About this item
Hard Times presents a comprehensive account of economic depressions in America, from colonial times to the "great recession" that began in 2008. Written in crisp prose for a general audience, the book synthesizes a narrative account - presenting the known facts about how particular depressions started, the effects upon people in different walks of life, the policy debates about what (if anything) to do in order to ameliorate the situation, and how these depressions ended - with analytical commentary on the economic patterns underlying and transcending depressions and the debates among economists and policymakers in regard to their causes. While these economic downturns have created suffering and hardship, Striner also conveys how Americans have always endured and rebounded from hard times.
About the Author
I'm a history professor, and I write about a great many subjects: presidential studies, political ideology, economics, architecture, film, historic preservation. I've taught at Washington College in Chestertown Maryland for over twenty years. I'm a maverick independent, a free thinker, and I like to work "outside the box." Besides my books -- Father Abraham, Lincoln's Way, Supernatural Romance in Film, Lincoln and Race -- I've contributed to the New York Times "Disunion" on-line series on the Civil War, and I've written op eds for the Washington Post, CNN.COM, and History News Network.
