Book Review: A Secret Gift By Ted Gup

Title: A Secret Gift: How One Man’s Kindness–and a Trove of Letters–Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression
Authors: Ted Gup
Publisher: The Penguin Press HC,
Publication Date: October 28, 2010
Hardcover: 368 pages
ISBN: 978-1594202704
Genre: Non-Fiction, History

From the Publisher:

An inspiring account of America at its worst-and Americans at their best-woven from the stories of Depression-era families who were helped by gifts from the author’s generous and secretive grandfather.

Shortly before Christmas 1933 in Depression-scarred Canton, Ohio, a small newspaper ad offered $10, no strings attached, to 75 families in distress. Interested readers were asked to submit letters describing their hardships to a benefactor calling himself Mr. B. Virdot. The author’s grandfather Sam Stone was inspired to place this ad and assist his fellow Cantonians as they prepared for the cruelest Christmas most of them would ever witness.

Moved by the tales of suffering and expressions of hope contained in the letters, which he discovered in a suitcase 75 years later, Ted Gup initially set out to unveil the lives behind them, searching for records and relatives all over the country who could help him flesh out the family sagas hinted at in those letters. From these sources, Gup has re-created the impact that Mr B. Virdot’s gift had on each family. Many people yearned for bread, coal, or other necessities, but many others received money from B. Virdot for more fanciful items-a toy horse, say, or a set of encyclopedias. As Gup’s investigations revealed, all these things had the power to turn people’s lives around- even to save them.

But as he uncovered the suffering and triumphs of dozens of strangers, Gup also learned that Sam Stone was far more complex than the lovable- retiree persona he’d always shown his grandson. Gup unearths deeply buried details about Sam’s life-from his impoverished, abusive upbringing to felonious efforts to hide his immigrant origins from U.S. officials-that help explain why he felt such a strong affinity to strangers in need. Drawing on his unique find and his award-winning reportorial gifts, Ted Gup solves a singular family mystery even while he pulls away the veil of eight decades that separate us from the hardships that united America during the Depression. In A Secret Gift, he weaves these revelations seamlessly into a tapestry of Depression-era America, which will fascinate and inspire in equal measure.

My Review:

An absolutely beautiful look at a devastating time in recent US history, Christmas of 1933 following in the wake of The Great Depression, A Secret Gift by Ted Gup brings the reader back to 1933 Canton, Ohio and shares letters written by the people of Canton hoping to be one of the 75 lucky recipients of a $5 check. I am fortunate to have a grandmother as well as in-laws who lived through the Great Depression, but for those who have no one to ask about this time in history, Gup provides a very vivid, heart-felt, and heart-wrenching look at a time when so many had nothing, yet worked to help each other as best they could.
Upon researching for A Secret Gift, Gup not only learns more about this secret benefactor, who happens to have been his grandfather, Sam Stone, but he unearths what brought this act of kindness and as Gup learns more about the families helped that Christmas of 1933, he learns more about his grandfather’s life.
Some reviews can be neatly summed up and others by their very nature require more information. My paternal grandparents were immigrants and certain things they did, such as hiding their money under the floorboards of their house, throwing nothing usable out, and closets filled with gifts never to be used because of their belief of “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” mentality, I truly did not understand. When I was younger I assumed it was from their culture since they never spoke of struggles or hardships, to be honest I do not recall them or my father ever complaining. Looking back I have never heard my grandparents, maternal and paternal, or my in-laws ever complaining about hard times. When I ask my father he speaks of an extreme frugal childhood, yet looks at it fondly, rather than one of having to do without if he could not make do. After reading A Secret Gift I now understand why and have taken away so very much from Gup’s book.
I truly cannot do justice to this extraordinary historical look at The Great Depression that focuses on individuals rather than focusing on the historical and economic factors, which lead up to The Great Depression. A Secret Gift takes the reader into the lives of real people affected and the letters and tales of how one man’s random act of kindness affected more then just one day in the lives of 75 people. I am without a doubt a history buff, but trust me, one does not even have to like history (I have heard rumours there are people who do not take to it) to fall in love with the people in this book, gather insight into previous generations, and just maybe learn how one act of kindness, be it at Christmas or any time, can affect someone far more than one could imagine. I highly recommend A Secret Gift to everyone.

About the Author:

Ted Gup wrote a very skeletal version of what became the basis for A Secret Gift for the New York Times two years ago, and it was the second most emailed story for the Times that year. New research resulted in A Secret Gift: How One Man’s Kindness – and Trove of Letters – Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of A Secret Gift by Ted Gup from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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