Review

Textbooks, Readers, and References

Along with the Civil War, the Great Depression "remains a seminal event in U.S. history." Aaccording to author, James S. Olson, the 1930s resulted in a drastic reshaping of economic policymaking. "President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal made the government a key player in the economy," Olson notes in his Preface, "and eventually Americans gave to Washington, D.C., the responsibility of maintaining full employment and stable prices" (vii). The Historical Dictionary of the Great Depression provides over 500 entries, written entirely by the author, on economic events, popular culture—sports, films, radio, and books—diplomacy, technology, and literature. Specifically, the dictionary directs attention to economic problems, economic events, and personalities "most directly involved with them." (vii). Throughout the dictionary one will find descriptions of popular movies like Gone With the Wind and The Grapes of Wrath, as well as those with political and social implications such as the pacifist movie, The Grand Illusion. Novelists include John Dos Passos, Pearl Buck, John Steinbeck, and Upton Sinclair, among others. Radio shows, especially the popular mystery, The Shadow, are covered. Notable personalities in the world of sports are part of the discussion, along with an interesting entry on the origins of the term, "Grand Slam." However, while providing overviews of the lives of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, for instance, no mention is made of the legendary football coach, Knute Rockne, who was killed in a plane crash in 1931. Supreme Court cases, especially Schecter Poultry v. U.S. (1935)—the "Sick Chicken Case"—are well documented. In the area of diplomacy space is devoted to the neutrality acts of the late 1930s, disarmament efforts, and the Good Neighbor Policy, in particular. Naturally, the majority of entries deal with New Deal officials, administration and congressional figures, and economic issues affecting public policy. Olson's work serves as a quick reference guide to all the major events, personalities, and decisions associated with the Great Depression years.	1
The author's descriptions in each entry are concise and direct. There is some degree of interpretative analysis in those entries dealing with New Deal measures. In certain entries, though, such as those on Germany, the National Recovery Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the Soviet Union, Spanish Civil War, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation far more coverage than necessary is provided thus affecting the overall balance of the work. A very limited suggested reading list is appended to each entry, although a general bibliography on works related to the depression and New Deal is included at the end of the text. Appended to the work is a worthwhile list of acronyms and chronology.	2
As with any reference work, one can quibble about matters of inclusion and exclusion. The author should have included a separate entry for the sit-down strikes in 1936-37, as opposed to briefly mentioning them in his entry on the CIO. Equally profitable, and no less interesting, would have been an entry on the Workers Education Programs—Brookwood, Commonwealth, and Highlander—whose socialist views helped radicalize the industrial labor movement of the 1930s. Most importantly, another area generally ignored in conventional histories of that period, namely the peace movement, receives no mention. Important entries could have included the Ludlow Amendment calling for a national referendum on involvement in war, the popular student Oxford Pledge of 1935, the National Council for the Prevention of War, and the late 1930s Emergency Peace Campaign. Faced with the threat of rising military dictatorships overseas, the organized peace movement enlivened congressional foreign policy debates of that period. One would also have hoped that intellectuals, particularly Charles Beard and his views on the devil theory of war and John Dewey's role in helping to create the People's Lobby, would have been given separate entries.	3
Despite its cost, Olson's reference work has achieved its stated objectives. Secondary school students and those in American history survey courses at the college level will find the Historical Dictionary of the Great Depression an accessible work that is arranged in alphabetical order, properly cross-referenced, and pleasantly written. Clearly, as we move further and further away from the actual events and personalities affected by the Great Depression, Olson's work can serve to remind us of how important it is not to lose sight of them as part of the historical record.	4
PAmityville (NY) Public Schools, Adelphi University (Adjunct) Charles F. Howlett

Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.