Volume 15, Number 6 • June 1998

Like previous American Journey titles, The Great Depression and the New Deal features a wealth of rare primary source materials organized around thematic essays. Hyperlinks, timelines, maps, picture albums, content lists, and flexible full-text searches facilitate access to hundreds of documents and images.

"Many of the issues raised during this period, such as government's responsibility to its citizens and conservation, continue to be central to our national life," said David Lucas, president of Primary Source Media. "It is our hope that the primary source materials and thematic essays on The Great Depression and the New Deal disc will give students greater ability to understand and debate these issues."

Memoranda written by the framers of the New Deal, addresses to Congress and the nation by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, photographs from Dorothea Lange and other Farm Security Administration photographers, and newspaper and magazine articles make the disc a useful tool for studying the 1930s in America. Audio recordings of Roosevelt's fireside chats, personal reports of conditions throughout the country, and recordings from folk artist Woody Guthrie and bluesman Huddie Ledbetter provide insight into the culture of the era. Major topics covered on the disc include conservation, poverty, unemployment, labor and business, and popular culture.

The disc is edited by a team of distinguished history scholars including Nicholas J. Allen, author and editor; Alan Brinkley, professor of history, Columbia University; Roger Horowitz, assistant director, Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society, Hagley Museum and Library; Betty K. Koed, author and editor; William E. Leuchtenberg, professor of history, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Geoffrey Perret, author and editor; Harvard Sitkoff, professor of history, University of New Hampshire; Richard Slovak, author and editor; and Otis L. Graham, professor of history, University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

This new title inaugurates the latest American Journey mini-series, The Making of Modern America. Tracing the evolution of the U.S. from World War I through the millennium, the mini-series will feature discs on World War II, the Cold War, and the Vietnam era. Two other mini-series', American Timelines and Resources for Multicultural Studies, round out the American Journey offerings. The American Timelines mini-series includes The Constitution and Supreme Court, The American Revolution, The Civil War, and Westward Expansion titles. The Resources for Multicultural Studies mini-series contains The Immigrant Experience, The Asian-American Experience, The Hispanic-American Experience, The African-American Experience, and Women in America titles.

Primary Source Media adds a new CD-ROM to the American Journey Series every 6 months. The next American Journey disc is The Native-American Experience, which is expected to be released this fall.

Source: Primary Source Media, Woodbridge, CT, 800/444-0799; Fax: 203/397-3893; http://www.psmedia.com.

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