Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (original: 1970/ latest edition: 2005) is a telling of the oral history of the Great Depression written by Studs Terkel. It is a firsthand account of people of varying socio-economic status who lived in the United States during the Great Depression.
The first edition of the book was published in 1970. The 1986 print included a new introduction by Terkel. The latest edition was published in 2005.
Chapters
- Foreword, January–February 1986
- A Personal Memoir (and parenthetical comment)
Book One
- The March
- The Song
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Hard Travelin’
- The Big Money
- Man and Boy
- God Bless’ the Child
- Bonnie Laboring Boy
- Three Strikes
Book Two
- Old Families
- Member of the Chorus
- High Life
- At the Clinic
- Sixteen Ton
- The Farmer is the Man
- Editor and Publisher
Book Three
Book Four
- Merely Passing Through
- Three O’Clock in the Morning
- A Cable
Book Five
- The Fine and Lively Arts
- Public Servant – The City
- Evictions, Arrests, and Other Running Sores
- Honor and Humiliation
- Strive and Succeed
Epilogue
Literary significance and reception
Hard Times is known for providing an equal representation of experiences across a broad spectrum of socio-economic status, interviewing famous and influential people as well as others from a range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.[1] It has been called "A true classic! Exceptional oral history of a wide strata of Americans caught up in the 'hard times' of the Great Depression."[2]
References
External links
