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The Forgotten Man

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The Forgotten Man

By: Amity Shlaes
Narrated by: Terence Aselford
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About this listen

It's difficult today to imagine how America survived the Great Depression. Only through the stories of the common people who struggled during that era can we really understand how the nation endured. In The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes offers a striking reinterpretation of the Great Depression. Rejecting the old emphasis on the New Deal, she turns to the neglected and moving stories of individual Americans, and shows how they helped establish the steadfast character we developed as a nation.

Shlaes also traces the mounting agony of the New Dealers themselves as they discovered their errors. She shows how both Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt failed to understand the prosperity of the 1920s and heaped massive burdens on the country that more than offset the benefit of New Deal programs.

The real question about the Depression, she argues, is not whether Roosevelt ended it with World War II. It is why the Depression lasted so long. From 1929 to 1940, federal intervention helped to make the Depression great, in part by forgetting the men and women who sought to help one another. The Forgotten Man, offers a new look at one of the most important periods in our history, allowing us to understand the strength of the American character today.

©2007 Amity Shlaes (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers
Americas Thought-Provoking Roosevelt Family American History Franklin D. Roosevelt Great Depression History
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Critic reviews

"A thoughtful, even-tempered corrective to too often unbalanced celebrations of FDR and his administration's pathbreaking policies." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Forgotten Man

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Slow start, solid finish

Like the great depression itself, the book labors along at times, but overall it is a solid and revealing portrait of the 20' s leading into and "through" that dark economic labyrinth providing the intellectual foundations of the New Dealers, their programs renamed and expanding upon Hoover's initiatives, and how Roosevelt changed American politics forever into group warfare. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

a story of forgotten times

This book really explains what happened in the Great Depression as individuals viewed what was happening.. this is a history that I did not get from any school I attended and I was a history major at an ivy league college.. a very interesting listen.. puts some flesh and bones on this period in our history.. strongly recommend this book.

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52 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

The Forgotten Man Lost in a Crowd

The book begins with great promise as it takes a new look at how FDR's policies did more to prolong the Great Depression than bring about recovery. However, it quickly gets lost among art collections, boat trips, government photography programs and the life stories of a cast of thousands that is impossible to follow in an audio book. I personally would have preferred a smaller cast and more focus on the economic principles that are all but glossed over. By the end, there are too many storylines to follow and they are not brought back together to form a coherent or satisfying conclusion.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Informative Read

There were details about this time in history that you do not normally get to hear about. Easy to listen to and informative.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

TMI Too much detail. Biased author.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Yes, I would give much more focus on the actual human aspect. How did the politics effect the daily lives of the average citizen.

Did The Forgotten Man inspire you to do anything?

No

Any additional comments?

Names of politicians was overboard. Lost my interest about half way through book.





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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A great book.

Shlaes does a great job of explaining what you will never learn in Public Schools. Don’t be fooled by people who call this “revisionist”. As you read it you also see a lot of similarities in the legislation and arguments that are being used today. Unfortunately some don’t learn what history has to teach.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A brilliant look inside the New Deal

This book takes a different, less flattering, look at the workings of both Hoover and Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great.

Now I understand why it took 8+ years to get out of the Depression. FDR did almost everything wrong.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding book on The Great Depression!

This is an excellent treatment of The Great Depression. Ms. Shlaes documents this time period from Coolidge through Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In my mind, hers is the definitive treatment of this time period in American history. Anyone interested in knowing why our government intrudes into every aspect of our lives will find many of the answers here. In my opinion FDR wrought incredible damage to our country with all the New Deal legislation he promoted. Ms. Shlaes begins with a story of depression in this country, then she deftly "pulls back the curtain" to reveal that THIS depression occurred late in FDR's term of office.

Sadly, the only thing that truly lifted America out of The Great Depression was WWII, in the sense that employment reached full capacity, etc. Far from being considered one of America's greatest presidents, I think he ranks as one of our worst presidents, perhaps, the worst president in that he crafted and guided the "takeover" of all our lives by the US government. It is almost impossible to go through a day and not encounter some aspect of our lives that is not regulated by the government. George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four has almost arrived! The government HAS done some good things, e.g. a military which has protected us, regulations about food and drugs, etc. So government is totally malevolent, but it has carried laws and regulations to the extreme.

I highly recommend this very readable, fascinating book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very Informative.

I found the book very informative. I was also surprised at how poorly thought out some of their initiatives were.







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