These four interlinked stories encapsulate Gellhorn's firsthand
observation of the Great Depression. Fiction crafted with documentary
accuracy, they vividly render the gradual spiritual collapse of the
simple, homely sufficiency of American life in the face of sudden
unemployment, desperate poverty, and hopelessness. They catch the mood
of a generation "sucked into indifference" and of young men who no
longer "believe in man or God, let alone private industry."