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A review by heykellyjensen
Crash: The Great Depression and the Fall and Rise of America by Marc Favreau
While reading this one, I kept wondering when we'd discover the history of the Great Depression from those who weren't white. It comes -- and it's really what makes this look at this era in time so crucial. Favreau doesn't overlook the fact that the Depression came with more than financial loss and a giant Dust Bowl; he dives into the way racial tensions continued to escalate and, even when World War II encouraged people of color to enlist and serve, those tensions did not lessen.
This gave me a great idea for a person in history worth learning more about and potentially writing about, which was a nice bonus.
Great use of photos and primary documents with an exhaustive collection of back matter. My only big criticism was that the ending was absolutely abrupt. This could have used one last chapter or final word looking at this period of time from a lens of reflection. How did the events of the 1930s impact the most recent recession? What about the rise in racially-motivated violence? The fear of and deportation of immigrants? ALL of those pieces are in the history. It could have been more neatly concluded with those sorts of ties thread back together.
I'd pair this with Linda Barrett Osbornes's THIS LAND IS OUR LAND.
This gave me a great idea for a person in history worth learning more about and potentially writing about, which was a nice bonus.
Great use of photos and primary documents with an exhaustive collection of back matter. My only big criticism was that the ending was absolutely abrupt. This could have used one last chapter or final word looking at this period of time from a lens of reflection. How did the events of the 1930s impact the most recent recession? What about the rise in racially-motivated violence? The fear of and deportation of immigrants? ALL of those pieces are in the history. It could have been more neatly concluded with those sorts of ties thread back together.
I'd pair this with Linda Barrett Osbornes's THIS LAND IS OUR LAND.