The forgotten man A new history of the Great Depression : graphic edition

In transforming her 2008 history of the Depression into a graphic novel, Shlaes removes some of the sting of the original. Although two types of forgotten man are referenced the jobless working stiff of FDR's first inaugural address and the voiceless taxpayer of liberal economist William Graham Sumner's 1876 essay this book isn't the story of either. This adaptation features two main figures 1940 Republican presidential nominee Wendell Willkie and bureaucrat Rexford Guy Tugwell and their collective presence has an overall humanizing effect, especially as realized by Rivoche, whose understated artwork outclasses that of most other historical comics. Willkie and Tugwell, as well as other prominent figures on both sides, are sympathetically rendered, and a few, such as Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson and black religious-cult leader Father Divine, are brought in to exemplify independent improvement initiatives that were arguably more successful than FDR's New Deal. The resultant portrait of the era is one of headstrong social engineers trying various nostrums to reduce unemployment, failing, and giving up, voluntarily and not.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2014 Booklist

Shlaes's histories are beloved among Congressional budget hawks for suggesting that Calvin Coolidge was the last great thrifty president and that F.D.R. prolonged the Great Depression by ramping up federal spending. This adaptation of Schlaes's history of the Depression by Dixon (Batman) and Rivoche (Mister X) represents her political views faithfully. Its hero and narrator is the practically forgotten Wendell Willkie, Roosevelt's opponent in the critical election of 1940, but all the major social and political players of the time, from Andrew Mellon, Ayn Rand, and Father Divine to the Schechter brothers (kosher poultry kings who won a Supreme Court case against the constraining practices of F.D.R.'s National Recovery Administration), make appearances. The research-heavy narrative sometimes reads like an economics master class: competing government policies and business practices are discussed at length. The real hero is Rivoche, who manages to dramatize this polemic with stunningly realized b&w art and intuitive storytelling, which does not hesitate to open the tale into two-page spreads when necessary. The Keynes vs. Hayek debate may still be unresolved, but no one will argue that this is a beautiful use of comics to boil down a complex, abstract narrative. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.