What are the motifs in Hard Times; an Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel?

The possibility of another Great Depression weighs heavy in the book. Interviewees cite two principal reasons why American society cannot survive another Depression. The first of these reasons is the American fixation on wealth. This is ironic given that this consumerism is linked throughout the book to the want of the Great Depression. Interviewees throughout fear that Americans would be gripped by a despairing paralysis if the country's economic collapsed again.