They did not ask for much. A little food for their children, perhaps, or a place for their children to go so they would not have to watch their mother starve to death. Sometimes they know they will not receive an answer, because the Florida constitution prevented borrowing to create relief in a time when so many needed it. Sometimes they have hope that same government, or some government, will allow them to eat. Some protest the long hours and low wages of government workshops, while others look for work at the same. Some make you angry. Some make you cry. Green (history, Florida State U.) has chosen well from what must be a vast collections of letters of desperation, presenting them chronologically so readers can understand the depths into which the state and the nation fell. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)