This 2-vol. set encompasses nearly two decades of American history, beginning with the farm crisis of the mid-1920s, through the 1929 stock market crash, the gradual recovery during the 1930s with Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and World War II. This wide-ranging, multidisciplinary encyclopedia features entries on depression-era politics, government, business, economics, literature, the arts, society and culture. While its main focus is on the Great Depression within the United States, the global impact of the economic slow-down is also examined through articles on Canada, Mexico, Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia.