Why the Great Depression Lasted So Long: Amity Shlaes on Economic Policy Blunders

Discover more about the policies that shaped a decade of hardship—and the lessons they hold for today.

Children of migrant cotton field workers from Sweetwater Oklahoma, in April 1937. Dorothea Lange/Public Domain

Commentary

In 1940, Victor Records released the Dust Bowl Ballads, an album of songs written and performed by American folk singer Woody Guthrie. In two volumes and a dozen songs, the folk legend sang about the droughts that plagued North America in waves beginning in 1934 and ending in 1940.