From author Diane Lane to journalist Ben Montgomery, these Great Depression novels are the perfect start to learning about an oft-ignored period in American and World History.

The Great Depression was a profound event in the early half of the 20th century, nearly upending the totality of global progress during that time and almost halting the USA’s ascension toward becoming the world’s sole superpower.

While everything had been improving in the early 1900s, nobody could have ever predicted it would come crashing down into a neigh-inescapable pit. Life, as anyone knew it at the time, was thoroughly changed. So much so that when one is looking back on it, it would not be a stretch to say that it was like living in another era of human history, despite then and now only being divided by a mere century.

Regardless of the period’s unbelievability, the Great Depression novels listed here provide stories and narratives about the perennial human condition: hope, courage, and change—all set in the backdrop of an intense and extreme period of human history.

Great Depression Stories to Read for 2023

Reading about the Great Depression and the effects it had on the lives of people and on broader society is essential in helping people understand the socio-economic factors that led to it happening.

By learning what those causes were and how they were intertwined with one another, readers acquire meaningful insights into how the national and global systems work in tandem–and, crucially, why they sometimes fail.

Additionally, reading Great Depression novels allow readers to get a better grasp of the human experience during this particular period in human history and of human experience in similar periods of great suffering.

The Great Depression may have been a profoundly influential moment in the past, but it does not mean that its occurrence does not affect the current political and socio-economic climate.

So, here are ReadersMagnet’s curated Great Depression novels for 2023:

Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel

Studs Terkel faithfully paints the tapestry of human experience during the era in one of the best Great Depression novels of all time, Hard Times. The complexities of the times are laid out in the open and without any attempt to whitewash the struggles of everyone, from farmers, politicians, workers, artists, capitalists, and, most strikingly, to the children who grew up in such a harrowing time.

If you are a scholar of this period, Hard Times by Studs Terkel is a treasure trove of information and personal anecdotes.

The Man Who Walked Backward by Ben Montgomery

Pulitzer Prize finalist Ben Montgomery shows the life of Plennie Lawrence Wingo, particularly his stunning stunt of walking backward through the whole of America as the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression occurred. At the same time, this list of Great Depression novels is full of hopeful, if depressing, stories: The Man Who Walked Backward is an otherwise zany and odd spot in a terrible time.

This loving autobiography by Ben Montgomery is a reminder that even in the darkest of times, there is still a place for hope and happiness.

I Loved Her Enough: Chance, Tragedy, Love, and Fresh Air by Diane H. Lane

In this most unusual story from author Diane Lane, I Loved Her Enough depicts life during the Great Depression through the eyes of a child. It is a stark contrast to the narratives of adults, which focus more on the negative and bleak aspects of the Great Depression. Where a grown man might characterize the constant moving as a troubling departure to the stability of settling down, a child sees the possibilities and the wonder!

I Loved Her Enough by Diane H. Lane is one of the more hopeful Great Depression novels on this list.

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