"The Great Depression is the definitive work that will carry our collective memory with us into the next century." —Calgary Herald
"Berton’s chilling magnum opus… [He] has produced something very near perfect. It’s clearly written, fast-moving…and so well drafted it reads like a novel." —The Times Colonist, Victoria
"a scalding indictment of the law, big business, the bigots, the police and politicians." —Canadian Press
OVERVIEW: The worst of times
1929
1. The Great Repression
2. The legacy of optimism
3. Crash!
4. The world of 1929
1930
1. "Not a five cent piece!"
2. Mother’s boy
3. Mrs. Bleaney’s clouded crystal ball
4. "Bonfire, Bennett"
5. Old-fashioned nostrums
1931
1. Still fundamentally sound
2. Rocking the boat
3. The Red Menace
4. Quail on toast
5. Blood on the coal
6. Nine on trial
1932
1. The dole
2. Shovelling out the unwanted
3. Boxcar cowboys
4. Restructuring the future
5. An attempt at political murdern
1933
1. The shame of relief
2. Death by Depression
3. Childhood memories
4. Making headlines
5. The regina Manifesto
6. Bible bill
1934
1. The seditious A.E. Smith
2. Radio politics
3. Harry Steven’s moment in history
4. The year of the locust
5. Pep, ginger, and Mitch
6. The Pang of a Wolf
7. Slave camps
1935
1. Bennett’s New Deal
2. Speed-up at Eaton’s
3. The tin canners
4. On to Ottawa
5. The Regina Riot
6. Changing the guard
1936
1. State of the nation
2. The weather as enemy
3. Le Chef, the Church, and the Reds
4. Birth control on trial
5. Abdication
1937
1. The rocky road to Spain
2. Dead in the water
3. itch Hepburn v. the CIO
4. The Prime Minister and the dictator
5. The black blizzard
6. Bypassing democracy
1938
1. A loss of nerve
2. Trampling on the Magna Carta
3. Bloody Sunday
4. The Nazi connection
5. Keeping out the Jews
1939
1. A yearning for leadership
2. Back from the dead
3. The royal tonic
4. War
Afterword: The first convoy
Author’s Note
Sources
Bibliography
Index
