A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness -- and a Trove of Letters -- Reveal the Hidden History of the Great Depression

Ted Gup's A Secret Gift is a fascinating glimpse into depression era America. The author was given a suitcase that belonged to his grandfather. Inside he found letters written in response to an December 1933 newspaper advertisement promising a $5 cash gift to 75 families who wrote to describe their hardships. The letters were all addressed to a Mr. B. Verdot, a name unknown to Gup.

At first Gup, who is an investigative journalist, cannot imagine why his grandfather had these letters. He soon learns that B. Virdot was a pseudonym used by his grandfather (whose real name was Sam Stone). Gup tracks down the families of some of the letter writers and solves the biggest mystery -- just who was his grandfather and what prompted him to undertake this act of kindness?

Some of the letters are reprinted in the book. Because the ad promised anonymity, the letters are poignantly candid descriptions of economic despair.

-Natalie