Contents

List of Figures

1. Introduction

2. Purging the Rottenness from the System: The Blessed and the Damned in the Great Depression

3. “I Saw One Woman Faint”: Toward a Sociology of Panic

4. Fear Itself: Polio, Unemployment, and Other Things on the Doorstep

5. Awe: Toward a Depression Sublime

6. A Sordid, Futureless Mess? Love in Hard Times

7. What You Want to Hear: Hope in the Great Depression

8. “The Hazards and Vicissitudes of Life”: The Emotional Life of the Social Security Act

Notes

Bibliography

Index