A useful book that counters the notion that freer markets caused the depression of 1930-1940. And it's only 71 cents in the Kindle Version [via MK]. From the blurb:
Students today are often given a skewed account of the Great Depression of 1929-1941 that condemns free-market capitalism as the cause of, and promotes government intervention as the solution to, the economic hardships of the era. In this essay based on a popular lecture, Foundation for Economic Education President Lawrence W. Reed debunks this conventional view and traces the central role that poor government policy played in fostering this legendary catastrophe.
Most of the reviews are quite positive, noting that it is brief (possibly too brief), but with good references to further reading. Some criticize it as a libertarian attack on Hoover, Roosevelt, and the New Deal. Those who make this criticism should understand that many of us who have become libertarian (or quasi/pseudo libertarian) in our views did so because of things pointed out in this book. In other words, the causation goes the other way: historical book leads to a change in one's views about policy, not libertarian views lead one to read only books by libertarians.