Depression Books

Now I know why J. G. Woodward is called "The People's Poet". I'm not even a reader of poetry and I loved this book, as well as her first poetry book, Tumultuous Journey, Poems Along the Way. The feelings she writes about are intense, the good and the bad, and I could relate to the poems so much because of the losses in my life. Yet, I closed the book after the last page feeling inspired. Amazing!

The Great Depression remains one of the landmark events--many have called it the "defining moment"--of the twentieth century. By almost all measures it brought about a transformation of the role of the federal government in the American economy, as Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal set out to bring "relief, recovery, and reform" to the beleaguered populace. President Roosevelt and his New Dealers achieved almost mythic status as selfless saviors of the economy.

In recent decades, cracks have appeared in this seemingly impregnable facade. Mistaken and inappropriate monetary policy now appears to have been a major factor in both the Great Contraction and the slow recovery. Moreover, New Deal programs probably retarded rather than promoted recovery from the depression. The unintended and undesirable long-run consequences of such programs as Social Security, AFDC, and agricultural price-support and output-restriction programs were visited on the postwar American economy. The harmful effects of the artificial separation of financial activities and government controls on deposit-interest rates were felt in the United States in the 1970s, and finally led to the removal of those controls.

In addition to increasing doubts about the beneficial effects of New Deal programs, questions have begun to be raised about the selfless motivation of those in charge of the programs.... Nearly all of these studies aggregate across spending categories and over the years from 1933 to 1939.

In THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE NEW DEAL, Jim Couch and William Shughart argue that important information and insights are lost by such aggregation. Using more recent data, they disaggregate categories of New Deal spending and examine its determinants over time.

Couch and Shughart find that both economic and political influences were important in determining the allocation of total spending per capita, loans per capita, and grants per capita across the states. Presidential politics were much more important than congressional politics in determining the allocation of New Deal spending. The authors conclude that "The weight of this evidence thus points to a political explanation for New Deal spending patterns: other things being the same, more federal aid was allocated to states which had supported FDR most solidly in 1932 and which were crucial to the president's 1936 Electoral College strategy" (p. 190).

Overall, Couch and Shughart conclude that political considerations were an important and often a dominant determinant of the allocation of New Deal funds among states. By no means were the New Dealers selfless and disinterested bureaucrats, allocating dollars only on the basis of individual need.

All in all, THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE NEW DEAL is a well-written book that makes us think further about the motives of the New Dealers and politicians in general. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the New Deal and the politics of the 1930s.

This is an interesting and useful book. It describes the efforts of French politicians to deal (or not deal) with the Great Depression. Among the reasons for not adequately addressing France's economic problems were: an overvalued Franc, economic orthodoxy, fanatical belief in the gold standard, politics as uaual, theory getting in the way of practice, and a general ignorance of economics on the part of French politicians. The problem was partially solved by rearmament and ther efforts of the Popular Front.

In defense of the politicians, it must be noted that the Great Depression came late to France and did not have sudden impact. On the other hand, the French reaction to the problems of other countries was to criticize their economic practices while praising French prudence.

This book may have some of the answers as to why France collapsed so completely in 1940. Early French efforts to fight the depression speak volumes with regard to problem-solving in the Third Republic. If you love France and French History, this book will both sadden and inform you.

Most books about Art Deco rightly cover the fine art aspects of the movement but the authors of this lovely book explore the way commerce used deco styling in mass produced products available on any Main Street. It would be a good few years before an art style was used again to sell things, namely pop art in the mid-Sixties.

Look at the many photographs of everyday items in the book and it is clear that manufacturers copied whatever deco style elements they wanted to enhance the sales potential of their products, at the same time a group of industrial designers where developing America's unique design style, streamline and contributing more elements to be copied, a good example are the three speed lines that popped up on many products.

I think the illustrations in the book are well chosen and they really do cover everyday items in use during the Depression years and nicely the text is broken up with various interesting sidebars like the one on Dolores Del Rio's moderne house or festive season graphics or Deco Mexicana. To compliment this excellent survey have a look at 'Streamline' (ISBN 0811806626) by Steven Heller and Louise Fili, basically a visual book with several hundred examples of everyday graphics. Both books cover so well two exuberant art styles that everyone could share and so were truly democratic.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

A Portrait Of Missouri: 1935-1943 by Paul E. Parker (Professor of Political Science, Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri) is an impressive and evocative collection of black-and-white photographs drawn from the historical archives of the Farm Security Administration. Documenting the impoverished farm economy during the Great Depression as well as part of the World War II era, these striking images preserve a memorable portrait of small town and rural history itself. The extensive, informative, scholarly text places the photographs within their historical context and complements this superb and highly recommended photographic gallery.

Jim Drey writes beautifully and with first-hand perspective about the ways one must re-learn to live life as a recovering depressive. His perspective as an on-going survivor of chronic depression, and not as a medical "expert" gives this book a directness that will touch readers who either live with depression or love someone who does. His poetry laced through the narrative illustrates both the pain depression inflicts and the joy possible as one steps gingerly across its "thin ice" onto solid ground. Highly recommended as a practical and engaging reference for depressives who seek more than the standard doctor-authored tomes can offer.

This book was extremely helpful in allowing one to understand the consequences of chemical changes that occur during and after childbirth. It is both helpful to those going through PPD and those in with whoms loved ones suffer from PPD. The book offers a plethura of information and places to obtain even more help in regards to Post-Partum Depression. I don't care what Tom Cruise has to say about it....his comments regarding PPD where irresponsible and unintelligent. He has no idea what it is like to suffer from an affliction such as PPD, one which is beyond the control of the sufferer. If you need a more fruitful understanding of this disease and it's terrible affects, please, read this book.

This is a great compilation of WPA posters. It provides a nice link historicaly between Art Deco and the silkscreen posters of the 1960's 1970's rock era. I was pleased to see some woodcut examples as well. Anyone with an interest in graphic design, modern art history, and the interaction of art and social/civic issues should buy this book. Posters for the People: The Art of the WPA

Ben Darling

I am always seeking books that include a wide range of psychometric instruments that can be used to instruct students regarding concepts such as reliability and validity. In addition, I prefer to use psychometric instruments that appear to have some practical application for our graduates.

THE PRACTITIONER'S GUIDE TO EMPIRICALLY BASED MEASURES OF DEPRESSION includes a description of the psychometric qualities of 94 scales of depression. These 94 scales fit into one of three categories that include:

Measures of depression, depressive symptomatology, and depressive moods
Measures of depression for special populations
Measures of depression-related constructs

The wide variety of methods for assessing the degree of depression is nothing less than overwhelming. In addressing each instrument, the authors use the following outline:

Original Citation
Purpose
Description
Background
Administration
Scoring
Interpretation
Psychometric Properties (Norms, Reliability, and Validity)
Clinical Utility
Research Applicability
Source
Cost
Alternative Forms

The consistency of this outline is quite helpful in reviewing these instruments when students are first learning about test construction. In addition, the authors have included reprints of 24 instruments meant to measure depression. These reproductions are extremely helpful for students who are first learning about test construction.

In addition to being a wonderful tool to learn the basic of instrument construction, THE PRACTITIONER'S GUIDE TO EMPIRICALLY BASED MEASURES OF DEPRESSION is an equally beneficial tool for the practitioner and the researcher. In fact, I suspect that the author's primary intended audience is practitioners. Regardless, this is a wonderful volume that will be a great benefit to many.

As a side note, the publisher Kluwer Academic/Plenum has produced a similar book entitled, THE PRACTITIONER'S GUIDE TO EMPIRICALLY BASED MEASURES OF ANXIETY. It too, is an excellent volume.

When I first went through the book I placed post its so I could refer back to my favorite poems...than I decieded to start from the beginning...so I could understand the various levels of depression.....You never know what might really be going on in ones mind and if they are hiding their particular level of depression....this book given to a friend or family member for them to refer at their leisure is a great gift...My favorite poems "Don't Surrender the Mind"and my daily poem "I Will Be Happy Again" really rocks...Enjoy