This entry in the venerable and newly revamped Cornerstones of Freedom series offers simplified but not simplistic explanations of the current great recession's course and immediate causes. The older series titles' stodgy design has been considerably brightened here by visually stimulating pages that combine big color photos, boxed side essays, and blocks of large text with bright-red headers and highlights. In simple language and a judicious, matter-of-fact tone, Heinrichs describes the origins and growth of the housing bubble and the trade in mortgage-backed securities that magnified the effects of its eventual collapse; summarizes the federal government's palliative measures; surveys the effects of hard times on general patterns of living and spending; and notes the creation of a Generation R, for whom high unemployment and financial insecurity are likely to become ways of life. Along with above-average back matter, including multimedia resources and thumbnail biographies of prominent figures, she closes with the (now, sadly, dated) hope that a New Normal marking the recession's official end in June 2009 will lead to long-term economic recovery. There are no other books on the topic currently available for younger readers, and this one sets a high bar for any more to come.