Historians and the Great Depression

David Beito, professor of history at the University of Alabama and author of the superb From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State, has published an open letter to the journalist Daniel Gross, taking issue with Gross' assertion that "one would be very hard-pressed to find a serious professional historian who believes that the New Deal prolonged the Depression." Here's Beito:

If the quotation accurately represents your views, it is very mistaken.

Off the top of my head, I can name "several serious professional historians" who would probably argue (and argue strongly) "that the New Deal prolonged the Depression." In addition to myself, they include Jonathan Bean of Southern Illinois University, Brad Birzer of Hillsdale College, Brad Thompson of Clemson University, Jeffrey Hummel at San Jose State University, Larry Schweikart of the University of Dayton , Michael Allen of the University of Washington at Tacoma, Ralph Raico of Buffalo State College, Burton Folsom of Hillsdale College, David Mayer of Capital University in Columbus, John Moser of Ashland University in Ohio, and Paul Moreno of Hillsdale. All have doctorates in history from top-ranked universities.

Whole thing here. Reason.tv looks at whether Obama's new New Deal will be as bad as the old New Deal here. Amity Shlaes discusses "Franklin D. Roosevelt's baleful economic legacy, the growth of government, and the death of classical liberalism" with Nick Gillespie here.