To John A. Garraty, the Great Depression (1929- 1939), though tragic and grave in all aspects, was not an event to blame solely on leaders such as Herbert Hoover, but it was more like a hurricane: "the best those in charge of the ship of the state could manage was to ride it out without foundering." This period of economic calamity struck immediately after the stock market crash in 1929, and devastated the lives of millions--not only Americans, but people around the world. Garraty claims that America wasn't the only nation to experience such a pecuniary pandemonium, but other nations, to a lesser degree, also were facing a period of high unemployment levels, failing businesses, and money problems. To understand the Great Depression to the fullest extent, Garraty thinks that one must observe not only the effect it had on America, but also what was going on in the other...