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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. What event discussed earlier in the book does Harry Norgard think was destructive to society?

2. Where did Max R. Naiman and his worker's rights clients end up sleeping after he got them acquitted?

3. What was the Actors Union's response to The Cradle Will Rock?

4. According to Max Shachtman, what international event ended credibility for Communism in the United States?

5. What did the prison where Scoop Lankford was held in the 1930's try to feed the inmates at the worst times?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Jack Kirkland become famous during the Depression?

2. What humiliation did Ward James face seeking relief in the 1930's?

3. How did Neil Schaffner's theatre troupe have to change their business model after the Crash 1929?

4. How did Ray Wax's life disillusion him to the idea of strive-and-succeed?

5. According to James Farley, how did Roosevelt alienate members of his own administration?

6. What was Edward Burgess's experience of the 1930's?

7. How does Christopher Lasch explain the possibility of a socialist revolt in the 1930's?

8. What was Dr. Townsend's contribution to the Depression-era discourse?

9. What did Hiram Sherman do after The Cradle Will Rock?

10. According to Elizabeth Wood, how did public housing develop the stigma it has today?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Among the strangest interviews in the book are those dedicated to the plight of farmers in the Midwest, in particular the sections regarding reactions to the price of corn. Write an essay about how the fluctuating price of corn led to massive wastes of foodstuffs. What did farmers do in an attempt to boost the price of corn? What other products did they turn to when the price of corn plummeted to absurdly low levels? What absurd and, later, sensible solutions did the United States government offer?

Essay Topic 2

The Great Depression was a time during which the most basic and reliable of systems in the United States failed. Though full-on revolution never broke out in America, dissident movements cropped up regularly. Write an essay about three such movements. What issue or injustice gave rise to this spontaneous act of dissidence? How did the movement grow in strength? What happened that finally put an end to the movement?

Part 1) The Bonus March.

Part 2) The opening night of The Cradle Will Rock.

Part 3) The farmers of Iowa stopping corn deliveries.

Essay Topic 3

Over the course of Hard Times, Studs Terkel interviews several individuals who held powerful elected positions during the Depression. These men took different positions on the issue of the day, and these positions were best expressed in terms of their support or opposition to FDR. Write an essay about these three figures. What did they think of FDR and the New Deal? How did each attain the power they enjoyed in the 1930's? Was each able to make a definitive mark on the country at this time?

Part 1) C. Wright Patman

Part 2) Stanley Fish

Part 3) Alf Landon

(see the answer keys)

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