A secret gift how one man's kindness--and a trove of letters--revealed the hidden history of the Great Depression

Gup, Ted 1950- (Author).

Summary: The author's grandfather, Sam Stone, placed an ad in the Canton, OH, newspaper shortly before Christmas in 1933, offering cash gifts to seventy-five families in distress. Readers were asked to send letters describing their hardships to a benefactor calling himself Mr. B. Virdot. The author investigates a suitcase full of letters responding to these ads as he learns more about his grandfather's hidden past as well as the suffering and triumphs of strangers during the Great Depression. -- From publisher's description.

Record details

ISBN: 9781101440636 (electronic bk.)
ISBN: 1101440635 (electronic bk.)
ISBN: 9781101444634 (electronic bk.)
ISBN: 1101444630 (electronic bk.)
Physical Description: electronic resource
remote
1 online resource (365 p., [16] p. of plates) : ill.
Publisher: New York : Penguin Press, 2010.

Content descriptions

General Note:	Includes index.
Formatted Contents Note:	A Christmas carol -- In consideration of the white collar man -- The bread of tomorrow -- If I would acept charity -- Families: the crisis that brought them closer -- Families: the crisis that pulled them apart -- An opportunity to help -- A merry and joyful Christmas -- True circumstances.
Source of Description Note:	Description based on print version record.