Title
Prosperity Far Distant: The Journal of the American Farmer, 1933-1934
Roles
Author: Charles Wiltse
Editor: Michael J. Birkner, Gettysburg College
Document Type
Book
Files
Description
Fresh from receiving a doctorate from Cornell University in 1933, but unable to find work, Charles M. Wiltse joined his parents on the small farm they had recently purchased in southern Ohio. There, the Wiltses scratched out a living selling eggs, corn, and other farm goods at prices that were barely enough to keep the farm intact.
In wry and often affecting prose, Wiltse recorded a year in the life of this quintessentially American place during the Great Depression. He describes the family’s daily routine, occasional light moments, and their ongoing frustrations, small and large—from a neighbor’s hog that continually broke into the cornfields to the ongoing struggle with their finances. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal had little to offer small farmers, and despite repeated requests, the family could not secure loans from local banks to help them through the hard economic times. Wiltse spoke the bitter truth when he told his diary, “We are not a lucky family.” In this he represented millions of others caught in the maw of a national disaster. [From the publisher]
ISBN
9780821419984
Publication Date
8-2012
Publisher
Ohio University Press
City
Athens, OH
Department 1
History
Recommended Citation
Wiltse, Charles M. Prosperity Far Distant: The Journal of the American Farmer, 1933-1934. Ed. Michael J. Birkner. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2012.
Comments
Original version is available from the publisher at: http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Prosperity+Far+Distant