The Great Depression: A Diary

This book does an excellent job of discussing what it was like to live through the Great Depression from the eyes of a businessman (actually a lawyer). Typically, most accounts focus on farmers, factory workers or the unemployed. While it was largely impersonal (Roth did not discuss much of his own life outside of how poorly the legal profession generally was)it was still a very enlightening story.

Roth regularly quoted economic statistics and stock prices, which gave some financial color to the picture. He often mentioned that going through the Depression was like getting an advanced college degree and was intellectually stimulating, if not for the absolute misery of things.

I thought this was a very good book to give some perspective on how things were at the time for someone who was constantly watching the markets. If you have an interest in finance, you should enjoy this book.