MYTH OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION:pain, resilience, and happiness in the early 1930s
Book ID/图书代码： 11980505B09986
English Summary/英文概要： Tradition has it that the Great Depression of the 1930s swept through Australia like a raging flood, tearing up the garden of the 1920s and imposing terrible suffering on the population at large. In measures used at the time, unemployment peaked in 1932 at 29 per cent, and rates of bankruptcy doubled. Popular images of impacts include men and women evicted onto the streets, eating out of dustbins, queuing for the dole, living in humpies, and tramping the countryside in search of work.
When David Potts began teaching history at the University of Melbourne in 1965, he ran a program for students to interview anyone who remembered the period. Many of the respondents recalled painful experiences, as he anticipated. But others spoke of the early 1930s with affection. They said that they had coped well, that the Depression ‘gave life meaning’ and that ‘people were happier then’.
Surprised by these comments, Potts went to contemporary sources to disprove what he saw as romanticism. However, despite reports in the press about increased malnutrition and homelessness, there was evidence overall that health improved and death rates declined. Suicide rates, after a sharp rise in 1930, kept falling as the Depression deepened — though the press still carried many stories of people killing themselves because of Depression impacts. Potts wondered how these apparent contradictions might be explained. After his students interviewed 1,200 Depression survivors, and Potts himself trawled through many first-person accounts, it became evident that good things occurred in the 1930s that the Depression itself did not undermine, and to which it might even have contributed. What Potts discovered has led to this thorough and lively social history of the early 1930s that covers not just the usual stories of suffering, but extends into compelling tales of resilience and happiness even among people who were poor and unemployed.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 据说上世纪三十年代的那场大萧条就像凶猛的洪水一样席卷了整个澳大利亚，摧毁了二十年代建立起的美丽花园，也给大批人口带去了可怕的灾难。根据当时的计算方法，1932年的失业率高达29%，破产率翻一番。当时看到最多的情形就是男男女女被赶到大街上去，吃着垃圾桶里的东西，排着长队，等候救济，为了找到工作而到处奔波。
David Potts1965年到墨尔本大学教授历史，他在学生中开设了一个项目，就是让学生采访那些还对大萧条记忆犹新的人们。和他意料中的差不多，许多接受采访的人都回忆起那段痛苦的经历。但是还有些人在谈起30年代初时的那段经历，还满怀热情。他们说他们很好得应付过去了，大萧条让生活更有意义，那时的人们好像更开心。
这一部分人的回答到是让Potts大吃一惊了，他翻阅了很多当代的资料，想要驳斥他看到的这些浪漫主义。然而尽管媒体大肆宣传大范围的营养失调和无家可归现象，但有充足的证据表明人们的健康还是得到普遍提高，死亡率下降了。自杀率虽然在1930年的时候有了猛增的势头然而随着大萧条的不断加重，也持下降趋势-----当然媒体还经常会报道因为大萧条冲击的原因而自杀的故事。Potts想弄明白这些看似矛盾的现象究竟是怎么会事。在他的学生采访完1200位大萧条幸存者之后，而他本人则查阅了很多第一人称的叙述，很快一切都清楚了，三十年代的时候并不是只要消极一面的，也有它好的一面，而大萧条是无法影响的，而大萧条可能还对此推波助澜了。而 Potts的发现就造就了这本以30年代初期为故事主题的社会历史巨作，作品可不仅仅只谈到了人们的痛苦，它更让我们看到了穷人和失业的人群中一个个顽强、坚韧和幸福的感人故事。
Awards/获奖情况：
About the Author/作者介绍： Dr David Potts ran his own courses in Australian history at La Trobe University, where he taught for 27 years. The author of many journal articles, this is his first book.
Format:HARDCOVER
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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