A novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932. When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there...

During the Depression, Reuben's father becomes a carnival wingwalker and Reuben has a chance to overcome his terror of flying.

"It's my sister's turn to eat," a hungry child tells her teacher. Quotes like that one bring home what it was like to be young and poor in Depression America. This stirring photo-essay combines such unforgettable personal details with a clear historical overview of the period and black-and-white photos by Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and many others. As Freedman says, these images "convey in human terms the true meaning of economic statistics." His...

During the "Great Depression," a family seeking work finds employment for two weeks digging potatoes in Idaho.

On a visit to Cincinnati from rural Kentucky during the Great Depression, Aunt Millie impresses Kit with her money-saving cleverness. Includes information on life in America during the Great Depression.

Kit, working as a reporter for the children's page of the "Cincinnati Register," goes to the local theater hoping to do an article on what goes on behind the scenes, and decides to do a bit of investigating on the side when the night's receipts are stolen.