21H.126 America in Depression and War: Assignments

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 Reading Questions for Galbraith, The Great Crash

What was the atmosphere of the 1920s?

How many people participated in the speculative boom?

How did it influence and shape American culture?

Did Americans instantly know that the Crash signaled Depression?

What was so "great" about the Great Crash?

What were the immediate responses and what explains those responses?

When did the country begin to realize the severity of the decline?

Why did Hoover not take more aggressive action?

According to Galbraith what were the causes of the Depression?

What role did domestic factors play? What about international factors?


Assignment for Class (in addition to the reading and response paper): Go to the library and get 2-3 primary documents from the weeks and months following the Great Crash. Using the New York Times Index or the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature (both reference sources), identify articles to look up on a specific topic of your interest. Or else just browse through publications from the time. The documents can be editorials, statistics, news stories, etc. from a wide range of sources. Copy these documents, bring them to class, and be prepared to share them with your classmates. What do they reveal about how Americans experienced the crash? What kinds of questions do they answer? What kinds do they not?