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How to Use This Book
Th e Great Depression and the New Deal: Key Th emes and Documents is de-
signed to provide students a ready reference for studying the course and
impact of the Great Depression in the United States. Th e volume covers
the period from the stock market crash of October 1929 to the beginning
of World War II in 1939. Entries are categorized according to eleven key
thematic categories: Agriculture, Arts and Culture, Banking and Econom-
ics, Business and Industry, Communication and Media, Environment,
Government Programs, Organized Labor and Protest, Politics, Race Rela-
tions, and Work. Th e Introduction provides a summary of the causes lead-
ing up to the Great Depression and the New Deal response to the crisis.
Th e body of the book consists of alphabetically arranged entries on impor-
tant individuals, programs, pieces of legislation, government initiatives,
and social responses. Th e book also includes a chronology of signifi cant
events, a range of primary-source documents from the period, a sample
Document-Based Essay Question (DBQ) similar to those found on the Ad-
vanced Placement (AP) U.S. History Exam, together with a list of top tips
for successfully answering DBQs, and a bibliography of suggested sources
for further research. In addition, provided in the appendix of the book is a
list of specifi c learning objectives students can use to gauge their working
knowledge and understanding of the event. Th ese objectives are similar to
the thematic learning objectives presented in the AP U.S. History curricu-
lum framework.
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