The Great Depression of the 1930s turned the lives of ordinary Americans upside down, leaving an indelible mark on the nation's psyche. The Great Depression, the companion to the PBS series of the same name, tells the story of this decade of disaster, challenge, change and hope. Beginning with the most devastating economic crash in modern history, Watkins recounts an epic narrative of human suffering, social turmoil and a political revolition that transformed the outline of American life and government- from unprecedented federal programs like Social Security and the Civilian Conservation Corps to local grassroots movements whose energies helped forge a new relationship between citizens and their government.

Illustrated with more than 150 photographs and documents- many of them published here for the first time- The Great Depression stands as the essential chronicle of a decade that shaped America's consciousness and character forever, in an age not unlike our own.