Recently, WiseBread ran a post about lessons we can learn from the Depression.  It’s an interesting look at how we can apply the survival strategies of the past to our own modern lives.

The post made me think of Studs Terkel, the famed author and columnist, who died a few weeks ago at the age of 96. His oral histories of America, gleaned from countless hours of interviews with people from all walks of life, provided readers and listeners with a fantastic opportunity to experience history and to live the lives of others.

They say that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.  There’s a great deal of truth in that old cliche, but I prefer to look at reflections on the past in a more positive light:  Those who understand history gain wisdom they can use to improve their futures.

With respect to personal finance, that brings us back to Terkel.  With our economy experiencing significant difficulties and many worried that things will get worse before they get better, it’s a great time to revisit Terkel’s Hard Times:  An Oral History of the Great Depression.

You can pick up Hard Times at just about any bookstore.  Those of us who are intensely frugal can pick it up at the public library or in paperback.  The audio of Terkel’s interviews is available online and much of it has been recently rebroadcast on National Public Radio.

It’s a fascinating look back on the hardest of economic times, featuring interviews with people from all walks of life and uncovering truths, perspectives and little known lessons those folks gleaned from the Depression.  Right now, that knowledge has some tremendous value.

I’m not convinced we’re heading for a repeat of the 1930s, but there is no doubt that things are getting a lot tougher for many people.  Unemployment claims are up.  Home foreclosures are up.  Incomes are down.  So, although I’m not expecting to see a Hooverville (Bushville?) popping up in the empty lots down the street, I do realize that many Americans are experiencing hard times.  It’s more likely that we’re in the front end of a recession, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn from those who experienced the horrible intensity of the Great Depression.

The beauty of Hard Times is that Terkel creates a comprehensive picture of the time via a series of smaller stories.  We’re sort of accustomed to hearing about the misery of Grapes of Wrath migrant workers and displaced Okies, but they’re only part of the story.

Sure, Terkel spends time with them, but he also worked with those who spent those years as federal relief workers.  He talked to the rich, who found ways to hang onto their money while others went broke.  He even found and interviewed the folks who found a way to improve their financial situation as the Great Depression crushed so many others.

Take for instance the story of an “ad man” (link to audio) who found opportunity in the changing habits of those suffering through the Depression.  He was able to discover a way to leverage that change to help himself and his toothpaste-making client.  It’s a tiny sliver of the Depression, but it demonstrates how positive potential exists even in the toughest of circumstances.

Reliving the nightmare of an economy in chaos with Terkel’s interview subjects is a great way to round out your perspective on personal finance.  The horror stories remind us of what really matters in our lives.  Hearing about the mistakes of others gives us an idea of how to protect ourselves from greater forces.

Reading tales of hard-nosed survivors provides inspiration and an understanding that our current economic problems are tiny and beatable, in relative terms.  We learn about the degradations of poverty, the humiliation of being forced to rely on others.  We also learn about the flip-side of that sadness–the sense of personal responsibility that gives our nation and economy hope.

Hard Times is a lesson in perspective, which makes it a very different kind of “personal finance book”.  You won’t find checklists, bullet points, and step-by-step instructions for improving your finances.  Terkel himself modestly claimed, “[t]his is a memory book rather than one of hard fact and precise statistic….The precise fact or the precise date is of small consequence. This is not a lawyer’s brief nor an annotated sociological treatise. It is simply an attempt to get the story of the holocaust known as The Great Depression from an improvised battallion of survivors.”

You won’t find to-do lists.  You will, however, find a layered picture of what money really means to society.  Each interview is a parable, leaving the reader with an opportunity to uncover valuable truths they can apply to today.