Seattle in the Great Depression with Bruce A. Ramsey

Captured from Great Depression-era Seattle newspapers, this narrative history of the city's business, labor, and political life traces a turbulent decade that scarred a generation and defined years of policy and culture. Underlying themes include the idea that the Depression was an economic consequence of World War I, intensified by reckless lending and restrictions on trade; that the New Deal helped people get through the Depression but could not end it; that the radical left made big gains in the 1930s but was ultimately rejected; and that, after the war, private economy revived but was not fundamentally altered. These are stories many Seattleites have never heard. They begin with the end of the office tower development boom, the real estate depression that followed, and the failure of two large savings and loans. Investment banker Ben Ehrlichman emerges as a fascinating figure. As the economy worsens, articles consider the growth of…