Margaret Power co-authors a new book about the New Deal that offers insights into today’s political debates
Margaret Power, professor of history and chair of the Department of Humanities at Illinois Tech, has co-authored a new book called Hope in Hard Times: Norvelt and the Struggle for Community During the Great Depression.
During the Great Depression, unemployed coal miners and other workers who had struggled to find work for years collaborated with the federal government to build Norvelt, a town named for EleaNOR RooeVELT. The goal was to raise the desperate families’ standard of living through a cooperative lifestyle and enhanced civic engagement under the auspices of a New Deal program called Subsistence Homesteads, which was championed by Roosevelt.
The government-sponsored program gave 250 families a plot of land to farm and chickens to raise. The residents of the town came together to help build homes, chicken coops, a co-op dairy barn, a community center, a school, and other amenities. They created organizations around common interests to help build a sense of community among the town’s residents. With the help of the New Deal, the people of Norvelt created a middle-class community that remains a success today and demonstrates the important role government programs can play in improving people’s lives.
Hope in Hard Times explores the struggles and successes of Norvelt’s transformation within the context of one of the most ambitious federal endeavors in the United States. It also traces the political evolution of this community from a strongly pro-New Deal, Democratic Party, and union community to one that supports the Republican Party and opposes unions and federal aid programs. This book also offers a historical backdrop to many of the current political debates surrounding the presidential campaign.
The book was a collaboration between Power; Timothy Kelly, professor of history at St. Vincent College; and Michael Cary, professor of history and political science at Seton Hill University. The book is now available online from Penn State University Press.
