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 Concerning the New Deal An Unreconstructed Populist Peroration (Includes interview with Hamilton Fish III) Scarlet Banners and Novenas The Doctor, Huey, and Mr. Smith The Circuit Rider The Gentleman from Kansas (Interview with Alf Landon) A View of the Woods Campus Life
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 The Raft A Touch of Rue
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. 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."Burris, Charles (2007-08-01) Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal: An Annotated Bibliographic Guide, LewRockwell.com
References
External links Audio recordings of interviews for Hard Times