These four interlinked stories encapsulate Gellhorn's firsthand observation of the Great Depression. Fiction crafted with documentary accuracy, they vividly render the gradual spiritual collapse of the simple, homely sufficiency of American life in the face of sudden unemployment, desperate poverty, and hopelessness. They catch the mood of a generation "sucked into indifference" and of young men who no longer "believe in man or God, let alone private industry."