An entertaining and informative collection of first-hand accounts of life during the Great Depression....includes over 30 photographs and interviews with 22 Americans who lived (and survived) that challenging era of American history.

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Good War: A masterpiece of modern journalism and “a huge anthem in praise of the American spirit” (Saturday Review). In this “invaluable record” of one of the most dramatic periods in modern American history, Studs Terkel recaptures the Great Depression of the 1930s in all its complexity. Featuring a mosaic of memories from politicians, businessmen, artists, striking workers, and Okies, from those who were just kids to those who remember losing a fortune, Hard Times is not only a gold mine of information but a fascinating interplay of memory and fact, revealing how the 1929 stock market crash and its repercussions radically changed the lives of a generation. The voices that speak from the pages of this unique book are as timeless as the lessons they impart (The New York Times). “Hard Times doesn’t ‘render’ the time of the depression—it is that time, its lingo, mood, its tragic and hilarious stories.” —Arthur Miller “Wonderful! The American memory, the American way, the American voice. It will resurrect your faith in all of us to read this book.” —Newsweek “Open Studs Terkel’s book to almost any page and rich memories spill out . . . Read a page, any page. Then try to stop.” —The National Observer

In The Great Depression: Experience the 1930s From the Dust Bowl to the New Deal, readers ages 12 to 15 investigate the causes, duration, and outcome of the Great Depression, the period of time when more than 20 percent of Americans were unemployed. They discover how people coped, what new inventions came about, and how the economics of the country affected the arts, sciences, and politics of the times. The decade saw the inauguration of many social programs that Americans still benefit from today. The combination of President Roosevelt’s New Deal and the dawning of World War II gave enough economic stimulus to boost the United States out of its slump and into a new era of recovery. In The Great Depression, students explore what it meant to live during this time. Projects such as designing a 1930s outfit and creating a journal from the point of view of a kid whose family is on the road help infuse the content with realism and practicality. In-depth investigations of primary sources from the period allow readers to engage in further, independent study of the times. Additional materials include a glossary, a list of current reference works, and Internet resources.

"It was near the end of February 1944. A light snow was falling as our family of six and a dog started out in our 1935 Ford. The tires were almost bald and there was a third of the steering wheel missing. The trailer behind was a modified shell of a travel trailer. It was loaded with the bare necessities to set up housekeeping nearly two thousand miles away. We were moving from Kanawha, Iowa to Yakima, Washington to seek our fortune picking fruit in the fruit-rich Yakima Valley." UPHILL ALL THE WAY, a collection of sixty-seven short stories, is a first hand account of the life of the author's family and their struggles through the Great Depression and World War II, and their eventual triumph. The circumstances they endured, some beyond their control and some created by the choices they made along the way, provided rich experiences for their family and does the same for the reader.The author's father suffered ill health the last twelve years of his life. It was during this time that the author spent many hours with his father and heard, for the first time, several of the stories told in this book. After his father died, the author had many visits with his mother to get a better understanding of his parents' lives before they were married and to clarify some of the things he remembered from his youth, taking notes and recording it all in the form of short stories. The end result is an unusual collection of poignant vignettes that draw the reader in and make the pages turn.More than 2,000 copies have been sold.Here are some comments from readers.* "UPHILL ALL THE WAY" By James Sloter."Anyone who grew up in small-town Iowa and especially those who grew up right after the Great Depression will find something to relate to in James Sloter's stories about the obstacles his parents overcame in raising their family in Iowa." Ellen Heath, Homegrown Writing, The Des Moines Register and Tribune. "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few are to be chewed and digested." "OF STUDIES" ESSAYS II, Francis Bacon (1561-1626)"Thanks, Jim, for the copy of "UPHILL ALL THE WAY". We are 'digesting it'.The book signing was such fun-we'll do it again for the sequel!"Claudia Warner, Administrator: Algona Public Library, Algona, Iowa"You asked me to tell you what I thought of your book "UPHILL ALL THE WAY". You said that you rewrote each story several times to 'make it flow'. Does it ever flow! WOW!"Betty Shipman, Corwith News editor, Corwith, Iowa"I just finished "UPHILL ALL THE WAY". It was wonderful. I would like to buy ten copies for my book club." Peg Williams, Minneapolis, MN"This check is for five more copies of your fascinating book. Thank you very much for the privilege of reading it." Kent Ryerson, Norwalk, IA"I just finished reading your book. I enjoyed it so much." Delores Huse, Pharr, TX"I enjoyed your book so much and am passing it around for all my family to read."Maxine S., Dixon, IL"I hope your travels through Iowa and book-signings have been successful. I have finished your book-enjoyed it very much-it has us reminiscing about our own youth." Pearl White, Sioux Falls, SD"Your book was interesting reading and factual, as I can really remember doing many of the things you mentioned doing in your childhood. The one difference though is that you were loved and you knew it. I was fed and clothed, but I never felt loved the way you were. Your book is well written and in good order & people of a later day than the 30's-40's should find it interesting and educational.""Best wishes for a successful playwright."Gordon Templeton, Lincoln, NE"Please send me a copy of your book 'Uphill All The Way'. I started reading it at my mother's and would like my own personal copy." Billie May, Waldo, WI

I tell of a time, a place, and a way of life long gone. For many years I have had the urge to describe that treasure trove, lest it vanish forever. So, partly in response to the basic human instinct to share feelings and experiences, and partly for the sheer joy and excitement of it all, I report on my early life. It was quite a romp. So begins Mildred Kalish’s story of growing up on her grandparents’ Iowa farm during the depths of the Great Depression. With her father banished from the household for mysterious transgressions, five-year-old Mildred and her family could easily have been overwhelmed by the challenge of simply trying to survive. This, however, is not a tale of suffering. Kalish counts herself among the lucky of that era. She had caring grandparents who possessed—and valiantly tried to impose—all the pioneer virtues of their forebears, teachers who inspired and befriended her, and a barnyard full of animals ready to be tamed and loved. She and her siblings and their cousins from the farm across the way played as hard as they worked, running barefoot through the fields, as free and wild as they dared. Filled with recipes and how-tos for everything from catching and skinning a rabbit to preparing homemade skin and hair beautifiers, apple cream pie, and the world’s best head cheese (start by scrubbing the head of the pig until it is pink and clean), Little Heathens portrays a world of hardship and hard work tempered by simple rewards. There was the unsurpassed flavor of tender new dandelion greens harvested as soon as the snow melted; the taste of crystal clear marble-sized balls of honey robbed from a bumblebee nest; the sweet smell from the body of a lamb sleeping on sun-warmed grass; and the magical quality of oat shocking under the light of a full harvest moon. Little Heathens offers a loving but realistic portrait of a “hearty-handshake Methodist” family that gave its members a remarkable legacy of kinship, kindness, and remembered pleasures. Recounted in a luminous narrative filled with tenderness and humor, Kalish’s memoir of her childhood shows how the right stuff can make even the bleakest of times seem like “quite a romp.”

YouTube® sensation Clara Cannucciari shares her treasured recipes and commonsense wisdom in a heartwarming remembrance of the Great Depression Clara Cannucciari is a 94 year-old internet sensation. Her YouTube® Great Depression Cooking videos have an army of devoted followers. In Clara's Kitchen, she gives readers words of wisdom to buck up America's spirits, recipes to keep the wolf from the door, and tells her story of growing up during the Great Depression with a tight-knit family and a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" philosophy of living. In between recipes for pasta with peas, eggplant parmesan, chocolate covered biscotti, and other treats Clara gives readers practical advice on cooking nourishing meals for less. Using lessons she learned during the Great Depression, she writes, for instance, about how to conserve electricity when cooking and how you can stretch a pot of pasta with a handful of lentils. She reminisces about her youth and writes with love about her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Clara's Kitchen takes readers back to a simpler, if not more difficult time, and gives everyone what they need right now: hope for the future and a nice dish of warm pasta from everyone's favorite grandmother, Clara Cannuciari, a woman who knows what's really important in life.

In the summer of 1937, with the Depression deep and World War II looming, a California triple murder stunned an already grim nation. After a frantic week-long manhunt for the killer, a suspect emerged, and his sensational trial captivated audiences from coast to coast. Justice was swift, and the condemned man was buried away with the horrifying story. But decades later, Pamela Everett, a lawyer and former journalist, starts digging, following up a cryptic comment her father once made about a tragedy in their past. Her journey is uniquely personal as she uncovers her family's secret history, but the investigation quickly takes unexpected turns into her professional wheelhouse. Everett unearths a truly historic legal case that included one of the earliest criminal profiles in the United States, the genesis of modern sex offender laws, and the last man sentenced to hang in California. Digging deeper and drawing on her experience with wrongful convictions, Everett then raises detailed and haunting questions about whether the authorities got the right man. Having revived the case to its rightful place in history, she leaves us with enduring concerns about the death penalty then and now. A journey chronicled through the mind of a lawyer and from the heart of a daughter, Little Shoes is both a captivating true crime story and a profoundly personal account of one family's struggle to cope with tragedy through the generations.