AN APPALACHIAN NEW DEAL : WEST VIRGINIA IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION

In this paperback edition of An Appalachian New Deal: West Virginia in the Great Depression , Jerry Bruce Thomas examines the economic and social conditions of the state of West Virginia before, during, and after the Great Depression. Thomas’s exploration of personal papers by leading political and social figures, newspapers, and the published and unpublished records of federal, state, local, and private agencies, traces a region’s response to an economic depression and a presidential stimulus program. This dissection of federal and state policies implemented under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program reveals the impact of poverty upon political, gender, race, and familial relations within the Mountain State—and the entire country. Through An Appalachian New Deal, Thomas documents the stories of ordinary citizens who survived a period of economic crisis and echoes a message from our nation’s past to a new generation enduring financial hardship and uncertainty. Frontmatter Preface to the Paperback Edition (page viii) Acknowledgments (page xi) Introduction (page 1) 1. On the Eve (page 6) 2. Drought and Depression (page 27) 3. A Search for Order (page 42) 4. A "Jump in the Dark" (page 70) 5. The Blue Eagle (page 91) 6. A Failed Experiment in Federal Relief (page 112) 7. Reshaping the Welfare System (page 136) 8. The New Deal and Mountain Agriculture (page 160) 9. The New Deal and Families in Distress (page 189) 10. Reluctant New Dealers (page 211) Epilogue: From Nearly Perfect to Almost Heaven (page 234) Notes (page 241) Bibliography (page 285) Index (page 300) Examines the economic and social conditions of the state of West Virginia before, during, and after the Great Depression. Jerry Bruce Thomas's exploration of personal papers by political and social figures, newspapers, and the published and unpublished records of federal, state, local, and private agencies, traces a region's response to an economic depression and a presidential stimulus programme.