1.

Elaborate text of 1 page where you make a brief review of the Great
Depression.
The Great Depression

Due to the effects of the Depression on the US economy, millions of people

lost their jobs. Around 1930 there were 4.3 million unemployed; in 1931, 8 million;
and in 1932 the number rose to 12 million. By early 1933, nearly 13 million were
out of work, and the unemployment rate stood at a staggering 25 percent. And
those who managed to keep their jobs had to take pay cuts of a third or more.

Out-of-work Americans lined up in long lines for bread, ordered food or sold
apples on street corners. A Chicago social worker wrote one day that: "We saw
misery and despair walking the streets, and our friends, sensible and thrifty
families, reduced to poverty."

More than a third of the country's banks failed three years before 1929.
Long lines of desperate people outside banks hoping to recoup their savings were
common. Many ordinary citizens lost their life savings when banks failed.

Farmers were hit hard by the crisis. In addition to falling crop prices, a
devastating drought in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas led to a series of dust
storms known as the "Dust Bowl." In the south, sharecroppers endured crushing
poverty and unimaginable degradation. African Americans suffered higher levels of
unemployment due to widespread racism.

The financial crisis was not limited to the United States. Countries in Europe
and around the world experienced the depression. Hitler's rise to power in
Germany was fueled in part by the economic slowdown, and throughout the 1930s
international tensions rose as the global economy declined.
2. Mention the 5 most relevant characteristics of that literary moment.

 The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in US history. It

began in 1929 and did not abate until the end of the 1930s.
 The stock market crash of October 1929 signaled the beginning of the Great
Depression. By 1933, unemployment was at 25 percent and more than
5,000 banks had gone out of business.
 Was marked by steep declines in industrial production and in prices (known
as deflation), mass unemployment, banking panics, and sharp increases in
rates of poverty and homelessness.
 In US the industrial production between 1929 and 1933 fell by nearly 47
percent, gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 30 percent, and
unemployment reached more than 20 percent. Because of banking panics,
20 percent of banks in existence in 1930 broke by 1933.
 In most of the affected countries, the Great Depression ended in 1933,
meaning that by then their economies had begun to recover. However, most
did not experience a full recovery until the late 1930s or early 1940s.

3. Mention the representative writers and the title of their works.

David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and
War

T.H. Watkins, The Hungry Years: A Narrative History of the Great Depression in
America

Louise Armstrong, We Too Are the People

John A. Garraty, The Great Depression: An Inquiry into the Causes, Course, and
Consequences of the Worldwide Depression of the Nineteen-Thirties, as Seen by
Contemporaries and in the Light of History
4. Answer the following question:
What lessons does this topic offer to our society today?

 Avoid debt if possible

Debt is a dirty word for most people who lived through the Depression. Tough
times call for tough decisions, and one of them should be refusing to buy what you
can't afford with what's already in your bank account. Then, double down on your
commitment to get out of the debt you already have.

 Go Where the Jobs Are

"Are you willing to relocate?" is a question that makes many job seekers cringe, but
during the Depression, desperate people didn't blink an eye, there was no choice
but to move. Most notably, the Dust Bowl forced farmers to leave the central US,
causing large population shifts. Compared to 2018, when only about 10% of job
seekers were willing to relocate. The pandemic led to relocation as people found
they could work remotely. Will it also make people more willing to uproot for the
promise of steady employment? Only time will tell.

 Don't Pay for Convenience

"Convenience is king" might be the ultimate modern catchphrase, as it didn't apply
in the 1930s. Buying food for dinner may be second nature today, but it was almost
unheard of to eat anything but a home-cooked meal. during the Depression.
Instead of browsing fast food, challenge yourself to use those canned goods in the
pantry.

 Stay Proud and Positive

Although they had nothing, many people maintained their sense of pride during the
Depression, and even slums were often kept as clean and orderly as possible.
People found joy in simple pleasures. Those who lived through the 1930s and the
war that followed say that the right mindset can do wonders in difficult times, a
thought known as "the knowledge that this too shall pass."