Another book worth reading if you want to get at the truth about the Depression and the New Deal (as opposed to the glorification of government interference with capitalism that is the stock in trade of most historians) is Professor Gene Smiley’s Rethinking the Great Depression, which I reviewed in The Freeman in 2002.
The Depression was no more caused by capitalism than the recent financial crisis was caused by capitalism. In both cases, massive government blundering was at fault. Furthermore, the Depression was not ended by further government activism, but was prolonged and deepened by it — just as our current crisis will only by prolonged and deepened by the frantic bailout efforts.
