On October 29, 1929, life in the United States took a turn for the
worst. The stock market - the system that controls money in America -
plunged to a record low. But this event was only the beginning of many
bad years to come. By the early 1930s, one out of three people was not
working. People lost their jobs, their houses, or both and ended up in
shantytowns called "Hoovervilles" named for the president at the time of
the crash. By 1933, many banks had gone under. Though the U.S. has seen
other times of struggle, the Great Depression remains one of the hardest
and most widespread tragedies in American history. Now it is represented
clearly and with 80 illustrations in our What Was...? series.