The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes

This is billed as a new history of the great depression, and, as a history book, it does present the facts of the time in great detail. The problem is that the material wasn't organized well, and I often found myself wondering why the author just told me something. Ari Armstrong had the same beef and wrote a great article in The Objective Standard which used the facts from Shlaes book to highlight the main themes to be learned from the Great Depression.

I was motivated to read this book because President Obama was and is pursuing the same types of activities that FDR tried in his New Deal. After reading this book, it was made clear that FDR's policies hurt the economic recovery rather than helped it, and I'm convinced that Obama's activities will have the same effect.