<P> The Great Depression has been the subject of much writing, as authors have sought to evaluate an era that caused both financial and emotional trauma . Perhaps the most noteworthy and famous novel written on the subject is The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded both the Nobel Prize for literature and the Pulitzer Prize for the work . The novel focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers who are forced from their home as drought, economic hardship, and changes in the agricultural industry occur during the Great Depression . Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is another important novella about a journey during the Great Depression . Additionally, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is set during the Great Depression . Margaret Atwood's Booker prize - winning The Blind Assassin is likewise set in the Great Depression, centering on a privileged socialite's love affair with a Marxist revolutionary . The era spurred the resurgence of social realism, practiced by many who started their writing careers on relief programs, especially the Federal Writers' Project in the U.S. </P> <P> A number of works for younger audiences are also set during the Great Depression, among them the Kit Kittredge series of American Girl books written by Valerie Tripp and illustrated by Walter Rane, released to tie in with the dolls and playsets sold by the company . The stories, which take place during the early to mid 1930s in Cincinnati, focuses on the changes brought by the Depression to the titular character's family and how the Kittredges dealt with it . A theatrical adaptation of the series entitled Kit Kittredge: An American Girl was later released in 2008 to positive reviews . Similarly, Christmas After All, part of the Dear America series of books for older girls, take place in 1930s Indianapolis; while Kit Kittredge is told in a third - person viewpoint, Christmas After All is in the form of a fictional journal as told by the protagonist Minnie Swift as she recounts her experiences during the era, especially when her family takes in an orphan cousin from Texas . </P> <P> The term "The Great Depression" is most frequently attributed to British economist Lionel Robbins, whose 1934 book The Great Depression is credited with formalizing the phrase, though Hoover is widely credited with popularizing the term, informally referring to the downturn as a depression, with such uses as "Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement" (December 1930, Message to Congress), and "I need not recount to you that the world is passing through a great depression" (1931). </P> <P> The term "depression" to refer to an economic downturn dates to the 19th century, when it was used by varied Americans and British politicians and economists . Indeed, the first major American economic crisis, the Panic of 1819, was described by then - president James Monroe as "a depression", and the most recent economic crisis, the Depression of 1920--21, had been referred to as a "depression" by then - president Calvin Coolidge . </P>

When was the term great depression first used