Book Mississippi and the Great depression summary

Expertly combining prior scholarship with primary sources in Mississippi and the Great Depression historian Richelle Putnam details how this crisis impacted the lives of Mississippians during some of our state s most harrowing years Bringing national events into local settings and traveling city by city almost farm by farm from the Delta to the Coast Putnam illuminates the experiences of locals from all racesclasses faiths and vocations Putnam s account is not just the story of resilience under Jim Crow the invention of Masonite or the origin of slugburgers rather it is the story of the search for dignity amid adversity and hope within despair Rarely have the lives of our ancestors been held in such warm and knowing hands Benjamin Morris author of Hattiesburg A History of the Hub City Arcadia The History Press 2014 Mississippi and the Great DepressionI m reluctant to even use the word book to describe this product It s a collection of information dumped into chapters without a consistent narrative voice or any synthesis of the data it contains The author has gathered an array of information that mostly applies to Mississippi mostly during the Depression and has organized it into chapters loosely based on topics such as Cooperatives and Homesteads and Arts and Entertainment In the chapter entitled New Deal Programs the reader is treated to a dozen pages that consist entirely of lists lists of government programs post offices murals lakes state parks great material if you need help falling asleep but otherwise of little interest The quality of the narrative seems to correlate with the quality of the source material Thus you get some good moments in chapter 1 which draws extensively John Barry s excellent book about the flood of 1927 Rising Tide The end notes are poorly done with numerous incomplete references For example there is no note for Barry s book that includes his first name or publisher information One would have to turn to the bibliography for that info This indicates a poor editing process which is on the publisher There was potential for this project to offer insight into the Depression s impact on the lives of Mississippians but it falls short Which is too bad because it s obvious that significant time went into research But too little time went into writing and editing to make it pay off for the reader English