The Great Depression 1929-1939

by BERTON, PIERRE

• ISBN13: 9780385658430
• ISBN10: 0385658435
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-09
• Publisher: Anchor Canada

Summary

Over 1.5 million Canadians were on relief, one in five was a public dependant, and 70,000 young men travelled like hoboes. Ordinary citizens were rioting in the streets, but their demonstrations met with indifference, and dissidents were jailed. Canada emerged from the Great Depression a different nation. The most searing decade in Canada's history began with the stock market crash of 1929 and ended with the Second World War. With formidable story-telling powers, Berton reconstructs its engrossing events vividly: the Regina Riot, the Great Birth Control Trial, the black blizzards of the dust bowl and the rise of Social Credit. The extraordinary cast of characters includes Prime Minister Mackenzie King, who praised Hitler and Mussolini but thought Winston Churchill "one of the most dangerous men I have ever known"; Maurice Duplessis, who padlocked the homes of private citizens for their political opinions; and Tim Buck, the Communist leader who narrowly escaped murder in Kingston Penitentiary. In this #1 best-selling book, Berton proves that Canada's political leaders failed to take the bold steps necessary to deal with the mass unemployment, drought and despair. A child of the era, he writes passionately of people starving in the midst of plenty.

Author Biography

Pierre Berton, Canada's most widely read historian, was born in the Yukon and educated at UBC. Author of forty-seven books, he has received three Governor General's awards for nonfiction, two Nellies for broadcasting, two National Newspaper awards, the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and the National History Society's first award for "distinguished achievement in popularizing Canadian history." He holds eleven honorary degrees, is a member of the Newsman's Hall of Fame, and is a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Table of Contents

Overview: The worst of times	9	(496)
1929
The Great Repression	19	(4)
The legacy of optimism	23	(6)
Crash!	29	(9)
The world of 1929	38	(9)
1930
``Not a five cent piece!''	47	(7)
Mother's boy	54	(8)
Mrs. Bleaney's clouded crystal ball	62	(8)
``Bonfire Bennett''	70	(5)
Old-fashioned nostrums	75	(8)
1931
Still fundamentally sound	83	(4)
Rocking the boat	87	(7)
The Red Menace	94	(9)
Quail on toast	103	(8)
Blood on the coal	111	(9)
Nine on trial	120	(11)
1932
The dole	131	(9)
Shovelling out the unwanted	140	(7)
Boxcar cowboys	147	(12)
Restructuring the future	159	(7)
An attempt at political murder	166	(11)
1933
The shame of relief	177	(5)
Death by Depression	182	(7)
Childhood memories	189	(7)
Making headlines	196	(8)
The Regina Manifesto	204	(6)
Bible Bill	210	(13)
1934
The seditious A.E. Smith	223	(6)
Radio politics	229	(8)
Harry Stevens's moment in history	237	(8)
The year of the locust	245	(7)
Pep, ginger, and Mitch	252	(6)
The Pang of a Wolf	258	(8)
Slave camps	266	(15)
1935
Bennett's New Deal	281	(6)
Speed-up at Eaton's	287	(8)
The tin canners	295	(17)
On to Ottawa	312	(13)
The Regina Riot	325	(13)
Changing the guard	338	(11)
1936
State of the nation	349	(6)
The weather as enemy	355	(5)
Le Chef, the Church, and the Reds	360	(7)
Birth control on trial	367	(8)
Abdication	375	(12)
1937
The rocky road to Spain	387	(9)
Dead in the water	396	(3)
Mitch Hepburn v. the CIO	399	(12)
The Prime Minister and the dictator	411	(7)
The black blizzard	418	(5)
Bypassing democracy	423	(10)
1938
A loss of nerve	433	(6)
Trampling on the Magna Carta	439	(7)
Bloody Sunday	446	(14)
The Nazi connection	460	(7)
Keeping out the Jews	467	(10)
1939
A yearning for leadership	477	(5)
Back from the dead	482	(6)
The royal tonic	488	(8)
War	496	(9)
Afterword: The first convoy	505	(8)
Author's Note	513	(2)
Sources	515	(4)
Bibliography	519	(14)
Index	533