“Nearly five in ten white families and nine in ten black families endured poverty at some point during the Depression.”

Why was the rate of poverty so high for black families in the 1930s? The version of American history that I learned in high school decades ago never explored this question. In fact, I don’t recall learning much at all about laws in the last century that made things worse … Read More

“The course of history is unpredictable, as irregular as the weather, as errant as affection, nations rising and falling by whim and chance, battered by violence, corrupted by greed . . .”

“. . . seized by tyrants, raided by rogues, addled by demagogues.”  What a wonderful opening sentence! I’m eager to make my way through this 900+ page history of America. At this moment – in the first hours of autumn, in the heat of a presidential election, in a torrent … Read More