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Book Reviews Remembering the Great Depression in the Rural South. By Kenneth J. Bindas. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007. 184 pp. $59.95. ISBN 9780 -8130-3048-7. The crisis of the Great Depression and the political and economic changes it brought has intrigued scholars for more than six decades. We have heard voices from this era, most notably from Studs Terkel in his Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (New York, 1970), that help bring this history alive. But Kenneth Bindas, in Remembering the Great Depression in the Rural South, brings fresh insight into this history by using recollections from the rural South. Through oral histories taken by his students we learn how the interviewees “filter the historical truth through the larger and more subjective lens of meaning” (p. 143). His subjects are mostly from rural Georgia, born before 1920, and he has included information from over five hundred of these interviews in his book. Bindas skillfully weaves together these stories to help the reader understand the era from the perspective of the individual. He does this by using voices from the past to reinforce his thesis that memories re-formed the idea of the nation just as much as the Depression transformed the lives of those who experienced it. The discourse that the author presents becomes “a way to discern from the few the ideals of the many” (p. 85). Bindas is concerned with investigating the nature and meaning of historical memory. He uses oral history to demonstrate that people have vivid recollections of various hardships they suffered during the 1930s, and he shows that there is a uniformity to these memories. He posits that the collective experience that emerges in these oral histories has led to the creation of the “idea” of the Great Depression. The recollections reflect just how hard the 1930s were. Although people seemed to have the bare necessities, there were no extras, no safety net. People merely did without. The hundreds of interviewees remembered that they did not buy cigarettes, candy, Cokes; they did not go to movies. But all expressed pride in being in partnership with the government in its efforts to help the nation survive the economic crisis. All felt that they were playing an important part in history. T H E A L A B A M A R E V I E W 140 Bindas includes an interesting chapter on the culture of consumption, seen by the government as a vital element in the economic recovery. Consumption became a manifestation of patriotism, of good citizenship. The inability to consume, however, created a sense of guilt among those who lived in the Depression South. At the same time, the situation created a sense of community, reminding people that what was really important was their ability to accommodate the exigencies of the situation. As a result, Bindas tells us, pride and optimism prevailed. These narratives, replete with the details of everyday life, create a rich tapestry that give the reader, scholar, and layman alike insight into the nature of the Great Depression in the rural South. If the purpose of the book is to demonstrate complex connections between history and memory, then the voices create a unified discourse to illustrate the connections . For instance, the chapter on foodways provides us with a larger understanding of the social and political issues of the era by revealing the imbedded values prevalent in this area: “Food can reflect values, habits, and attitudes, particularly of a regional population” (p. 93). The interviewees tell us that they did not have to relearn old techniques to accommodate to the Depression, as so many others did. They never stopped using them; they had always had to make do. Unlike Terkel’s Hard Times, the subjects in Bindas’s book do not speak for themselves and allow the reader to draw conclusions. Rather, Bindas uses the voices to support his contention that the core ideals of the nation remained intact despite the economic crisis that disrupted normal life. If there is any failing in this book, it is that we do not get to know these people as intimately as we get...

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