Voices of the Great Depression: The 1930's

Cinda Anderson
Authorhouse (2002)
ISBN 0759668787
Reviewed by Christina Smith for Reader Views (5/06)

Ms. Anderson shows in her book, “Voice of the Great Depression,” the struggles that people had to go through in the 1930's. The stories that people told were so thorough that you actually felt like you were living through it with them. There are stories from all parts of the United States. In some aspects they are similar, the not having any extra money, having to live off of the land, barely being able to make ends meet, but you can tell the individual, personal hardships in each.

You read about people hand making their own clothes and living off the food that they and their neighbors grew. Children making up their own games because there was no money for anything store bought. And children, who had to walk a mile and sometimes more, to go to school. People who, after the stock market crashed, committed suicide because they lost all of their money and thought they had nothing to live for.

I really enjoyed this book because it gave me a better look into the lives of ordinary people who lost everything and still managed to make it through. Ms. Anderson's retelling of these stories should be used in every school in America. She has taught me so much more in one 124 page book than I had ever learned in school. Both of my grandparents lived through the Great Depression and I wish that I had talked to them and learned about their experiences before they died. A Must Read For All!!!!!!!

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