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| From the Editor |
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As Americans anxiously watch the stock market’s
daily fluctuations, the rising unemployment rate, housing
foreclosures and the scandals that have rocked the financial
world, the fear of another Great Depression hovers in
our minds. Like Lord Voldemort, it is a terror that cannot
be named. Yet it is the duty of historians and teachers
to explore the connections between past and present, and
to examine the context that past policies create for future
ones. Most importantly, we must remind our students and
readers that the past never actually repeats itself.
The essays in this issue of History Now achieve
all of these important goals. Our six distinguished contributors
examine the particular circumstances that created and
surrounded the Depression of the 1930s, the impact of
policies chosen and paths untaken, and remind us that
many of the institutions, programs, regulations and safeguards
in place today were born in the crucible of an earlier
era. There could be no better time to look closely once
again at the Great Depression and the New Deal than 2009.
In his essay “The Great Depression: An Overview,”
David Kennedy offers us a broad perspective on the causes
and consequences of the Stock Market Crash and the economic
crisis that followed. In “WPA: Antidote to the Great
Depression?” Nick Taylor helps us take a closer
look at one of the central programs that defined the New
Deal and asks us to consider its achievements and its
shortcomings. Like Taylor, Anthony Badger poses a critical
question: “The 100 Days and Beyond: What did the
New Deal Accomplish?,” offering an in-depth analysis
of programs and policies so closely associated with FDR’s
administration. In “Women and the Great Depression,”
Susan Ware reminds us that economic crisis affects women
in distinctive ways and that women’s experiences
add an important dimension to any critique of the Depression
and the New Deal. In “The New Deal, Then and Now,”
Alan Brinkley brings attention back to our current situation
as he looks at the lessons that can be learned from both
the successes and the failures of the New Deal. Finally,
Elizabeth Braun examines the role of artists during the
Great Depression. Taken together, these essays provide
teachers and students with a richer, more complex understanding
of one of the most dramatic moments in our national history.
Our interactive feature, “Hard Times: The Great
Depression on New York’s Lower East Side,”
was produced in partnership with the Lower
East Side Tenement Museum. It offers a visual reminder
of the human cost of the economic crisis in the lives
of ordinary citizens. In addition, our master teachers,
Bruce Lesh and Phil Nicolosi, suggest strategies for approaching
the era in the classroom. As always, teachers from around
the country provide lesson plans for elementary, middle
school, high school and AP classes that can be adapted
to fit the needs of your individual classroom. And, should
you want to read further or to locate primary sources
on any and all of the topics covered by our scholars,
you can turn to our archivist Mary-Jo Kline's pages for
guidance.
It is our hope that Spring will bring better headlines
and brighter futures for us all.
Carol Berkin
Editor, History Now
Carol Berkin is Presidential Professor of History
at Baruch College and The Graduate Center, City University
of New York. She is the author of several books including
Jonathan Sewall: Odyssey of an American Conservative,
First Generations: Women in Colonial America, A Brilliant
Solution: Inventing the American Constitution, and
Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's
Independence.
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Editor - Carol Berkin, Associate Editor - Lesley S. Herrmann,
Managing Editor - Karina Gaige, Associate Managing Editor -
Brendan Hughes, Designer - Brian Santalone, Archivist - Mary-Jo
Kline, Contributors - Anthony Badger, Elizabeth Braun, Alan
Brinkley, Matthew Clements, David M. Kennedy, Bruce Lesh, Roberta
McCutcheon, Philip Nicolosi, Liz Taylor, Nick Taylor, Susan
Ware.
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