{"product_id":"what-can-we-learn-from-the-great-depression-stories-of-ordinary-people-collective-action-in-hard-times-paperback","title":"What Can We Learn from the Great Depression?: Stories of Ordinary People \u0026 Collective Action in Hard Times - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDana Frank\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e4 stories of resilience, mutual aid, and radical rebellion that will transform how we understand the Great Depression\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing on little-known stories of working people, \u003ci\u003eWhat Can We Learn from the Great Depression? \u003c\/i\u003eamplifies voices that have been long omitted from standard histories of the Depression era. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn four tales, Professor Dana Frank explores how ordinary working people in the US turned to collective action to meet the crisis of the Great Depression and what we can learn from them today. Readers are introduced to \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ethe 7 daring Black women who worked as wet nurses and staged a sit-down strike to demand better pay and an end to racial discrimination\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ethe groups who used mutual aid, cooperatives, eviction protests, and demands for government relief to meet their basic needs\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ethe million Mexican and Mexican American \u003ci\u003erepatriados\u003c\/i\u003e who were erased from mainstream historical memory, while (often fictitious) white \"Dust Bowl migrants\" became enshrined\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ethe Black Legion, a white supremacist fascist organization that saw racism, antisemitism, anti-Catholicism, and fascism as the cure to the Depression\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile capitalism crashed during the Great Depression, racism did not and was, in fact, wielded by some to blame and oppress their neighbors. Patriarchy persisted, too, undermining the power of social movements and justifying women's marginalization within them. For other ordinary people, collective action gave them the means to survive and fight against such hostilities. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat resulted were powerful new forms of horizontal reciprocity and solidarity that allowed people to provide each other with the bread, beans, and comradeship of daily life. The New Deal, when it arrived, provided vital resources to many, but others were cut off from its full benefits, especially if they were women or people of color. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhat Can We Learn from the Great Depression? \u003c\/i\u003eshows us how we might look to the past to think about how we can shape the future of our own failed economy. These lessons can also help us imagine and build movements to challenge such an economy--and to transform the state as a whole--in service to the common good without replicating racism and patriarchy.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDana Frank\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor Emerita of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A well-regarded senior historian, she is the author of many books on labor, women, and social justice in the US and Honduras. Her writing has appeared in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Washington Post, Guardian, The Nation, Foreign Affairs, \u003c\/i\u003eand many other publications, and she has testified before both the US Congress and Canadian Parliament.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 336\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 8.6 x 5.6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 26, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53756080128333,"sku":"9780807022115","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0927\/3304\/7117\/files\/wFdMHyx-CT9780807022115.webp?v=1776722068","url":"https:\/\/belfastbooks.us\/products\/what-can-we-learn-from-the-great-depression-stories-of-ordinary-people-collective-action-in-hard-times-paperback","provider":"belfastbooks.us","version":"1.0","type":"link"}