Amity Shlaes’s book The Forgotten Man is an excellent book for a reading club. This was the first book we covered in Liberty In the Books (back when my questions weren’t very detailed). We split the reading into four monthly meetings, skipping some of the material. See also my detailedreview of the book.
Shlaes Reading I: Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 3
1. Who is the “forgotten man?”
2. Why is Hoover upheld by some as a an alleged champion of “laissez faire?”
3. What are some of the differences between Hoover versus Coolidge and Mellon?
4. What were the major federal policies of 1929, and what were their effects?
Shlaes Reading II: Chapters 4-6
1. What were the general Federal Reserve policies of the early 1930s, and what were their effects?
2. What was the intellectual climate during the Hoover/FDR era?
3. What was tax policy — and unemployment — by the end of Hoover’s term?
4. What were the themes of FDR’s campaign rhetoric?
5. What were the powers and consequences of the NRA and AAA?
6. What were the general trends in FDR’s monetary policy?
7. What was the basic nature of the struggle between Willkie and the TVA?
Shlaes Reading III: Chapters 7-9
[Sorry; no questions available.]
Shlaes Reading IV: Chapters 11, 13, 15, and Afterword
1. In what ways did the Federal government go after businesses and wealthy citizens?
2. What the were labor controls of the later 1930s, and what were their effects?
3. What was FDR’s response to the Supreme Court’s antipathy to some of his programs, and what was the result?
4. How did the fight between the TVA and private utilities play out?
5. What were the major themes of the 1940 election?
6. What is Shlaes’s take on the “recovery” of FDR and the results of his federal spending programs?