A "wonderfully written account of America in the '30s," the follow-up to Only Yesterday examines Black Tuesday through the end of the Depression ( The New York Times).
Wall Street Journal Bestseller
Opening on September 3, 1929, in the days before the stock market crash, this information-packed volume takes us through one of America's darkest times all the way to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Following Black Tuesday, America plunged into the Great Depression. Panic and fear gripped the nation. Banks were closing everywhere. In some cities, 84 percent of the population was unemployed and starving. When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, public confidence in the nation slowly began to grow, and by 1936, the industrial average, which had plummeted in 1929 from 125 to fifty-eight, had risen again to almost one hundred. But America still had a long road ahead. Popular historian Frederick Lewis Allen brings to life these ten critical years. With wit and empathy, he draws a devastating economic picture of small businesses swallowed up by large corporations-a ruthless bottom line not so different from what we see today. Allen also chronicles the decade's lighter side: the fashions, morals, sports, and candid cameras that were revolutionizing Americans' lives.

From the Lindbergh kidnapping to the New Deal, from the devastating dust storms that raged through our farmlands to the rise of Benny Goodman, the public adoration of Shirley Temple, and our mass escape to the movies, this book is a hopeful and powerful reminder of why history matters.

Frederick Lewis Allen (1890-1954) was born in Boston, studied at Groton, and graduated from Harvard in 1912. He was assistant and associate editor of Harper's Magazine for eighteen years, then the magazine's sixth editor in chief for twelve years until his death. In addition to The Lords of Creation, Allen was well known for Only Yesterday, Since Yesterday, and The Big Change.

• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• I. Prelude: September 3, 1929
  • 1 & 2. A Very Hot Day
  • 3. What the Headlines Said
  • 4. The Crest of the Wave
  • 5. "A Friend of Mr. Jones's"
  • 6. A Few People, 1929
• II. Exit Prosperity
  • 1. Panic!
  • 2. Afterglow, 1930
  • 3. Bathtub Gin and the Crime Wave
  • 4. Miniature Golf and Free Wheeling
  • 5. Hoover in Trouble
  • 6. What Did It Mean?
• III. Down, Down, Down
  • 1. In June, 1931
  • 2. The Hoover Moratorium
  • 3. A Dole for Corporations
  • 4. Oh, Yeah?
  • 5. Black Depression
  • 6. The Lindbergh Kidnap Case
  • 7. "Every Man Is Afraid"
• IV. A Change of Government
  • 1. Roosevelt Nominated
  • 2. The Battle of Washington
  • 3. Rebellion and Ferment
  • 4. Technocracy
  • 5. Poor Hoover!
  • 6. The Banks Give Way
  • 7. Curtain
• V. New Deal Honeymoon
  • 1. The New President Speaks
  • 2. Off with a Rush
  • 3. All Roads Lead to Washington
  • 4. Extraordinary Session
  • 5. New-And Multiple-Deal
  • 6. Happy Days Are Here Again
• VI. A Change of Climate
  • 1. Marriage and Morals
  • 2. Fashion Parade
  • 3. Repeal and Drinking
  • 4. Play, Sports, Gambling
  • 5. How the Churches Fared
  • 6. The Social Salvationists
  • 7. "We Don't Know"
• VII. Reform-and Recovery?
  • 1. The Honeymoon Ends
  • 2. Reforms, Dionnes, and Uproar
  • 3. Relief
  • 4. Dillinger, G-Men, and Dewey
  • 5. Huey Long and Others
  • 6. The Court Says No
• VIII. When the Farms Blew Away
  • 1. Black Blizzards
  • 2. Land of Promise?
  • 3. The Tractors Go Rolling Along
  • 4. Floods-and Dams
  • 5. Mature America
• IX. The Voice with the Smile Wins
  • 1. The Changed World of 1936
  • 2. The Pump Works-Up to a Point
  • 3. Streamlined Trains and Trailers
  • 4. They Hated Roosevelt
  • 5. Landon, "The Kansas Coolidge"
  • 6. The Voice with the Smile Wins
  • 7. Ex-Rex
• X. With Pen and Camera Through Darkest America
  • 1. Cocktail Party, 1935
  • 2. "Tobacco Road" and Best Sellers
  • 3. Social Salvationists Writing
  • 4. The Communists
  • 5. Candid Camera
  • 6. Benny Goodman and Bach
  • 7. You Can't Say That
  • 8. Hollywood Heaven
• XI. Friction and Recession
  • 1. Rainy Inaugural
  • 2. The CIO Sits Down
  • 3. Taylor, Lewis, Girdler
  • 4. The Supreme Court Battle
  • 5. 1937 Montage
  • 6. The Recession
  • 7. Was the New Deal Played Out?
• XII. The Shadow of War
  • 1. "We Take You Now to Prague"
  • 2. Isolation or Intervention?
  • 3. Martians-and Germans-Advance
  • 4. The World of Tomorrow?
  • 5. A Royal Visit and a Summer Lull
  • 6. An Era Ends
• Appendix
• Index
• About the Author