The dynamics of sociological evolution raised from the ashes of economic disaster were, of course, not evident back then. America's Great Depression is regarded as having begun in 1929 with the Stock Market crash, and ended in 1941 with America's entry into World War II. However, to fully understand the Great Depression, one must look at it in the context of events that happened before and after those dates. A lot of the negative impact of these years can be linked with much earlier legislative events such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Interstate Commerce Act passed in 1887 and the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. These, we now know, were some of the precursors - but things began to get really serious when on February 2, 1929 Federal Reserve announced a ban on bank loans for margin trades...what followed is the stuff of history.

In any case, the economic statistics are far from being as engrossing as the impact the Great Depression had on the American people. To fully understand this aspect requires either an extremely long memory or the availability of an extensive visual data bank - to bring back the disturbing images that defined this definitive era in American socioeconomic history.

Sample thumbnails taken from the collection. Click on image to view larger picture.

This remarkable CD from a2zcds takes a courageous trip down the corridors of time, back to an age when everything that defined the vaunted American Way of Life seemed to be falling apart. The Great Depression is described in this compilation in vast and disquieting detail. Included are photographic archives that cover the period’s most representative aspects - scenes of the market crash as it happened, the soup kitchens that fed the unemployed, their makeshift homes, the migrant workers that flocked into the cities in desperate search of work and sustenance, the families that reeled under extreme poverty, the crowded job bureaus that were helpless to alleviate the suffering...

What comes through most effectively is the indomitable American Spirit - to overcome, to sublimate, to rise above and to triumph in the face of overwhelming adversity.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

The Great Depression is an event that has been permanently emblazoned in American memory. And this serves a purpose - we must ensure than nothing like this is ever allowed to happen again. To that end, there is a dire need to learn from the past to fortify the future. History of The Great Depression CD, compiled and issued by a2zcds, contains an invaluable pictorial record and commentary on the effects of the Great Depression on the lives of American people. Scores of digitalized high-resolution photographs provide a first-hand account of how the suddenly unemployed and their deprived families tried to cope with shortages of essentials - predominantly that of food and housing. You will encounter poignant images of temporary homes and the soup kitchens that provided families with the bare necessities of life, while scores of other related images underline the overwhelming gravity of the situation as it existed then.

You don’t have to be a history aficionado to be moved to the core by this collection of timeless photographs. All you really have to be is an American - or just an empathetic human being.