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Great Depression

Black and white photo of woman at tabel, facing away from camera, bending over recording device

In the 1930s, an ethnomusicologist tried to preserve the history of immigration in California — and combat anti-immigrant feelings — with song

Music

A new project is building on that collection, but this time with a much more inclusive catalog.

New book casts America’s economic future in strikingly positive light

Business, Economics and Jobs

Weak demand for new workers keeps long-term unemployment high

Business, Economics and Jobs

Why the Fed should print more money to help U.S. economy

Business, Economics and Jobs

The end of the American dream?

Business, Economics and Jobs

The Bleakest Generation?

Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone suggested that the Tottenham riot was fueled by citizens unleashing pent-up resentment over the weak economy, high unemployment rate, and historically deep budget cuts that decrease funding for poor communities in the United Kingdom. “This is the first generation since the Great Depression that have doubts about their future,” he […]

The World

Weak jobs numbers may hinder recovery

Business, Economics and Jobs

Job creation came to a near standstill in the month of June.
Kelly Evans, columnist for The Wall Street Journal, explains why these jobs numbers are so different from the ones predicted, and explains what impact they’ll have on the economy.

‘The End of Anger,’ New Optimism in the Black Community

Just before the 2010 Midterm Elections, a CBS News poll found that black Americans were more likely than whites to express optimism about the economy.  And while nearly 50 percent of black Americans thought America’s next generation would be better off, only 16 percent of white Americans thought the same. In the wake of the worst […]

Where’s the Great Art from the Great Recession?

The Great Depression produced some of the greatest novelists in United States history: John Steinbeck, John Dos Passos, Zora Neale Hurston, Nathanael West. In 2011, as the U.S. recovers from the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression, our next guest wonders why the Great Recession hasn’t yet generated a book like “The Grapes of […]

History of Earthquakes in Japan

Environment

Earthquakes and tsunamis are woven into the psyche of Japan. Kerry Smith, professor of history at Brown, remembers how the natural history of the country has become embedded in the social and political history of the country.