Of Mice & Men
by John Steinbeck

ACS  High School  WebQuest




Economics
The Great Depression in the United States, which lasted from the end of 1929 until the early 1940's, was the   
worst and longest economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world. The Wall Street stock-market
crash of 1929 began the Great Depression. The depression had devastating effects on the country. The Great
Depression saw rapid declines in the production and sale of goods and a sudden, severe rise in
unemployment. In 1933, at the worst point of the Depression, more than 15 million Americans, one-quarter of
the nation's workforce, were unemployed.  Businesses and banks closed their doors, people lost their jobs,
homes, and savings, and many people depended on charity to survive.  Farmers fell into bankruptcy largely
due to the Dust Bowls in the mid-west and because they could not afford seeds to plant or water.  

Environmental
The Dust Bowl of the 1930s lasted about a decade. Its primary area of impact was on the southern Plains. Poor
agricultural practices and years of sustained drought caused the Dust Bowl. Plains grasslands had been
deeply plowed and planted to wheat. During the years when there was adequate rainfall, the land produced
bountiful crops. But as the droughts of the early 1930s deepened during the Great Depression, the farmers
kept plowing and planting and nothing would grow. The ground cover that held the soil in place was gone. The
Plains winds whipped across the fields raising billowing clouds of dust to the skies. The skies could darken for
days, and even the most well sealed homes could have a thick layer of dust on furniture. In some places the
dust would drift like snow, covering farmsteads.

Culture & Society
In spite of these hard times, the American people still persevered.  The 1930s was the age of the Hollywood
Studio System and silent movies being converted to sound.  Gone With the Wind & the Wizard of Oz were the
two largest movies of their time.  Sports were being more commercialized in order to attract an audience; they
were also segregated based on sex & race. Horse racing, track & field, baseball, and flying were always a hit to
watch or listen to on the radio.  For those who could not afford to see a game, they stayed inside playing board
games.  Monopoly was introduced in the early 1930s, and is still the most popular board game today.

Women continued to sew and quilt.  Sears & Roebuck Co. offered quilting contests for women to make some
money.  County fairs became popular for women as they were a place to make money from their quilting.  Most
of the quilts made during this time were made from feedsacks.  It was the cheapest way to have fabric.

The 1930s is also considered the Golden Age of Jazz and the start of big band.  Other folk singers, such as
Woodie Guthrie, took to the rails and wrote of the great plains.  The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice & Men were
popular novels of the time depicting life out West.  On the east coast, the Harlem Renaissance was beginning
for writers such as Langston Hughes.  Life was trying, but out of these times the American people began
forging their identity as a nation of productivity and creativity.



In order to prevent another stock market crash because of dependency on oil, and another environmental crisis
with soil erosion from our destructive habits and deforestation, it is time to act now!

Your mission as a the Deputy Director of ACS (Agents of Change in Society) is to gather data on the 1930s.  
You will investigate this time period through media and other non-print sources.  The ultimate goal is to use this
data to make predictions about our future.

You have three tasks ahead of you to make a difference!  
To take action, click on the weather vane below.
Last updated on March 21, 2007
Introduction