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The Great Depression: A Diary
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The Great Depression: A Diary

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  • EAN: 9781586487997
  • Manufacturer: PublicAffairs

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  • ISBN13: 9781586487997
  • Condition: New
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  • This title offers a first-person diary account of living through the Great Depression, with haunting parallels to our own time. Benjamin Roth was born in New York City in 1894. When the stock market crashed in 1929, he had been practicing law for approximately ten years, largely representing local businesses. After nearly two years, he began to grasp the magnitude of what had happened to American economic life, and he began writing down his impressions in a diary that he maintained intermittently until he died in 1978. Roth's words from that unique time seem to speak directly to readers today. His perceptions and experiences have a chilling similarity to our own era. Like many of us, Roth struggles both to understand and to educate himself about what was going on around him. He is sceptical of big government, yet ultimately won over by FDR's New Deal. This collection of his diary entries, edited by James Ledbetter, editor of Slate's "The Big Money," reveals another side of the Great Depression - one lived through by ordinary, middle-class folks, who on a daily basis grappled with a swiftly changing economy coupled with anxiety about the unknown future. It is highly topical - and timely. The greatest financial disaster since the Great Depression has many Americans wondering what things were like as the Great Depression unfolded and people did not yet know how or when it would end. It is clear-eyed, readable - and eerily familiar. In short, concise, and thoughtful entries, Roth chronicles the most telling moments of the Great Depression, from the drop in the price of movie tickets to Hoover's failed free-market solutions to the rise in foreclosures in his hometown and how to benefit from 'bargains' at the much-diminished stock exchange. It is published one-year after the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros sent the world markets on a deep downward slide, and around the 80th anniversary of 'Black Tuesday'. It is presented in a beautiful package - endpapers using original diary entries, period photos throughout, and gorgeous interior design.

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  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
  • Summary: The Great Depression: A Diary (paperback edition)
  • Comment: BOOK REVIEW: Benjamin Roth's 'The Great Depression: A Diary' Brings Nation's Greatest Financial Meltdown to Life

    Reviewed By David M. Kinchen

    The 'forgotten men' of today are the doctors, lawyers, insurance men, etc. They are down and out and can do very little about it. -- Benjamin Roth, diary entry Nov. 10, 1933

    Image removed by sender.That refrain -- echoing Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Forgotten Man" radio speech of April 7, 1932, when he was still governor of New York -- runs through Benjamin Roth's "The Great Depression: A Diary" (PublicAffairs, $15.95 quality paperback, 288 pages, edited by James Ledbetter and Daniel B. Roth, with an introduction by Ledbetter) much as the Mahoning River runs through Roth's hometown of Youngstown, Ohio.

    Benjamin Roth was born in New York City in 1894 but he moved with his family while still very young to Youngstown. He received a law degree and moved back to Youngstown after serving as an army officer during World War I. When the stock market crashed in 1929, he had been practicing law for about ten years, representing local businesses for the most part. After nearly two years, he began to grasp the magnitude of what had happened to American economic life, and he began writing down his impressions in a diary that he maintained intermittently until he died in 1978.

    Youngstown, midway between New York City and Chicago and about halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, was a thriving industrial city of about 170,000 people at the time of the October 1929 stock market crash. Today it has about 78,000 residents, with legendary employers like Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. long gone. (A personal note: I worked in the quality control department of YS&T's mill in Lake County, Indiana for about a year in the mid-1960s, before I joined the reportorial staff of the Hammond (IN) Times in January 1966). If Pittsburgh and Chicago were the centers of Big Steel, Youngstown was home to "Little Steel" companies like Youngstown Sheet and Tube and Republic Steel.

    Most of the entries cover the period from 1931 to the end of 1941, after the Pearl Harbor attack and the declaration of war against the U.S. by Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy on Dec. 11, 1941. Roth interjects brief updates with dates in the 1940s, 1950s and even the 1970s, and the editors provide background essays to explain some of the events Roth writes about. All in all, the package is an excellent brief introduction to the Great Depression, with anecdotes that will resonate with today's readers.

    In addition to his comments about the lack of work for lawyers, doctors, dentists and other professionals during the entire period of his evocative diary, Roth records the travails of working class people at a time of industrial strife and massive unemployment. He doesn't neglect the plight of farmers in Ohio and other Midwestern farm belt states, including the epicenter of farm foreclosures, the state of Iowa. Roth devotes a great deal of space in his diary to real estate, which must have been a big part of his law firm's business before October 1929 -- and very little after with the almost total collapse of the nation's real estate industry.

    Roth was a Republican who voted for Hoover's re-election in 1932 when FDR won in a landslide, and for Alf Landon in 1936 when FDR swamped Landon in an even bigger landslide. In 1940 Roth campaigned for GOP Presidential candidate Wendell Willkie on a "no third term" for FDR campaign. Although he worked for the Mahoning County NRA, his beliefs that the New Deal was a socialist plot against America pervade the diary. Like people today, Roth struggled to understand how the world's largest economy could collapse so quickly after the events of October 1929. He obviously had plenty of time to read sitting in his frequently empty law offices and he cites dozens of books that he perused to educate himself about finance, investing and economics.

    Here's Roth's entry for March 8, 1933, four days after FDR's inauguration:

    We are greeted by a very dramatic announcement this morning. At 1:30 a.m. this morning as his first official act, President Roosevelt issues a proclamation ordering every bank in the United States to close for four days -- including the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Banks. It now appears that during the past two weeks foreign countries and domestic depositors have withdrawn gold from the U.S. Treasury at an alarming rate. This proclamation also forbids exportation of gold. As a result of this announcement the U.S. will be technically off the gold standard for four days. I don't see how the government can resume gold payments at the end of that time because all Europe will be waiting at the Treasury doors to withdraw gold. In Youngstown every bank and loan company is closed to all business and large placards in the windows bear notice of the President's proclamation. Everybody is fearful of the immediate future. In the meantime all over U.S. plans re (sic) going forward to issue scrip against bank deposits. Likewise every stock exchange in the country is closed.

    It's important to remember than before the passage of the Banking Act of 1933 -- commonly called the Glass-Steagall Act for its congressional sponsors -- later in 1933, there was no federal insurance on bank deposits. Glass-Steagall separated "boring" commercial banking and "risky" investment banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Most of Glass-Steagall was discarded in the latter part of the Clinton Administration, but the FDIC was retained.

    The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 effectively removed the "Chinese Wall" that previously existed between Wall Street investment banks and depository banks and has been blamed by some -- including the present reviewer -- for exacerbating the damage caused by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market that led to the current financial crisis.

    About the editors: James Ledbetter is the editor of "The Big Money," [...] Web site on business and economics. Prior to joining Slate, he was deputy managing editor of [...]a financial news site. His most recent book is Dispatches for the New York Tribune: Selected Journalism of Karl Marx. He is also the author of Starving to Death on $ [...]: The Short, Absurd Life of The Industry Standard and Made Possible By...: The Death of Public Broadcasting in the United States. He lives in New York, NY. Daniel Roth is a son of Benjamin Roth and is the chairman of the law firm of Roth, Blair, Roberts, Strasfeld & Lodge in Youngstown, Ohio. He is the co-founder of National Data Processing Corporation and the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Torent, Inc (formerly Toro Enterprises, Inc.) He divides his time between Youngstown, Ohio and Florida.
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
  • Summary: Great Book
  • Comment: I read the book in two days. It clearly shows (if one is willing open their mind) that government intervention creates more problems than it solves. Another look at how FDR really governed without a PC re-write of history. Very helpful information for those looking to invest in today's economy.
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
  • Summary: A great perspective
  • Comment: This was an excellent read. This was not an exciting novel, but a chance to learn from 'Grandpa' who practiced law during the depression. You get a businessman's perspective on the business climate, the stock market and the side by side learning as Roth tries to learn the path to riches through stock investing, although he never had enough money to actually invest. Because he never could invest, his color commentary is not influenced my major gains or losses as an investor might have been. Most importantly, the reader really appreciates the Clement's quote: history does not repeat but certainly rhymes. All investors, especially speculators should read this book.
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
  • Summary: An interesting first hand account!
  • Comment: Benjamin Roth's first hand account of The Great Depression from 1931 to 1941 was a very fascinating and personal read that provided not only historical perspective on the events of the time, but also a friendly voice and opinion of the days events.

    What really set this book apart for me was the authors first hand account of events as they unfolded, versus most historical accounting of the period which are mostly a retrospects. Mr. Roth fills us in on current events as they unfolded in America during the time, his opinion on the situations (which leaned conservative) and his predictions. A fun bit of the book is that Mr. Roth would actually go back and review entries and add updates such as "These predictions turned out to be completely wrong.".

    I think this book also hit home for me due to the financial situation we're currently going through these days in America. You read about Mr. Roth's trepidations towards FDR and his "New Deal", constantly warning of out of control government spending and the impending inflation boom (which never came).

    My wife and I were talking and this book seems to beg the question of what would have come of the American economy if World War 2 hadn't started. Would we have continued on a downward spiral of inflation? It's not fun think about but I really feel that this book paints an accurate (if not a bit biased, but as to be expected with the nature of the account) of The Great Depression and how it impacted Main Street America. (show less)
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
  • Summary: Visceral
  • Comment: I've always wondered why people who emerged from the Great Depression are so different than my generation (boomer). They are more nervous, cautious, a bit fearful, but way more sensible than the carefree, debt-ridden generations that were born after the depression ended. When someone says, "my folks lived through the depression" you know what they're like. Forever changed, savers, and never crazy with investments.
    So the chance to read a nunc-pro-tunc account of what daily life was like to a person living in the Great Depression, it's a fantastic historical opportunity to enter a time capsule with such granularity and texture that you feel like you are there.
    But what's haunting is the similarities of life then to life today. Phantom ups and downs so the unaware public is being convinced that the worst is over, when in fact, history showed that it was only going to get worse. The government bailouts, and the fear of inflation. In many ways reading this book is like reading today's papers.
    Scary and enlightening - it's a great piece of american history.

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