What are some good history books about the US Great Depression?

I really like Leuchtenberg's 'FDR and the New Deal', which you can peruse at the amazon site here. Though ONE of its concerns is the New Deal, I don't find him biased in either a right or left wing direction, and it gives a lot of good economic stats.

http://www.amazon.com/Franklin-D-Roosevelt-New-Dea...

NB You can also find historic economic stats in any US Almanac. The most recent ones (eg. year 2000 on) will have sketchy info on the Great Depression; older ones will give more detail.

The author is certainly biased, but FDR's Folly is an absolute must-read in my opinion. Fantastic source of non-biased stats, New Deal programs and such, although the author does tend to focus on why the programs were the wrong thing for the country (hindsight is 20/20). If you ignore that, it's a wealth of information.

"Of Mice and Men", "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), James Agee and Walker Evans

“Produced by a writer and photographer as part of an assignment from Fortune magazine, this book is extraordinary not only for the way it meticulously describes the day-to-day life of southern tenant farmers in Alabama, but also for its honest portrayal of how one social class views another during the heart of the ‘30s.”

The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression

by Amity Shlaes

Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) and The Day of the Locust (1939), Nathaniel West

“West invents black humor to portray, in Lonelyhearts, the dilemma of a ‘Dear Abby’ columnist dealing with the troubles of all of his letter-writers and, in Locust, to contrast the lives of those at the fringes of Hollywood with those at its center.”

Come Back to Sorrento (1932), Dawn Powell

“Powell, one of the great unrecognized writers of the 30’s, beautifully describes the quiet despair of people living in a small town, with their dreams thwarted.”

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They (1935), Horace McCoy

“This is also a good movie, starring Jane Fonda, but a great book set near Hollywood during a grueling dance marathon about the need for hope.”

Call It Sleep (1934), Henry Roth:

“Roth offers us the interior perspective of a young immigrant boy growing up in the slums of New York.”

I think you should do some research on the various sources in the web page.