Glen H. Elder Jr. is Howard W. Odum Distinguished Professor of Sociology and research professor of psychology at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he codirects the Carolina Consortium on Human Development
and manages a research program on life course studies at the Carolina Population Center, the Center for Developmental
Science, and the Institute of Aging. He has also served on the faculties of the University of California at Berkeley
and Cornell University.
Review
"The reissuing of Children of the Great Depression, in an expanded version on its 25th anniversary, calls
for a celebration in the scholarly community. When this book first appeared in 1974, it had a profound impact on
sociology, social psychology, human development, and social history, by introducing the life course framework to
the study of lives and social change. Now a widely acclaimed classic, Children of the Great Depression is an extraordinarily
imaginative work, which demonstrates the power of the life course framework for understanding the interaction between
individuals and families with the grand processes of social change. This new edition dramatically expands the study
of lives to encompass the impact of two major world events, depression and war, and the changes resulting from
them on the same group of people. The new edition will continue to serve as a model and inspiration for research
on the life course in the United States."
--Tamara K. Haraven, University of Delaware
"In this volume, Glen Elder gives us two classics in one. He does so by bringing together in one place two
closely-related bodies of his work, widely-separated in their original date of publication, but highly relevant
today both for advancing developmental research, and for addressing the critical problems that confront American
society at this point in our history."
--Urie Bronfenbrenner / Jacob Gould Shurman Professor Emeritus of Human Development and of Psychlogy, Cornell
University
Perseus Books Group Web Site, Aug., 2001
Summary
In this highly acclaimed work first published in 1974, Glen H. Elder Jr. presents the first longitudinal study
of a Depression cohort. He follows 167 individuals born in 1920�1921 from their elementary school days in Oakland,
California, through the 1960s. Using a combined historical, social, and psychological approach, Elder assesses
the influence of the economic crisis on the life course of his subjects over two generations. The twenty-fifth
anniversary edition of this classic study includes a new chapter on the war years entitled, "Beyond Children
of the Great Depression."
Table of Contents
Crisis And Adaptation: An Introduction
The Depression Experience
Adaptations to Economic Deprivation
Coming Of Age In The Depression
Economic Deprivation and Family Status
Children in the Household Economy
Family Relations
Status Change and Personality
The Adult Years
Earning a Living: Adult Lives of the Oakland Men
Leading a Contingent Life: Adult Lives of Oakland Women
Personality in Adult Experience
The Depression Experience In Life Patterns
Children of the Great Depression
Beyond "Children of the Great Depression"
