Hard Times: The 30s

If you don't know much about the Great Depression and would like to learn more, there's no shame in reading "Hard Times: The 30s" from Time-Life Books. It will give you an overview of what life was like during the decade, and the pictures are fabulous.

The best part of the book are the factoids. Radio schedules, annual salaries and snippets of radio show scripts are interspersed throughout the text. For those writing about the 30s, these features are priceless.

Example: A union man listens to Eddie Cantor's Camel Caravan on a Friday night at 7:30 tries to do the jitterbug. His girlfriend comes in and pronounces him an ickie.

Theoretically Speaking
Books like "Hard Times" aim to collect the political, social and cultural realms into one coherent picture. It's a provocative vision.

Technology has created a cultural shift, from creative to literal. Radio shows required listeners to imagine events. Now, we can create worlds where violence happens and the consequences are within our control. Are we a less creative and more dependent society as a result of this change?

Yes. Between pictures of the Great Depression and Jean Harlow are more aggressive visions: Richard Frankensteen getting beaten for handing out union pamphlets at a Ford plant, for instance. Another picture shows a family migrating so they can find work. Some made unfortunate political decisions and chose to act upon them, as woman at the communist rally reveals.

Today it's hard to get worked up about much of anything. Economic downturns are taken for granted; prolonged wars are fought. It's still - as always - business as usual.

Compared to the days of the Great Depression, we're a society who brazenly feels immortal... Demoralized and immortal - a depressing combination.