Great Depression in Minnesota [related links]
Steven J. Keillor, Hjalmar Petersen of Minnesota: The Politics of Provincial Independence (1987) -- one of the best political and social histories of a state during the depression, this work concentrates on the events of the era from the viewpoint of Petersen, lieutenant governor under Floyd Olson and governor in his own right in the mid 1930s.
George H. Mayer, The Political Career of Floyd B. Olson (1951) -- the best study available for this pivotal figure in Minnesota politics with much information on the Farmer-Labor party and the depression years.
William Millikan, A Union Against Unions: The Minneapolis Citizens Alliance and Its Fight Against Organized Labor, 1903-1947 -- This fine book will be the standard history of the Minnesota Citizens Alliance; the book also contains an excellent overview of organized labor in Minnesota from the 1920s to about 1950.
Arthur Naftalin, "A History of the Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota," (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Minnesota, 1948) -- this detailed history of the Farmer-Labor party and its influence in the 1920s and 1930s has unfortunately never been published.
James Shields, Mr. Progressive: A Biography of Elmer Austin Benson (1971) -- this partisan biography of Benson, governor from 1936-1938, details decline of the Farmer-Labor party during the latter years of the depression.
D. Jerome Tweton, The Depression in Minnesota (1981) -- although brief, this provides one of the best overviews of the depression years in the state of Minnesota.
D. Jerome Tweton, The New Deal at the Grass Roots: Programs for the People in Otter Tail County, Minnesota (1988) -- carefully researched and well written, this is the best study yet of how state and federal programs provided assistance to people in a rural county during the depression.