Great Depression

No one really knows what caused the Great Depression of the 1930s, but in this issue, a series of underlying factors that contributed to it, such as the stock market crash of 1929 are highlighted. Also covered are the hardships that people lived through and the few lights of hope created by new government programs under FDR. In Great Depression, kids will get an info-packed overview of this decade, starting with what happened when people lost jobs, lost their homes, and lost their savings to banks that went under. Then they’ll read about how Roosevelt’s election in 1932 spearheaded a number of relief efforts, called the New Deal, which included the formation of the WPA and the introduction of Social Security.

Next up is a discussion of capitalism and communism, and the debates that rose around them during the Great Depression; for kids curious about how we have come to have our current political system, this will be very informative. Following this is a section on the Dust Bowl, which decimated the farm system in the Great Plains during this period, and inspiring accounts of what people did to survive this and other calamities. As for what it took for the country to pull itself out of the Great Depression, kids will learn that it took entering World War II, and the increased production of weapons and military materials, to put the country back on its feet again.

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