The interwar years were some of the most turbulent in the history of Britain. Given the strong trade and diplomatic links between Britain and the rest of Europe and North America, the former’s economic stability depended on several external factors. The Great Depression that struck the United States in 1929 had repercussions across Europe. The…
Tag: Great Depression
Book Review: Dust Bowl, USA: Depression America and the Ecological Imagination, 1929-1941 by Brad Lookingbill
During the 1930s, the American Midwest region witnessed one of its most acute agricultural droughts in the history of the nation. But this tragic event does not get as much attention as it deserves in history textbooks. The main reason for this is its coincidence with the Great Depression that precipitated in 1929 with the…
Conflicts between the communities of Maycomb in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
To Kill a Mockingbird, first published in 1960, is an enduring masterpiece of American literature. Written by Harper Lee (for whom this was the first and last novel), the story speaks of a young girl’s (Scout Finch) love and support for her father and brother in the backdrop of the Great Depression. This was a…
How will current world wide economic downturn impact our lives?
Structuralism as a social science discipline offers key insights in how social, historical and political contexts shape the lives of individuals and communities. Octogenarians living in America will recall the acute poverty and disarray that their parents faced during the Great Depression. Likewise, Baby Boomers will reminisce on the economic prosperity and social progress that…
Bernard Madoff: Scapegoat of an Economic Crisis
Throughout human history punishments have been meted out to people who are not guilty or only partially guilty. Actions that can invoke punitive action from the authorities include treason, fraud, crime, breach of trust, etc. Famous examples from recent centuries include Galileo Galilei, Charles Darwin, Bertrand Russell, etc, who were ostracized and punished for expressing…
Is unequal distribution of wealth & income a causal factor in the Great Depression and the 2008 Wall Street collapse?
In economies where income and wealth are unevenly distributed, the supply-demand equilibrium is threatened. In both the cases of the Great Depression and the present crisis, this factor had played a major role. According to Paul Gusmorino, “the mal-distribution of income between the rich and the middle class grew throughout the 1920’s. While the disposable…
Compare and contrast: The causes of the Great Depression and the 2008 economic crash
The Great Depression is one of the most significant periods in American history. This period of economic recession began in 1929 and continued for another ten years. Today we are in the midst of another economic recession, one that was triggered by the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2008. The intensity and scale of the present…
Proposing an alternative to the U.S. healthcare system
The United States of America, in spite of being an economic superpower also carries the notoriety for exorbitant healthcare costs and disproportionately poor health outcomes for patients. Moreover, the present healthcare system is so structured that the world wide economic recession in progress is bound to have serious consequences for the healthcare industry as well. …
Steinbeck’s depiction of the struggle of Agricultural workers during the Depression, his role as a social commentator, and its impact upon his work:
John Steinbeck is arguably the most prominent littérateur of his generation to have adopted the cause of working class America that was struggling to survive the harsh realities of the Great Depression. His most famous work The Grapes of Wrath depicts the everyday travails of a westward migrating white American family in search of better…
A Socio-Political Critique of Barn Burning by William Faulkner
The main focus of the story is on the moral dilemmas confronting the young boy Sarty, who is torn apart between his loyalty to his violent and anti-social father and the tendency to abide by the norms of the society at large. But, around that scaffold, Faulkner builds his statements depicting serious discords within the…