Tony French / Alamy In the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, a down-on-his-luck ... and the Scandal Behind the World’s Favorite Board Game, and found that Monopoly’s story began ...

The longest recession in American history took place between 1929 and 1939. Known as the Great Depression, this economic crisis was noteworthy in terms of both its length and its severity.

The Great Depression began with “Black Tuesday” on Oct. 29, 1929, when a panic selloff triggered a stock market collapse, wiping out thousands of investors who had borrowed heavily.