The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression
Shirley Temple and 1930s America
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Narrated by:
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Kathleen Godwin
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By:
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John F. Kasson
About this listen
How the smile and fortitude of a child actress revived a nation.
Her image appeared in periodicals and advertisements roughly twenty times daily; she rivaled FDR and Edward VIII as the most photographed person in the world. Her portrait brightened the homes of countless admirers: From a Black laborer’s cabin in South Carolina and young Andy Warhol’s house in Pittsburgh to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s recreation room in Washington, DC, and gangster “Bumpy” Johnson’s Harlem apartment. A few years later her smile cheered the secret bedchamber of Anne Frank in Amsterdam as young Anne hid from the Nazis.
For four consecutive years Shirley Temple was the world’s box-office champion, a record never equaled. By early 1935 her mail was reported as four thousand letters a week, and hers was the second-most popular girl’s name in the country.
What distinguished Shirley Temple from every other Hollywood star of the period - and everyone since - was how brilliantly she shone. Amid the deprivation and despair of the Great Depression, Shirley Temple radiated optimism and plucky good cheer that lifted the spirits of millions and shaped their collective character for generations to come. Distinguished cultural historian John F. Kasson shows how the most famous, adored, imitated, and commodified child in the world astonished movie goers, created a new international culture of celebrity, and revolutionized the role of children as consumers.
Tap-dancing across racial boundaries with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, foiling villains, and mending the hearts and troubles of the deserving, Shirley Temple personified the hopes and dreams of Americans. To do so, she worked virtually every day of her childhood, transforming her own family as well as the lives of her fans.
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This biography of entertainment legend Sammy Davis, Jr. is an enthralling portrait of one of the most recognizable figures from the golden age of American show business. Davis, a guarded man who protected his private life with great vigor, lived an extraordinary life in the limelight, while also forging new uncharted paths across racial lines.
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Sammy Plus
- By James Gordon on 07-02-06
By: Wil Haygood
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Street Gang
- The Complete History of Sesame Street
- By: Michael Davis
- Narrated by: Caroll Spinney
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Abridged
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When the first episode aired on Nov. 10, 1969, Sesame Street revolutionized the way education was presented to children on television. It has since become the longest-running children's show in history, and today reaches 8 million pre-schoolers on 350 PBS stations and airs in 120 countries. Street Gang is the compelling and often comical story of the creation and history of this media masterpiece and pop culture landmark.
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An important subject, but hardly gripping
- By Scott T. Hards on 09-24-10
By: Michael Davis
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Good Day!
- The Paul Harvey Story
- By: Paul J. Batura
- Narrated by: Paul J. Batura
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In Good Day!: The Paul Harvey Story, author Paul J. Batura follows the remarkable life of one of the founding fathers of the news media. Paul Harvey started his career during the Great Depression and narrated America's story day by day, through wars and peace, the threat of communism and the crumbling of old colonial powers, consumer booms and eventual busts.
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Should have been better
- By Royce Brown on 12-21-09
By: Paul J. Batura
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My Thoughts Be Bloody
- The Bitter Rivalry Between Edwin and John Wilkes Booth
- By: Nora Titone, Doris Kearns Goodwin - introduction/notes
- Narrated by: John B. Lloyd
- Length: 19 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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My Thoughts Be Bloody, a sweeping family saga, revives an extraordinary figure whose name has been missing, until now, from the story of President Lincoln's death. Edwin Booth, John Wilkes's older brother by four years, was in his day the biggest star of the American stage. Without an account of Edwin Booth, author Nora Titone argues, the real story of Lincoln's assassin has never been told.
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Wonderful!
- By Tad Davis on 11-30-10
By: Nora Titone, and others
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Furious Love
- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century
- By: Sam Kashner, Nancy Schoenberger
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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He was a tough-guy Welshman softened by the affections of a breathtakingly beautiful woman; she was a modern-day Cleopatra madly in love with her own Mark Antony. For nearly a quarter of a century, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were Hollywood royalty, and their fiery romance - often called "the marriage of the century" - was the most notorious, publicized, and celebrated love affair of its day.
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Paul Boehmer needs more practice
- By Brenda Miller on 06-16-10
By: Sam Kashner, and others
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When Paris Sizzled
- The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends
- By: Mary McAuliffe
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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When Paris Sizzled vividly portrays the City of Light during the fabulous 1920s, les Annees folles, when Parisians emerged from the horrors of war to find that a new world greeted them - one that reverberated with the hard metallic clang of the assembly line, the roar of automobiles, and the beat of jazz. Mary McAuliffe traces a decade that saw seismic change on almost every front, from art and architecture to music, literature, fashion, entertainment, transportation, and, most notably, behavior.
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Informative, but no sizzle
- By OzEnigma on 06-01-17
By: Mary McAuliffe
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Ayn Rand and the World She Made
- By: Anne C. Heller
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 19 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Ayn Rand is the author of two phenomenally best-selling ideological novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, which have sold over 12 million copies in the United States alone. Through them, she built a right-wing cult following in the late 1950s and became the guiding light of Libertarianism and of White House economic policy in the 1960s and '70s. Her defenses of radical individualism and of selfishness as a "capitalist virtue" have permanently altered the American cultural landscape.
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Great history of both Rand and her era
- By Mark on 08-07-10
By: Anne C. Heller
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Meghan: A Hollywood Princess
- By: Andrew Morton
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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From Andrew Morton, the New York Times best-selling author of Diana: Her True Story, comes a revealing, juicy, and inspiring biography of Meghan Markle, the American actress who won Prince Harry's heart. When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were set up by a mutual friend on a blind date in July 2016, little did they know that the resulting whirlwind romance would lead to their engagement in November 2017 and marriage in May 2018. Since then, our fascination with the woman who has smashed the royal mold has rocketed.
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Book offers no new material
- By Jean on 04-24-18
By: Andrew Morton
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My Song
- A Memoir
- By: Harry Belafonte, Michael Shnayerson
- Narrated by: Harry Belafonte, Mirron Willis
- Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Harry Belafonte is not just one of the greatest entertainers of our time; he has led one of the great American lives of the last century. Now, this extraordinary icon tells us the story of that life, giving us its full breadth, letting us share in the struggles, the tragedies, and, most of all, the inspiring triumphs.
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Amazing
- By Khafre on 12-30-11
By: Harry Belafonte, and others
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Emily Post
- Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners
- By: Laura Claridge
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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From the excesses of the late 19th-century Gilded Age, through the horrors of World War I, to the transformations of the Roaring 20s that gave birth to her magisterial Etiquette, Emily Post unfailingly took the measure of her era. A Baltimore blue blood with a populist heart, she helped the masses live the American dream with her hugely popular book, which has been continuously in print for over 85 years.
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Typical for Emily Post
- By Stephanie on 01-07-19
By: Laura Claridge
What listeners say about The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Darlene Vile
- 11-01-22
Great narration, great book
This narrator was so comforting. No better demeanor or tone for this kind of biography about old Hollywood and it's golden child Shirley Temple. I must also emphasize how very surprised I was to hear the negative reviews from critics at the time her movies were released. Being that I was a Shirley fan quite excessively as a kid, I assumed everyone universally loved her films, so that was a shock for me! Great book, thank you.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-01-15
How does this child star fit in with her times?
During the Depression, people wanted escapist fare at the movies. The Shirley Temple pictures all were carefully crafted to deliver this. Director Zanuck did not want to change the formula for Shirley, the "fad." For the audience to accept her and the films, however, they had to believe that off-screen, young Shirley was not being exploited, and that she was as sweet as America's darling was on-screen. Kasson, an academic, is nevertheless entertaining in showing justvhow genuine and yet cynical this phenomena was, and what it said about America in the 30s. Godwin's narration was clear and well-inflected and emoted. Worth the listen.
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3 people found this helpful
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- martha
- 02-07-17
Much more than just a bio.
Where does The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Top ten and my library is extensive.
What did you like best about this story?
It's breadth. It covers so much more than just the life a a child star
Which scene was your favorite?
How Shirley Temple changed consumerism....among other things.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No. Much too long and complex.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Leslie
- 01-01-15
Entertaining and Informative
I enjoyed the juxtaposition of depression era history, Hollywood lore and the story of Shirley Temple's meteoric rise - and fall - during the same period. The narrator has a pleasant delivery; the author's narrative is easy to follow. This is worth the listen if you enjoy history, gossip about early Hollywood and are old enough to remember watching Shirley Temple's movies.
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5 people found this helpful
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- SAS Contractor
- 02-15-18
Great sociology
More informative and enjoyable from a sociological perspective than biographical one. Let every parent who thinks their child could be a star read this book.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-27-20
repetitive
I felt as it is could have been summed up more succinctly. there was a lot of history and context that seemed to be repeated.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Vicki Schultz
- 07-13-22
Already bored
Is this a book about Hoover or Shirley Temple? Lost me in chapter 2.
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- Serena Galloway
- 02-28-24
shirley temple is not the focus
her name is used only to suck you in to buying a vague history of the 30's. I learned more about J Edgar Hoover than Shirley.
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- Sharlotte
- 06-21-17
Not What I Expected--Academic, Not Entertaining
I had hoped to hear a more personal story about Shirley Temple. Instead, this is a cold recounting of Hollywood cinema in the 1930s with mention of Shirley, other actors, the social climate, and endless Temple movieline recaps. I was bored and disappointed overall and learned nothing new of any great import-- I've seen all the movies, I didn't need to hear about them all over again in detail.
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3 people found this helpful