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The Forgotten Man: A New History
The Forgotten Man: A New History
The Forgotten Man: A New History
Audiobook14 hours

The Forgotten Man: A New History

Written by Amity Shlaes

Narrated by Terence Aselford

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

It's difficult today to imagine how America survived the Great Depression. Only through the stories of the common people who struggled during that era can we really understand how the nation endured. In The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes offers a striking reinterpretation of the Great Depression. Rejecting the old emphasis on the New Deal, she turns to the neglected and moving stories of individual Americans, and shows how they helped establish the steadfast character we developed as a nation.

Shlaes also traces the mounting agony of the New Dealers themselves as they discovered their errors. She shows how both Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt failed to understand the prosperity of the 1920s and heaped massive burdens on the country that more than offset the benefit of New Deal programs. The real question about the Depression, she argues, is not whether Roosevelt ended it with World War II. It is why the Depression lasted so long. From 1929 to 1940, federal intervention helped to make the Depression great—in part by forgetting the men and women who sought to help one another. The Forgotten Man, offers a new look at one of the most important periods in our history, allowing us to understand the strength of American character today.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateJun 12, 2007
ISBN9780061472961
The Forgotten Man: A New History
Author

Amity Shlaes

Amity Shlaes is the author of four New York Times bestsellers: The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, The Forgotten Man/Graphic, Coolidge, and The Greedy Hand: How Taxes Drive Americans Crazy.  Shlaes chairs the board of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation and the Manhattan Institute’s Hayek Book Prize, and serves as a scholar at the King’s College. Twitter: @amityshlaes

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Reviews for The Forgotten Man

Rating: 3.812244859591837 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    great book recommend anyone who loves US history should read.

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    great book and well researched. Really opens mind to a different look of the Great Depression

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Just so good. I had forgotten how much I enjoy Crais. Great character development, tight plots that aren't trite or predictable, good pacing ... love it all.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not as good as some of his others; the ending was sort of dissapointing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pretty good thriller. I'll read the rest of this series when I run out of Randy Wayne White and Les Standiford novels.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Don't get my rating wrong, I enjoyed this book. The but is that the earlier books spoke to me because of the humour and Elvis' take on being a detective. This book is later in the series and is more of a typical crime thriller and disappointed me with the darker tones and lack of humour. Essentially, I enjoyed the book, but it wasn't what I was expecting from an Elvis Cole novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    From The Book Cover:

    In an alleyway in Los Angeles and old man, clutching faded newspaper clippings and gasping his last words to a cop, lies dying of a gunshot wound. The victim claims to be Elvis Cole's long-lost father - a stranger who has always haunted his son. As a teenager, Cole searched desperately for his father. As a man , he faces the frightening possibility that this murder victim was himself a killer. Caught in limbo between a broken love affair and way too much publicity over his last case, Cole, at first resists getting involved with this new case. Then it consumes him. Now a stranger's terrifying secrets...and a hunt for his killer...give Cole a frightening glimpse into his own past...and he can't tell if it's forgiveness or a bullet that's coming next.

    My Thoughts:

    Although The Forgotten Man is not anywhere near the book that The Last Detective was, Robert Crais continues to lead his readers into the whirlwind world of Elvis Cole and keep the series alive and thriving. There is complexity here, and some surprises at the end, and Robert Crais fans will be begging for more Elvis Cole when the story concludes. Only 4 stars because there was some parts that for me added nothing to the story and made little or no sense of why they were even included.


    My Thoughts:

    Although The Forgotten Manis not nearly the book The Last Detectivewas, Robert Crais continues to plunge his readers into the whirlwind world of Elvis Cole and keeps the series alive and thriving. There is complexity here, and some surprises at the end. Robert Crais fans will be begging for more Elvis Cole when the story concludes. A 4 star rating because there were parts in the story that added nothing to the plot or the story line and frankly I couldn't sort out why they were even included.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of my favorite "airplane" authors. Very absorbing read and fast paced. Love the ElvisCole books.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Quite a good detective story. A good twist at the end, but the build up is quite slow.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If I had to come up with a "problem" to talk about with this book, it would be to say that it's a little predictable but only because the story in the prologue seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the book. When I stopped to ask why, I figured out the mystery of the book.What I loved most about this book was that Crais was able to give a unique voice to each character. It probably has something to do with James Daniels (the reader on the audio book) but I think Daniels was able to read each character this way because of the material Crais gave to work with. At one point in the story, Carol Starkey makes a phone call to Elvis Cole. I won't tell you what was said because that will give away an important part of the story, but I was impressed with how Crais wrote Starkey's lines in her own unique voice while still writing from Cole's point of view. The exchange was also a perfect example of the miscommunication between a man and a woman that showed both sides. I thought to myself, "How can this man know how to write a woman so well?"Speaking of unique voices, I must also mention that Daniels is fairly talented at voices. I loved the different voices he used to each character, especially Joe Pike. He sounded like a cross between Kris Kristofferson and Clint Eastwood.Like I said, I predicted the end of the book but this did not stop me from enjoying the book any. I highly recommend this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is the second book I've read by Robert Crais with Elvis Cole as the lead character. Although the writing was good, the plot was somewhat predictable and left me a little disappointed.Elvis Cole fans will still enjoy Crais' writing style and his ability to get inside each of his characters and bring them to life.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In this entry in the Elvis Cole series, we learn some of Cole's background. We learn about his mentally ill mother and his youthful search for his father by running away to carnivals and circuses where he thought his father worked as a human cannonball.The story opens when a man who has been shot in an alley tells the detective who finds him to tell Elvis he is his father and that he is sorry. This revelation brings back to Elvis and us the story of his youth. We also learn a little about the origins of his friendship with Joe Pike. Starkey, another detective we have met before declares her love for Elvis to herself but can never tell Elvis. Then there is Lucie who left Elvis in the preceding novel in the series because it was too dangerous to be near him who shows up in this one briefly to create more turmoil in Elvis mind.Payne Keller, the man who claimed to be Cole's father, has another son who is mentally deranged who thinks Cole killed Payne. The son who Cole dos not know exists plans revenge which leads to frantic violent end for a few people.This is another brisk story with a twisting plot that keeps you turning the pages. It would be especially enjoyable for readers who live in Los Angeles for he describes his drives through streets and past landmarks that would add an aura of authenticity to the story. I actually followed his route on Google Maps at one point.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    THE FORGOTTEN MAN begins with a horrifying glimpse into a house where a triple homicide has taken place. It is only later that we work out what relevance this has to the main story.This is a gripping story, made more poignant by the fact that Elvis Cole has been searching for his father all of his life. But the more Elvis, the "world's greatest detective", investigates the dead man in the alley, the more he is convinced they are not related. Why then did Herbert Faustina say he was, and why did he have a heap of press cuttings about Elvis Cole?The listener is helped in tracking the multiple points of view from which this story is written by the narrator identifying the character at the beginning of each chapter, if a narrative point of view change has taken place. It doesn't seem that this was used in the original printed version.You can read most of the first 90 pages of THE FORGOTTEN MAN online on AmazonThis is #10 in the 13 title Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. It was nominated for a Shamus Award.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Elvis Cole is searching for the person who has murdered a man who claims to be his father for whom he has looked and never found. A lot of Elvis's childhood is brought forth here as his childhood stories unfold as he seeks to solve the mystery.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a very nice book /audiobook! I always feel good to learn history and personalities. I always thought that the Roosevelt's presidency was great! I now I realized how imperfect it was
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An interesting view of the pre war years with roosevelt
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    An elderly man is found murdered in a downtown Los Angeles alley and Elvis Cole is called to the scene to identify the victim. He doesn't recognize the man. However, the detective who found the man reports that he possessed a folder containing clippings of newspaper and magazine articles about Cole and the last thing he said before he died was that he was Cole's father. Given that he never knew his father, Cole attempts to learn the identity of the man and to determine whether he really is his father.This isn't one of Crais' better efforts. I found it was hard to maintain interest and put the book down for a few days several times. Perhaps the next book in the series will rebound. I also find it getting boringly predictable that all of the cases The World's Greatest Detective investigates always end in a shoot-out and that typically Joe Pike or Elvis Cole is shot, stabbed, or otherwise seriously injured. By now the two must be little more than scar tissue. Come on, Crais; try to come up with a surprising ending.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Should be required reading for every current elected official in federal government as well as senior staff members of the Federal Reserve.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was informative but at times it was very slow and often had far too many details. However, it did give a very accurate feeling of the time and pointed out several changes that were adopted as to the federal government role for the nation.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Interesting book but sometimes dragged down by all the nitty gritty details it presents. Recommend.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Overall the book was very informative and anyone that dismisses it as some right-wing screed has closed their mind with a "Roosevelt could do no wrong" philosophy. It clearly provides some context on President Obama's view of what role government should play in the US economy (which is government can do no wrong if it's activities protect the "working man"), and the unforeseen consequences of such philosophy. The author shows that Roosevelt's philosophies and attempts to inject more government control over the economy did nothing but prolong the depression. Those attempts and the consequences are what led to Hitler's and Stalin's beliefs that their economic philosophies would work (whether through collectivism or Hitler's methods). I do believe that the book dragged a bit in some sections with details that were not really necessary.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you want to understand where the foundations of our modern day welfare system comes from then you'll want to read this book.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This book is tripe, with an illogical thesis (government spending bad, prolonged Great Depression! Proof! Government spending during World War II, which finally spent country out of Depression) It's only useful for smacking ideologues upside the head (figuratively. Books should only be used as weapons on ideas. Although mine is hardbound. . .).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Amity Shlaes’s “The Forgotten Man” is a new history of the Great Depression that’s rich in detail and fluid in its telling. In it Ms. Shlaes introduces the major players of the era and details FDR’s cabinet appointees and left-wing supporters. She details the stock market crash and the feckless actions of both the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations as well as the understandable early fascination with socialism in Stalin’s Russia. She points out that aspects of the New Deal were found unconstitutional, inspiring FDR’s threat to pack the Supreme Court with sycophantic justices in an effort to provide his socialist plan legal cover. And it worked.The fascination with Communism in Russia wore off when the truth about Stalin seeped out and war threatened Europe in 1939. By then, however, the seeds of progressivism (WPA, CCC, TVA and Social Security) had been sown. She points out, correctly, that millions needed work and that the New Deal did provide much needed relief and hope. She also notes that Roosevelt did great damage to the country’s economic recovery with his incessant war on big business. It was ironic that after enacting confiscatory corporate taxes, demanding wage and price increases, and routinely attacking “the wealthy” that FDR then fumed about the so-called “capital strike.” He accused these same businessmen of not reinvesting, of not growing their businesses, and of not providing new products and jobs. She concludes that in the end World War Two ended the depression. Americans went to work fighting a world war.Whatever your political/historical bent, “The Forgotten Man” provides reams of information in a surprisingly fluid narrative. A very good read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Outstanding and detailed analysis of the causes and accelerants of the Great Depression. Thoroughly challenges much of the public's current understanding of the Great Depression and the players involved. Many of the policies put in by the government in the early and mid '30s resulted in a worsening of the economy by '38. The demonzing of certain groups - both through propanganda and through politically motivated legal attacks by the administration resulted in more hardship for the economy. Capital simply and fully withdrew as a result of abusive tax rates and government taking of proerty. There are some frightenting comparisons with much of the rhetoric coming out of Washington today.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This is possibly the worst book I've ever read all the way through. Poorly argued, poorly written, poorly sourced. Sloppy. Laughable. Error-ridden. The title figure of the "Forgotten Man" is a moving target through the book so that by the end you're not sure who she even considers the "forgotten man." It's subtitled a "new history" but she never really spells out what's "new" about it, not once making reference to most historians' "take" on the New Deal and how her view is different. She shouldn't even call it a "history" - more like her personal musings. If her main point is that the New Deal didn't work that well and that we would've been better off under Coolidge and Mellon, I think Robert Bartley and the Wall Street Journal were making THAT point back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, so there's nothing "new" about that. She builds her story around unlikely heroes, victims, and characters of the time. She admires Calvin Coolidge, mostly for his ability to do nothing. She admires Justice James McReynolds one of the least-admirable justices in the Court's history; she fails to note the irony of the notorious anti-Semitic McReynolds questioning the Schechter brothers on their kosher poultry business. She worships Wendell Willkie. Felix Frankfurter is the evil eminence-grise lurking behind the scenes pulling the strings controlling those naughty bookish intellectuals who want to turn the US into a Stalinist nirvana. She spends needless time on the forgotten figure of Father Divine, why I don’t know. She completely underestimates the psychological value of FDR's leadership during the Depression. Her writing style is off-putting, feeling the need to give us the names of every steamship anyone mentioned in the book ever used to travel to Europe or back – perhaps she figured it would give this otherwise poorly sourced book an air of verisimilitude. She purposelessly notes coincidences of geography or states of birth of personages she's talking in ways such as "They had radically different economic philosophies even though they both lived in Massachusetts." She talks of American business leaders meeting in early 1940 trying to stop war in Europe from breaking out - sorry guys, too late! I could go on, but the whole thing is just awful. Can’t believe I read through the whole thing. Do yourself a favor and don’t do as I did.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This will be a truthful book, I am sure. The first time I ran in to the unveiling of the FDR lying mystique was a book that exposed LBJ, which I ignored. The next time was Stormer, None Dare Call It Treason. Now I seek to devour all the knowledge and exposes of FDR and what he did. He was a stalinist!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well written alternative perspective on the Great Depression. Anyone interested in the era ought to read it, if only to understand that history is more complex than the shorthand cliches we sometimes rely on. There was much more going on than the simplistic view that Roosevelt and the New Deal saved everybody. Shlaes reports on some under appreciated situations. Of particular interest are the legal cases of the New Deal, the extent of pure experimentation (as opposed to reasoned reform) and the contradictions and failures, which should be evaluated along with the successes. Certainly not a definitive history, but a useful addition to the mosaic. This book reminds us that hisorty is complicated and nuanced. Something we should remember if we seek to use it as a guide for present day decision making.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, by Amity Shlaes. This is a rather revisionist look at the New Deal of the 1930s, so it's relevant reading as we watch President Obama revamp the American economy, or not. Shlaes starts with the non-controversial, indeed straightforward fact that for all the fine things Roosevelt's New Deal accomplished, it didn't pull the American economy out of the recession. World War II did that. Her thesis is that it didn't, because it did the wrong things, encouraging various statist experiments while interfering with the power of the free market and especially innovators and industrialists to do it on their own.It's a provocative thesis, and yes, it's oh-so-very-relevant. Alas, however, she doesn't do much to prove it. She's a fine storyteller, she consistently keeps us engaged in her flowing descriptions. She's convincing that Roosevelt was a master politician, but we already knew that, just as we knew the New Deal wasn't a careful application of a fully consistent economic world view. She likes Wendell Willkie, the head of an electric company who eventually ran against Roosevelt as a Republican in 1944, and she positions him as a counter-Roosevelt figure. (Interestingly, Willkie was almost the last Republican presidential candidate ever to be endorsed by the New York Times, but that's a different story).The problem is that for her thesis to carry weight, not merely to intrigue, it would have had to offer a lot more economics than it does. The book probably would then have been a much slower read, and less fun, but it would have been more convincing, or at least more challenging. As it is, it's more a book of jounalism than economic history. I do recommend it though, for its interesting perspective and cast of fascinating characters and events.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I purchased this work in the form of audiotapes for consumption during my travels. I found it to be a comprehensive and moderately entertaining look at the Great Depression, the political figures involved during the period and the various programs rolled out in an effort to stem the rampant economic meltdowns of the period.Much of the story centers on the Roosevelt administration’s development of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and its clashes with private power generators and distributors (primarily Commonwealth and Southern, headed by Wendell Wilkie). As perhaps the largest example of government intrusion into the private sector (a novelty at the time), the long running battle is a good prism through which to see the developing politics of the era. Much of the book also documents Roosevelt’s all out warfare with the wealthy, again focusing on the highest profile example, Andrew Mellon. Living during a time when tax rates are thought to be too high, at or near 40%, it is difficult to imagine living in an era when rates exceeded 80% at the highest income levels. It is easy to see how such confiscatory rates smothered the incentive for economic growth and investment. Largely unknown is the ineffectiveness of New Deal programs to spur economic growth or cure near 20% unemployment. Only the coming of World War II did that.All in all, a good overview of the politics and economy of the decade of the 30s. Recommended, especially in light of current events.