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"Noting the lack of consensus on the causes, depth, and length of the Great 
Depression Parker chose to begin the volume" with a chapter overviewing the 
decade. 
 
I've also found the lack of consensus amongst second generation Americans 
regarding the actual depth and length of the depression to be a bit 
surprising. It's all anecdotal, of course, but some older Americans do hold 
the view that stories regarding the severity of the downturn are 
exaggerations and that, in actuality, things were not as bad then as people 
claim they were today. Of course, throwing about "facts" like 25% 
unemployment always make for an interesting attention grabber in the 
classroom and, of course, talking about Brown's research into the strength 
of the vertical shift can add some luster to the time worn Keynesian cross, 
nonetheless, it would make things more believable if some research could be 
included with all this on how we came up with some of the accepted 
traditional "Great Depression" statistics we rely on when discussing this 
event. For example, where does the 25% unemployment figure come from? 
 
Chas Anderson  
 
 
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