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Liked It3 of 3 members found this review helpful “Shlaes tells a thorough story of the men and the political groping, fumbling and blind experimentation that prolonged and worsened the depression. She starts the book off with the tragic suicide of a 13 year old boy on a November evening, not long after the day that had come to be known as Black...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “This book is complete garbage, Amity Shlaes sets out to rewrite history in an attempt to legitimize a current political movement that is destroying the world. What else can we expect from a syndicated columnist at Bloomberg who has written for the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times? ...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“The Great Depression.”
Kitty wrote this review Saturday, April 21, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is a thought-provoking reassessment of the Great Depression and its political consequences. Shlaes main thesis is that FDR’s response to the Depression was mainly a continuation of Hoover’s interventionist economic policies. The government’s heavy intervention in the economy prevented a recovery by causing uncertainty in business. When business is uncertain, it hedge its bets and hold onto its cash. That means no hiring, no purchases and no investment. The government also extended its control over large swaths of economic life that had previously been unregulated. In the case of utilities, the government virtually took over what had previously been a private industry. That kind of massive federal intervention sent shockwaves through many industries, and destroyed some altogether. Business doesn't want to act if it doesn't know what the government will do in response. Shlaes secondary thesis is that FDR’s policies represent a sea change in the political culture of America, that is a movement away from individualism and towards statism. I was somewhat familiar with the economic case against the New Deal, especially after the Ohanian study out of UCLA, but I was shocked to see Shlaes put forth such a solid case for FDR's complete revisioning of America. FDR openly admired the centralizing socialism bursting forth in Italy, Russia, France and Germany and sought to model America's future on that model. Shlaes does emphasize FDR's dislike of German socialism, but the dislike is more towards Germans themselves than their politics. The Brain Trust openly admired Soviet Russia and Fascist Italy, so thuggery couldn't have been the problem. Shlaes did a wonderful job of tracing the effects of New Deal policy through the stories of the people that policy affected. The Schechter brothers ordeal as the target of NRA central planning and the politically motivated prosecutions of various financiers shows a much darker side to the New Deal than is usually presented. On the whole, this is a very challenging book. Shlaes carefully presents his case and forces her reader to re-examine his opinions with equal care.”
Sorella M wrote this review Wednesday, April 11, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I have a whole new respect for Father Divine”
jrenee wrote this review Saturday, March 24, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Story of first half of 20th century, mostly political about preliminaries and
Jerry W wrote this review Thursday, March 22, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
after depression.”
“This was an interesting if a little unfocused book. Generally it was critical of FDR's erratic attacks on business and his tendency to jump from issue to issue with no clear agenda. The book also attacks the 'Brain Trust' and other intellectuals that were so prevalent in FDR's first term.
D. S. Wellhauser wrote this review Thursday, December 8, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The final, vague, conclusion is that academics, anti-business interests (left leaning liberals), and an unfocused administration deepened and lengthened the depression.
Shlaes also acknowledges the issue of tariffs as well but does not focus on those as she might have.
After reading this book I am less impressed with FDR, and especially the NRA and the alphabet soup of other fascist organizations, than I had been in the past.
And the idea that FDR saved capitalism is less certain in my mind now.
But the argument of the book sometimes gets lost...I sometimes couldn't see the trees for the forest.
The idea of the Forgotten Man is addressed in this book because the Forgotten Man, before the FDR team stole it, was meant to refer to Man, or people, who were to pay for the so-called New Deal...the tax-payers and business.
This book is a corrective to the idea that business is a dirty word. We should all remember that now more than ever.
True, some members of the business community are overwhelmed by greed from time to time. But it is business that creates wealth, jobs, and a better standard of living for all the people...not government which normally bumbles its way through crises.
I would give this book a mild recommendation for anyone who's not read about the great depression but a strong one for anyone who has.
I enjoyed it for the most part. ”
“very inspiring, seeing what our forefathers were like compared to our present leaders....a very informative book.”
Marilyn B wrote this review Monday, November 14, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Interesting view of the Great Depression and well worth your time to read.”
Lon Ottosen wrote this review Wednesday, November 2, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This is a hard book to evaluate. In one sense it is an interesting overview of the depression and FDR's policies. But it is cast as a revisionist history of the depression and hawked by Goerge Will and Newt Gingrich. That is unfortunate. I see litlle in it that is revisionist. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge of history, regardless of their political persuasion, knows that the premise of the book---that FDR's policies did not solve the depression---is true. So while it is a good read and provides important detail it seems to have a larger contemporary agenda, to castigate those who may believe that government spending is the way to solve the debt /employment crisis. But in that regard it makes a few interesting observations but falls flat. It seems to want to denigrate the "intellectuals" in the FDR administration as being to leftist or anti-business (and for having extra marital affiars), but it fails to place the attraction of the left with the Soviet Union in the broader context of the time. It does not address why so many people continued to support FDR if his policies were so ruinous. (At least not until the pre-war election)To the extent that it seeks to tell a modern day parable it seems to overlook the differences in the times, in business and in the market. The Lords of Finance does a much better job of telling the story of the depression from the financial perspective---which this book largely overlooks. It does not really place the US situation in the context of the world depression, as if to suggest any linkage does not fit the parable it wishes to tell. It presents FDR as fatally flawed and vacillating , which he was----as are many leaders we have had (Nixon comes immediately to mind). It does give an occasional nod to the programs that worked. But it seems on some level unsatisfying.”
Michael T wrote this review Tuesday, August 16, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Lots of information...hard to follow unless you have previous knowledge of this time, I think. Felt like the author assumed readers were experts on the Depression and men and women involved during these years.”
starr m wrote this review Friday, February 25, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I disagree with Shlaes and marvel at her willingness to view human labor as merely a commodity forgetting that she is discussing human beings with a need to support themselves and their families. She illustrates what is wrong with Capitalism here.”
BookBum wrote this review Tuesday, January 11, 2011. ( reply | view 3 replies | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
