Review

General Books

In the last two decades, the historiography of the New Deal has experienced tremendous growth. Scholars both critical and sympathetic to the massive federal response to the Great Depression have issued a deluge of books and articles that have dramatically improved understanding of the New Deal's origins, effects, actors, and significance. Recently, scholars have begun to examine the New Deal experience in individual states. One of the most illuminating of these state studies in Jerry Bruce Thomas' An Appalachian New Deal: West Virginia in the Great Depression. Thomas argues that an investigation of the Great Depression in West Virginia offers more than an opportunity to examine the New Deal in microcosm. It also is a way to trace the origins and scope of persistent poverty, political and economic corruption, and regional identity in Appalachia. Recently Appalachian scholars such as Paul Salstrom have argued that the problems most identified with the southern mountains were not historic realities but the lasting effects of the failure of reform efforts, most notably Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Thomas argues that these revisionist views ignore the economic and social realities West Virginia faced before the depression. West Virginia's problems began well before the stock market crash of 1929. Coal miners suffered from declining wages, falling production, and oppressive policies that kept them at the mercy of company officials. Farmers faced falling prices, increased competition, and depleted soil. The vast majority of citizens fell into the category of the rural poor, living isolated lives in near subsistence conditions. But, conditions were changing for the better. National prosperity, improvements to state infrastructure, and political stability gave West Virginians hope for the future.	1
The stock market crash exposed fundamental flaws in both the state and national economies, and the results fell heaviest on those least able to cope. If the South was, as Roosevelt noted, the nations top economy concern during the Great Depression, West Virginia possessed some of the region's most heartbreaking conditions. Yet, despite worsening social and economic conditions in 1929 and 1930, the state's Republican governor did little to help ease citizens' suffering. As a result, Democrats captured the governorship, the legislature, and a host of other offices in 1932 on promises to extend relief and recovery to all state citizens. These promises were only partially realized. Though the Democrats revamped the state and local welfare system, patronage and corruption grew worse making West Virginians even more dependent on federal programs. Battles between state and federal officials over policies and partisanship were significant barriers to bringing relief to those who needed it most.	2
Thomas is at his best describing the hardships faced by the state's poorest residents. While politicians in Charleston were using relief programs to extend patronage, miners fired for union activities squatted with their families on any available land. One mother, unable to provide for her three children, drowned them to keep them from the slower death of starvation. Similar examples put a human face on the Great Depression in West Virginia. According to Thomas, some New Deal programs, especially the National Youth Administration and Works Progress Administration, brought relief to those who needed it most. But most federal and state efforts were stymied by political infighting. Some West Virginians did reap lasting benefits from the New Deal. As in other states, women entered professional ranks in relief programs, giving them work experience outside the home and political influence that was long overdue. African Americans benefited in a similar way, albeit on a much smaller scale. According to Thomas the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) enjoyed the greatest gains. The Wagner Act and subsequent labor legislation protected the right to organize and allowed the UMWA to work against unsafe and oppressive mine company policies.	3
This book is well-researched, well-written, and gives readers unparalleled insight into the New Deal in West Virginia from the perspectives of state leaders, federal officials, and the state's poor. Teachers searching for compelling examples of conditions spawned by the Great Depression or conflicts caused by federal relief policies should find this book useful. Any graduate or advanced students would benefit from a close reading, but this book will find its audience among serious students of Appalachia and the New Deal.	4
Western Carolina University   Richard D. Starnes

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