[Hawthorn]

More than any other one factor, what turned an ordinary recession into a "Great Depression" was an appallingly inept monetary policy by the U. S. Federal Reserve system. The authoritative work here is Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States. In fact, it's fair to say that Friedman and Schwartz's masterpiece has been the most influential economics study of the last 70 years.

[SolidWood]

Thank you all for your input. If there is more, keep ‘em coming.