The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes

The graphic edition of Amity Shlaes’ acclaimed history presents a different view of the effectiveness of government action during the Great Depression.

The Forgotten Man: Graphic Edition by Amity Shlaes and illustrated by Paul Riuoche. Harper Perennial, 2014. 307 pages.

Reading Level: Young Adults, ages 12-14
Maturity Level: 6 (ages 15-18)

Amity Shlaes’ Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression was published to great acclaim in 2009. Written for adults, it tackled the common perception that free-market principles caused the Depression and government programs ended it. This year’s graphic version of The Forgotten Man covers the same material in a more concise form. The opening vignette, the tragic story of a 12-year-old boy who hanged himself in order to spare his struggling family another mouth to feed, sets the tone for the general despair that swept the nation that year. But…the year was 1934, not 1929—four and a half years into the New Deal, and the nation was even worse off than when the Great Depression began. Didn’t Roosevelt end the Depression with his programs, as we were taught in school?

Our guide to history is Wendell Wilkie, businessman, industrialist, and Republican presidential candidate.  After the opening episode he goes back to the late twenties to show how the bad times started, and how the missteps and miscalculations that were supposed to fix it actually didn’t. It’s a pivotal time with a fascinating set of characters: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Ayn Rand, John Lewis, Joseph Stalin, John Maynard Keynes, and many others. Of course, just because a book is in “comic book” format doesn’t mean it’s for kids: the concepts are challenging, and it’s assumed the reader will already know certain economic terms and historic events. Some of these could have been explained in footnotes, but they aren’t, so it would be helpful for the average high schooler to have some background information (or a co-reader with some knowledge of economic history).

Cautions: Profanity/bad language (occasional curse words), Character issues (Wilkie was involved in adultery)

Overall value: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: N/A
• Artistic value: 4

Categories: Nonfiction, Graphic Nonfiction, YA, Adult, History, Great Depression