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The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression | 
 enlarge | Author: Amity Shlaes
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $9.00
You Save: $6.95 (44%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  109 reviews
Sales Rank: 2614
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0060936428
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.916
EAN: 9780060936426
ASIN: 0060936428
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
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Product Description
In The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes, one of the nation's most-respected economic commentators, offers a striking reinterpretation of the Great Depression. She traces the mounting agony of the New Dealers and the moving stories of individual citizens who through their brave perseverance helped establish the steadfast character we recognize as American today.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 104 more reviews...
 Setting the Record Straight September 2, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
We have been told all our lives that Franklin D. Roosevelt "saved capitalism" with his New Deal, which was a stark departure from the policies of Herbert Hoover. Amity Shlaes sets the record straight, refuting the conventional wisdom in "The Forgotten Man", a timely look back at the Great Depression.
The stock market crash was a major cause of the Depression, but Hoover's deflationary policies, the Smoot-Hawley tariff, Hoover's tax increases, and all of FDR's experiments following the crash created an atmosphere of uncertainty. Businessmen did not know what the rules would be a few months down the road, since they were constantly changing. As a result, they waited for more propitious times to invest--this retarded the recovery and led to a second crash in 1937. FDR eventually took his attention off of economic experiments, and instead pitted class against class to maintain his political capital. FDR's brain trust included many intellectuals who subscribed to then-trendy European collectivist nostrums, many of which were included in the New Deal.
Shlaes shows that Hoover and Roosevelt were more similar to each other than Hoover was to his GOP predecessor Calvin Coolidge. In the early 1920s, there was a serious economic downturn, but the laissez-faire ethic that Harding and Coolidge used to combat that downturn (which was short-lived and is now largely forgotten, thanks to their hands-off approach) was nothing like the interventionist policies used by Hoover and FDR that lengthened the Depression. When reading this book, one ardently wishes that Coolidge would have run for another term--he surely would have handled the Depression as the early '20s downturn was handled, and the economy would have recovered much more quickly than it did under Hoover and FDR.
In the book are many portraits of "forgotten men" who were bullied by FDR's alphabet-soup agencies. One of these was Wendell Willkie--he eventually ran for president as the Republican nominee against FDR in 1940. Willkie is remembered by many as a moderate, but Shlaes demonstrates that the free-trade, free-market ideas he espoused in that campaign were more conservative than many people realize.
Shlaes makes a few good comparisons to back up her thesis. She states that the French attempted a type of New Deal at the same time the Americans did, and it caused a collapse in their economy. In the 1930s, we lost ground vis-a-vis Britain and other nations whose policies were not as activist. If she had wanted to use more recent examples, she could have also mentioned that in the last quarter-century, Ireland has gone from being one of the poorest nations in Europe to being one of the richest as a result of following low-tax policies. In recent years, Estonia and Russia have made strong gains using these policies as well. And here in America, tax cutting led to broad prosperity in the 1960s and 1980s (just as it did in the 1920s), and the capital-gains tax cut of 1997 helped the economy pick up its level of growth in the late 1990s.
I compare Shlaes's brave book to Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism". Both explode decades-old myths ("FDR and the New Deal saved the country", "Fascism is a right-wing phenomenon") that have been permitted to live for far too long. Where the Great Depression is concerned, Shlaes is to be commended for attempting to clear the air.
 Superficial August 26, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a rambling critique of Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression that seems to have a theme and coherence apparent only to the author. Seldom have a I felt that I wasted my time reading a book, but this is one of those rare occasions... and I say that as a conservative who believes that FDR's economic response to the Depression is not only overrated, but in many respects has been detrimental to the country. Shlaes, however, simply does not make a persausive case. Her research is thin, perhaps non-existent. She spends little time explaining substantive responses to the Depression, but went on for pages about Andrew Mellon's art collection and his donation of it to the nation. While I do not mean to denigrate Mellon's donation of the art and the National Gallery that houses it, Shlaes' swooning over this act within the context of the Depression brings to mind Marie Antoinette's legendary response to the severe shortage of bread among starving Parisians with her comment "have they no cake, let them eat cake!" It perpetuates the worst stereotype of Republicans. I expected more from a former member of the Wall Street Journal's editorial board. For a well-articulated and supported critique of the New Deal, your time is better spent reading Jim Powell's "FDR's Folly."
A potential history textbook August 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This excellent, well-written, well-researched book by Amity Shlaes should be mandatory in college courses on American history. It balances the extravagant claims of New Deal enthusiasts with the reality of the Great Depression, clearly showing how FDR's experimental programs deepened and lengthened that unhappy period, contrary to the myths. Shlaes shows convincingly that the "forgotten man" was the taxpayer, not the man in the unemployment line.
A must read August 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an outstanding book with a clear description on the events that caused the great depression.
Interesting but not deep enough August 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Overall this is a valuable book with some very interesting insights into the era of the great depression, but I felt it didn't go deep enough into the subject, wrapped up in a hurry and jumped around a lot. A definite contrast to FDR as hero mythology. A warning tale for out time. It could have been better but was valuable none the less.
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