Terkel leaves no stone unturned, as these stories (grouped by occupation and social stratum) show how the Depression affected people in all walks of life in the United States.

No secondary source is going to prove as truthful as the stories themselves. No high-flying armchair analysis by a detached political commentator, PhD or windbag is going to give you the true flavor of what our country went through after October, 1929.

We are in the midst of an economic downturn that has 800,000 American citizens without unemployment insurance, a looming health crisis among unemployed members of the middle class, and a war on the horizon. If you want to be prepared and to understand the ramifications of this situation, I urge you to not only read this book cover to cover, but also to go out and find people who lived through this time and listen to their stories. Go to your grandparents, parents, elderly relatives, the old guy on the porch across the street, the local senior centers. Ask them to talk.

Understanding history helps us understand the future.

Studs Terkel's book is a recounting of the past, but is also a story of our coming future.

Read it!

I really enjoyed Studs Terkel's The Good War, which won a Pulitzer Prize. I found this book not nearly as attention-holding. One wonders how bad the interviews that did not make the book were, in view of the "badness" of a few that did make the book. At least one of the interviewees sounded like a candidate for a mental institution, yet his words, complete with obscenities spelled out, were in the book. Some of the interviews, with well-known folk, like Jim Farley and others had interest.

Studs Terkel interviewed dozens of people for his oral history, "Hard Times." What you get is a very good overall picture of the Great Depression in America.

Terkel interviewed the rich, gangsters, southern sharecroppers, Oakies and Arkies, the rural poor, young and old (in the 1930's as well as in the 1960's when he was interviewing people.) The perceptions of the Depression by each is as individual and as varied as America itself. What struck me most, however was the inequitability of the Depression.

When I thought of the "Depression" images of soup lines and "Hoovervilles" sprang to mind. And yes, many remembered those as well. But there were several interviewees who never saw a bread line, a shanty town, or felt the sting of economic crash. To my suprise, there were even a few individuals who became RICH as a result of the Depression.

Another interesting aspect of the book (which was totally unexpected) was the reflection of the "present" while looking back at the Deperession. Terkel assembled the book in the late 1960's; as you may imagine, the social turbulence and youth culture of the day was often brought up in the various interviews ... fascinating.

All in all an interesting and engaging read - if nothing else, it certainly puts things in perspective relative to the "hard times" the nation faced in the 1930's. The book is not for everyone, but I do recommend it.

Studs Terkel's "Hard Times" offers an excellent look into the 1930s from a multitude of Americans, including: the young/old, rich/poor, and new immigrant/old stock Americans were all coved in "Hard Times". Their stories will change you and your understanding of the Great Depression will be enhanced from what you learn from these readings.

Interestingly, the interviews were conducted in the late 1960s, so you also have a comparative oral history of the 1960s as well.

However, Stud Terkel's book would be greatly enhanced if he had included an index and a bibliography for interesting and important subjects. Maybe he will include an index and a bibliography in the next edition.

Overall, an excellent book!

History is best talked about, not read. You can read scores of books about the depression, get your dates and figures right, but until you read first hand accounts you can never truly understand the times.

As a twenty-something in this new millenia, the depression has been shrowded in mystery for me, my parents got only bits and pieces from theirs, and I got even less from them. This book fills in the pieces, helps me understand an era I know very little about, and allows me to understand how that era shaped my parents, and myself.

Mr. Terkel has done us all a great favor with his books, and this one is on the top of my list.

Studs Terkel has assembled a great collection of oral histories from a pivotal period in the twentieth century. Don't look here for a detailed analysis of the economics of one of this country's worst downturns. Instead, one should read this to get a glimpse of the despair that seemed to capture nearly everyone in its grasp while no one seemed to know what was causing it nor how to fix it.

There are a lot of terrific stories in this book, covering everything from union strikers, farmers to business men and college students. This book is a must-have for any serious student of this era.

HARD TIMES is moving oral history about the Great Depression of the 1930's from people who lived through it. A majority of the interviewees are Chicagoans, who on balance tend to reinforce the author's liberal views. We hear from former jobless, hoboes, people who had work, the rich, even a gangster. We read varied opinions on President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, which eased (but didn't end) the hard times before later evolving into the welfare state. Imagine times so difficult that thousands hopped freight trains and traveled long distances in an often-fruitless search for a job - any job. Some interviewees worked for the WPA, a New Deal program that put millions of unemployed men (including my grandfather) to work repairing sidewalks and building structures like post offices and Chicago's Lake Shore Drive. HARD TIMES helps readers understand why so many of our grandparents kept talking about the Depression long after it had ended.

Some say that Studs Terkel isn't an author, but merely a good listener with a tape recorder. Either way, the result is a series of very readable oral histories such as HARD TIMES, THE GOOD WAR, DIVISION STREET, WORKING, etc.

"History is an account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools." (-Ambrose Bierce, American writer). Terkel shows us another kind of history.

I had to read Studs Terkel's "Hard Times" for school. At first it seemed confusing and long b/c there where no main characters and it was 462 pages. I was surprised to sincerely enjoy it. It was a captivating book with many fascinating stories. I liked the way the book shows you all aspects of the Depression from people with all different lifestyles.

I like Studs, he is great. This book is a lot like others of his wherein he takes a taperecorder and asks people questions and then makes a book of it. The best part is that Studs knows a lot of people and so he can call up and ask a lot of questions. Whatever, you will enjoy this book, and order it from Amazon.com where you will get the best price unless you find it in the garbage bin.