Introduction The 2008 economic crisis experienced in most industrialized countries like the United States rekindled some interest in historic economic events. There is a renowned interest in the Great Depression, with many writers featuring the economic history of this era. The Great Depression, which stroke Canada, not only affected the country economically and politically, but also socially in the family unit. There are many economic history books in the market, but most writers have concentrated on the political and economic history of the Ontarian Great Depression, leaving out the equally important social aspect. Lara Campbell in her book “ Respectable Citizens: gender, family, and employment in Ontario’s Great Depression ” examines the events that took place during the Great Depression from a social point of view. Campbell takes a wider approach by looking at people’s experiences, government interventions, and events that eventually led Canada out of the Great Depression. To achieve this, Campbell organizes her book around two intertwined themes: “a detailed examination of the material difficulties and survival strategies of Ontario families is combined with an analysis of the way that individual protest and collective action helped to redefine the meanings of welfare and citizenship” (Campbell, pp. 6). This essay, therefore, is an evaluation of Lara Campbell’s Respectable Citizens. Thesis Statement Respectable Citizens takes a social approach to examine the darkest history of the Ontarian Great Depression. Campbell addresses human suffering, which manifests itself through massive unemployment figures, home evictions and humiliating relief policy. Apart from examining material difficulties, Lara Campbell also analyzes the role played by collective action in transforming Canada into a welfare state (pp. 6). In a series of five chapters, Campbell examines different concerns of human suffering, federal government unfair relief provision policy, and citizen’s struggle to redefine citizenship and welfare (Hughes, par. 3). The questions of “who”, “when”, “where”, “how” and “why” are adequately addressed in Campbell’s thesis. In addressing “who” question, Campbell designed each gender aspect a whole chapter. In chapter one, Campbell examines the role of women as mothers doing their best to provide for their family through domestic labor, paid labor, and informal labor (Campbell, pp. 25-50). In chapter two, Campbell explores men’s experiences in the wake of rapid unemployment and economic hardship. Campbell also gives a whole chapter to children. Campbell also examines a different body outside gender, the government. Campbell demonstrates how federal government policy on relief provision was unfair and made life difficult for single mothers. When reading Campbell’s book, the critical issues of “what” come out clear. Campbell’s book is about human suffering and she has managed to bring out the clear picture of her thesis through illustrations. Campbell examines social expectation of Canadian citizens as “respectable citizens” evaluating how this expectation pushed them to the extremes. Social expectations of women as “respectable citizens” pushed them even to prostitution just to be able to feed their families (pp. 46). Men’s frustrations as they failed to play their role as “respectable citizens” also come out clearly in Campbell’s work. “… men standing in relief lines or in soup kitchens, men protesting in the streets, and