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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In her interview, what does Diana Morgan say never interested her?

2. What did Bob Leary's father do during much of the Depression to avoid going crazy?

3. What was Bob La Follette's signature issue in the 1928 election?

4. In Man and Boy, what does Clifford Burke credit with black men's survival in the Depression?

5. What did many of Arthur Robinson's friends say was the only reason to have money?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Doc Graham's attitude toward Franklin Roosevelt?

2. How did the "southern belle" Diane Morgan become socially conscious in the 1930's?

3. What was the purpose of the Bonus March?

4. Why was psychoanalysis largely ineffective in the Depression?

5. How did Blackie Gold end up maintaining national forests in the 1930's?

6. How did Yip Harburg find his way to making music?

7. What did Arthur Robinson experience after the Wall Street Crash of 1929?

8. Who is Bob La Follette?

9. How do interviewees who were young in the 1930's realize something bad happened in the country?

10. How does Terkel explain his purposes in writing Hard Times?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the young people who are interviewed about the Depression in Hard Times. What information do most of them have about the facts of the 1930's? What current events - those of 1970 - concern these interviewees? How are the concerns of the 1930's connected to the present issues? Discuss how the more politically-active interviewees view the consumerist spirit that was born out of the Depression.

Essay Topic 2

The 1930's, as a result of the abject poverty and of Prohibition, became an era of romanticized criminality. Write an essay on the popularity of illegal behavior at this time. What was the nature of the industry dedicated to circumventing Prohibition laws? Why were figures like John Dillinger and Machine Gun Kelly folk heroes for robbing the banks? To what extent were they enacting public disgust with failed institutions?

Essay Topic 3

During the Depression, the United States government offered amenities to its people that were unheard of in the past: farmland, housing, camps for the indigent. Write an essay about the public reaction to these amenities. How did each of them prove a model of cooperation? To what extent did people view them as a stepping stone to private ownership? Which of these amenities are still in existence? Why did some disappear and others degrade over time?

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