The work must go on: progress and development during the Great Depression - Research Paper Example

My approach is to examine what occurred to cause the Great Depression. Then it is important to understand what happened during the Depression to assist the community and nation as a whole. A literature review into how historians and political scientists consider the efforts made may bring some insight into the perception that most individuals resigned to sit in their shacks and not work. Then it is important to look at what was done during this period and how it affected the overall status and structure of the United States of America.

A look at why the perception exists regarding most individuals not being productive and how the media and culture has reinforced this belief is important in understanding why the belief exists. Last a look at if it is important to know what actually occurred during the Great Depression, or if the truth does not impact history. THESIS STATEMENT: The Great Depression was a time of communities coming together for the better good, creating projects and jobs to assist individuals, unlike what is reported in reports of the Great Depression.

PRELIMINARY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: McElvaine, Robert S. The Great Depression: America 1929-1941. New York: Crown Publishing, 2004. Print. This is a book that falls between a intense history book and a summary of the events occurring. McElvaine takes into account all aspects of the Great Depression without getting lost in specifics. Historically accounts of historical events were written from a governmental prospective. How an event was perceived by the elite. When this book was initially written, historical writing was adapting to be from a different prospective.

Instead of looking through the eyes of the government and elites, this book looks at the Great Depression through the eyes of those who lived it as well as the government. Another attribute that sets McElvaine apart of his counterparts was that he wrote not only from a political view, but also a social one. To look at the Great Depression through a social lens gives a deeper understanding of what happened. Rothbard, Murray N. America’s Great Depression. 5th ed. Auburn, AL: Mises Institute. 2000.

Unlike McElvaines work, Murray Rothbard’s work on the Great Depression is very technical and political. By digging into business, economic, and social theory this work attempts to explain what happened during the Great Depression with facts and equations versus personal stories. Rothbard does not write about how the Depression ended, or the social ramifications of the depression as much as the tariffs and taxes that were imposed to fund the government. What this book does do is talk about the decade before the depression and how businesses maintained productivity during the early part of the 1930s.

Technically speaking, this work is solid and does give a well referenced account of anything and everything dealing with inflation, credit, and what the government attempted to do once it was realized the path the United States was heading down. Downing, David. The Great Depression. Chicago, IL: Reed Educational & Professional Publishing. 2001. Downing takes pieces of many different topical styles to write this book. He does not only look at the United States government, the years of the Great Depression, or the United States.

What is interesting in this book is that Downing looks at how the First World War contributed