Charles R. Morris (1) (1939–2021)

5500. A Rabble of Dead Money The Great Crash and the Global Depression: 1929-1939, by Charles R. Morris (read 17 Sep 2017) The account in this 2017-published book of the history of the Great Depression is of interest but the heavy doses of analysis were somewhat beyond my interest, so I found much of the book not holding well my attention, though I agreed with his analysis of the effect of the New Deal and the discussion thereof is of interest. But I confess I was annoyed that on page 272 he says the man appointed to run the NRA in 1933 was Hiram Johnson, who he describes as "a California politician". Hiram Johnson was a California politician but he was not the head of the NRA. The head of the NRA was Hugh Johnson, who was born in Kansas, attended West Point and became a brigadier general at 36. He did go to the University of California (Berkeley) and obtained a law degree but that is his only connection to California. The book says Johnson was "in the process of losing a struggle against alcoholism" and I find no reference to such in regard to either Hugh Johnson or Hiram Johnson. So the error in regard to this causes me to question the accuracy of the book, though much the author says about the Depression seems cogent and reliable.… (meer)

A rather tedious reading of a book that probably would be better read in paper = but interesting discussion of the innovations in early America [generally from the Revolution to WWI], the rise of the middle class [and how the US was fortunate to essentially start off as such, and the challenge we are now facing from China, although it has hurdles of its own to deal with. Interesting history and sociology and some of the stories were really fascinating. Comes with a PDF to download. I'm not sorry I read it, but just sorry I didn't do it in paper or ebook so I could mark fascinating passages.… (meer)