A Rabble of Dead Money: The Great Crash and the Global Depression: 1929–1939

by Charles R. Morris

The Great Crash of 1929 profoundly disrupted the United States' confident march toward becoming the world's superpower. The breakneck growth of 1920s America -- with its boom in automobiles, electricity, credit lines, radio, and movies -- certainly presaged a serious recession by the decade's end, but not a depression. The totality of the collapse shocked the nation, and its duration scarred generations to come.

In this lucid and fast-paced account of the cataclysm, award-winning writer Charles R. Morris pulls together the intricate threads of policy, ideology, international hatreds, and sheer individual cantankerousness that finally pushed the world economy over the brink and into a depression. While Morris anchors his narrative in the United States, he also fully investigates the poisonous political atmosphere of postwar Europe to reveal how treacherous the environment of the global economy was. It took heroic financial mismanagement, a glut-induced global collapse in agricultural prices, and a self-inflicted crash in world trade to cause the Great Depression.

Deeply researched and vividly told, A Rabble of Dead Money anatomizes history's greatest economic catastrophe -- while noting the uncanny echoes for the present.

Genres: History, Economics, Nonfiction, American History, European History, Business, Politics

416 pages, Hardcover

Published March 7, 2017

About the author

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See also:

Charles R. Morris

Reviews

[Susan Olesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know, I have a thing for the history of the Depression, read umpteen books on it, took heavy-level classes on it in college, but this book - Wow. Sooo much information, and every bit of it makes sense.

Morris covers reams of material that he uses to show the reasons of the Depression, how we got there, by starting with a detailed coverage of manufacturing at the turn of the century, with WWI, and the glory of the 20's. Sure, there's far too much economic information for me, something that makes my brain cut off in self defense second only to higher math, but Morris, bless him, breaks the book down into microchapters, presenting each piece of information in its own little box, which makes it so simple to understand. Where was this book in 1986, when I needed it?

In short, due to the invention of electricity and the gasoline engine, manufacturing became cheaper and easier. Because of that, Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing by offering good wages, and a cheap, easy to make product that allowed people in rural areas to increase their standing. When WWI hit, farmers were able to sell more food to supply Europe, so they mortgaged the hell out of their farms, bought more land, planted more, and bought tractors to help. WWI ended, the market crashed, Europe produced its own food, and farmers were left with heavy debts. During the 20's, America started giving easy credit to home buyers, who then carried mortgages. When the crash of 29 hit, it didn't sink the economy. That didn't happen until 1931, when all that mortgage and farm debt started to collapse rural banks, creating a chain effect. When farmers wound up with a bumper crop year - around the world - there was no money and no demand for all that extra produce, and the prices fell below subsistance level. By overplanting, when the droughts hit, all that empty topsoil got blown away. Roosevelt's New Deal mechanizations worked, bringing the US back to functioning, and crashing again when he tried to stop. WWII, a direct result of the treaties of WWI, did not bring the US out of the Depression, but gave a purpose for all that new manufacturing ability we now had, and jobs for 15 million men who didn't have them. All the ability was there, it just needed a direction. Because of all this experimentation with economic recovery (which no one had ever done before, they were literally making it up as they went along, wrong or right), when crises hit in 1972, and in the 2000's, economists already knew what would work and what wouldn't, keeping the problems from worsening.

All in all an excellent, informative book on the 30's, full of stuff you never knew or thought about.

[Brian Mahoney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Largely just reciting previous work of others listing the possible causes for the depression the book takes no definitive stance. Instead it is a recap of theories and concepts put forth by some of history’s best economic minds. It seems to me a challenge for PHD economists to agree on and fully grasp some of these and certainly impossible for a chump like me to understand the meaning behind many charts, figures, and economic terms i’ve never before heard.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well laid out and informative. It's a bit dry as it feels more textbook information and less like a casual telling of history.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good analysis of the economic reasons for the depression, but very little on its impacts on ordinary people.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Morris, utilizing more recent analyses of the factors leading to the Great Depression, provides an effective and concise sketch of these varied sources. The result is a better understanding of what caused (and did not cause) the Great Depression. The stock market crash of 1929 is often cited as a cause, but it probably was more of a leading indicator of fears that risk assets had become overextended, especially in light of the French-led devaluation related to their adherence to a gold standard that did not accurately reflect the franc's existing value. Bank failures were also not a cause, but likely a result of the devaluation and the bumper crops that created an oversupply of produce with a corresponding dive in prices. Finally, the international trade went into a nose dive as a result of beggar-thy-neighbor trade policies, including escalating tariffs.

All of this created an environment of devaluation of assets, from perishable to long-lived assets, that took years to unwind. Roosevelt's efforts to bring budgets back to normal in 1937 caused the dreaded "double-dip". Clearly, the lessons learned on the part of Bernanke in dealing with the 2008 Great Recession served him well. It is too bad that Greenspan and Bernanke did not see the parallels between the two eras prior to the 2008 financial crisis, so as to have taken steps to mitigate the impact on the economy.

[Len Boselovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with this history is not that Morris doesn't have a firm grasp on the subject matter. It's that he steadfastly refuses to tell the story in an approachable way. Economic theories and data abound, but the author assumes his readers are as comfortable with the gold standard, monetary policy, and trade balances as he is. Morris is so tediously devoted to textbook economics that he fails to put much of a human face on the Depression.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a dry, dull read of data after data.

The author provided extensive data on the factors that contributed to global depression. It was difficult to read through the book!

I would recommend the book to readers who enjoy reading dry information.

[Dominik · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book on the post-1929 depression.
Most of such books focus on explaining the excesses of the 1920s without much regard to what happened in the early 1930s. This book studies both periods and finds some credible links between overextension of credit and slowing productivity growth. Low-wage earners income stagnation and overinvestment in plants and equipment. It is highly advisable to look into cited sources to follow on those subjects.
Moreover, the book doesn't treat the US as a centre of the world and take some time to dive into European issues. It shows how social unrest and nationalism spurred due to monetary perturbance and the following monetary collapses. Also, the ambiguous ending of WWI didn't help. This sparked the flow of capital to the US. On top of that, Europe's devastated industries after WWI couldn't compete with highly innovative and specialised US industries.
Those might be the hard times which many people prefer to forget about, but they created the US world hegemony.

[Jim Gallen · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Rabble of Dead Money” is popular-economic study of the causes of the Great Depression. It examines the problem from a variety of perspectives, seeking to find explanations for the collapse without defaulting to any one “cause” among the many offered. Author Charles R. Morris has probed monetary and tariff policies, developments in manufacturing processes, changes in consumer tastes, international tremors set of by the Great War and other factors that contributed to the catastrophic collapse. He then tries to draw lesions for contemporary policy makers.

I found this work to be interesting and edifying, although it may contain more statistics than a popular audience would desire. This I recommend this for those with some basic knowledge of economics who want to dive more deeply into the depths of Great Depression analysis.

[Ernst · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Depression Studies [of the 1929 Depression] lead themselves to good narratives" the author tells us, and this is a fascinating one. Even as a Chicagoan I knew almost nothing about Sam Insull, and I will clearly need to read more about him. Anyone who believes in the spontaneous order of markets will be horrified by the Muncie, Indiana chapter, which shows very clearly what sort of orders occur spontaneously when there are no unions and weak governments. Consistently challenging and fascinating, and without any attempt to provide easy answers to how the 1929 depression began, persisted, or ended.

[Bryant Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A study composed of bite-sized stories. From analysis of international trade to detailing the microeconomics of U.S. cities, success stories of monetary policy to tragedies of once-great business moguls, every page is a new subject. This careening quality does create the usual trade-offs pertaining to expansive case studies—the narrative is at times difficult to follow and ultimately gives only a cursory view into the depression— but is an entertaining read (if you find economic policy interesting, that is).

[Luigib · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very complex. I am confident in Morris' research.

I thought that Part 6 was the best section. An easy to read summary of resolving WWI, going off the gold standard, and the collapse of farm prices was more the cause of the great depression than the stock market collapse.

[Jonathan Berent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful for today’s world

In this masterpiece, sharp insights are combined with a necessary humility when looking at the past through the lens of the present. This is a must read given the risk the Coronavirus presents to the world economy.

[Joseph Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good survey that draws on the various academic schools of thoughts.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting stuff. You better want to learn about money.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better to read 'America's Great Depression' by Murray Rothbard and 'When Money Dies' by Adam Fergusson

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is much info about the depression and its causes from around the world and then the recovery

[Edward L.]

150

[Elly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed. Very informative and we'll written.

[SeaShore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parts of this book kept my interest and some parts didn't. The author says he is not an economist; he is a historian with a professional background in finance.
He covers a great deal in this book -the depression; inflation and recession. When did the economy clock in a healthy rate of growth Why did U.S. become rich at the end of the war and into the 1920's.
He mentioned the 1929 stock market crash and lists possible signs and warnings that could lead to recessions.

This book might be a worthy read for many but it was a bit over my head with detailed charts and numbers as related to Economics and Finance.

[Billhotto · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great Depression is obviously far too vast a subject to be explained in one book, especially one that is reasonably coherent to non-economists. Inevitably, my eyes glaze over after a few pages of interest rates, money supply and the intricacies of industrial production. Statistics, even if complete or accurate, may or may not be meaningful. The political and social influences have to be considered. Human nature must be considered. Modes of thought and the information available to decision makers are important.
Morris does a first-class job relieving me of my economic anxiety. He begins with WW I, the source of most 20th century woes. In short chapters he moved through the Twenties in which the automobile and electrical power propelled the U.S. economy to new heights. However, the decade was less than roaring in Europe. I now have a tenuous grasp on the tortious saga of German reparations, and the repayment of war debts. He moves on to the Great Crash of 1929 and its somewhat surprising effect on the whole economy. The highly competent Herbert Hoover was unable to staunch the bleeding which led to FDR and the New Deal. Morris judges that the first New Deal was generally successful in reviving the economy. In 1937 there was a sharp downturn, in part because Roosevelt reverted to the balanced budget paradigm. A return to deficit spending turned things around by mid 1938. Morris argues that the economy itself had come back before the stimulus of defense spending for WW II. However, unemployment remained "sticky" until 1940. One thing to be considered is whether or not workers on government projects like the WPA are counted as employed.
During the Depression American industry continued spending on R&D. Factories were shuttered but not torn down. Increased government spending on infrastructure improved transportation and electrical power generation. The result was the country was prepared for the enormous ramping up of industrial production in the 1940's as the U.S. became the "Arsenal of Democracy".

[Christopher Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forget everything you thought you knew about the causes of the depression in the U.S.; while the U.S. suffered greatly, the causes arose largely in Europe's poorly planned post-war settlement.

[Mills College Library]

973.916 M8754 2017