Thimble Summer is set during the 1930s and the Great Depression, a period when rural America and many farming families were plagued by economic hardship. Following the 1929 stock market crash, which had worldwide effects, the United States experienced high unemployment, deflation, a banking system crisis, and cutbacks in industrial production that resulted in widespread poverty and unhoused people. Already struggling against industrialization and the modernization of farming, rural families and sharecroppers were particularly affected by the Great Depression. A decrease in commodity prices, reduced demand, and increased debts led to a collapse in the agricultural economy. Εnvironmental disasters such as the Dust Bowl exacerbated the crisis. This severe drought, combined with dust storms that plagued the Great Plains from 1930 to approximately 1936, decimated crops and drained the land. Thousands of families were forced to abandon their farms, initiating a migration wave.

To ameliorate the effects of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the New Deal, a series of federal laws including banking reforms, emergency relief, and work relief programs, as well as agricultural programs. The New Deal lasted between 1933 and 1939 and managed to help the United States recover from the devastating effects of the financial crisis. However, its long-lasting socio-economic effects remain a matter of debate, as critics have accused Roosevelt of aiming to enforce different political ideologies through the New Deal. Some conservative groups at the time claimed that the system was communist for offering widespread public assistance, an assertion Roosevelt rebuked. However, left-leaning parties later theorized that it reinforced a capitalist structure by simply reviving business and the working class enough to carry on as they had before rather than creating a newer, more equitable system.

Despite their plight, many farmers persisted and endeavored to defend their lands and make a living. It is against that backdrop that Enright’s story unfolds. Like Garnet’s family, several farming households used government allowances to reinvest in their profession and adapt to the challenging economic environment. The Great Depression still marks the longest and most severe economic crisis in the United States.