Book excerpt: You're no idiot, of course. You're aware that Wall Street crashed in 1929, leading to a financial disaster that lasted more than a decade. But despite what you've heard about "Black Tuesday," the Great Depression didn't happen overnight or because of one bad day on Wall Street. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Great Depression will show you exactly how the economy collapsed - and how the United States survived it. In this Complete Idiot's Guide, you get: The causes in the 1920s that led to the Black Tuesday market crash on October 29, 1929 How the administration under President Herbert Hoover attempted to manage the nationwide crisis. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's election, his formation of the Brain Trust, and his reassuring fireside chats. Soup kitchens, bread lines, homelessness, and other hardships Americans faced during the Depression. How Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor brought the country's economic woes and the Great Depression to an end.