Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive [Paperback]

Joan Hoff Wilson (Author), Oscar Handlin (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1992

This interesting and insightful book examines the life of one of America's least favored presidents with a sensitive and objective eye. Herbert Hoover's career followed a pattern familiar in the history of the United States: humble beginnings surmounted by hard work and tremendous ambition, wealth, public service and, eventually, the presidency. From his Quaker youth he acquired morals and values that he would preserve throughout his entire life. These values ultimately created an unbridgeable gulf between him and U.S. citizens as he confronted the Great Depression soon after taking office. There would always be little comprehension between the president and the people who looked to him for leadership. He died unpopular and isolated, disowned by his own party, embittered by the lack of understanding, and convinced that the burden of blame for the depression had been thrust on him unfairly. This volume seeks to shed light not only on the man and his career, but also on the evolving nation that rejected him.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Titles of related interest from Waveland Press: Hawley, The Great War and the Search for a Modern Order: A History of the American People and Their Institutions, Second Edition (ISBN 9780881339734); Jeansonne, Transformation and Reaction: America 1921-1045 (ISBN 9781577663829); and Nash, The Crucial Era: The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945, Second Edition (ISBN 9781577660224).

Product Details

• Paperback: 307 pages
• Publisher: Waveland Pr Inc (December 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881337056
• ISBN-13: 978-0881337051
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, September 25, 2003

By 

Matthew B. Rumbaugh (Fairfax, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive (Paperback)

I'm reading a bio of each President and was actually excited to get to Hoover. I figured he couldn't be nearly as bad as his reputation and there might be some insight as to how he was so successful in most of his life, but failed so miserably as president. Alas, there is not. The book seems well-researched, but there is a stunning lack of personal detail. Almost nothing other than Hoover's offical writings are cited. No anecdotes from friends. No personal correspondance. Before he went into government, he spent most of his adult life overseas. Surely there would be some interesting tales from those adventures, I thought. None. If you have to do research on Hoover, I suppose this is a fine place to start. However, if you're a bio fan and looking for some insight into the man and the times, don't bother. To be fair, such a book may not exist or even be feasible with Hoover. This one definitely isn't it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Forgotten Book, May 20, 2009

By 

P. Newman (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive (Paperback)

Joan Hoff Wilson's book attempts to explain the life of Herbert Hoover. From what Wilson says, at the time of the book's writing many new reports and papers on Herbert Hoover were being released. Wilson states that he believed the time to be right to reexamine Hoover now that several decades have passed after the public vilified him following 1929-1932. By publishing this book and other new information being released Wilson et al. hoped that historians would look at Hoover's record again and readjust his status in society. (He published this book in 1975).

To me Wilson wrote the book in an unorganized and jumbled manner. If you are using this book as a source of research you will find some interesting points and quotes that illustrate what he was like. However, a huge problem with this is that the author does not do any sort of internal citation and instead clumps his information all at the end of the book. This makes it nearly impossible to find where a particular fact came from concerning one of Wilson's sources. The book isn't really a biography of Hoover but instead an analysis of the man based off of copious research and newly issued papers. It discusses very little about his private life and instead talks about his public record. Even then, it talks more about how he went about doing things rather than what he actually did. When reading this book you are left wondering what the author tried to say about the man.

4 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Herbert Hoover, April 16, 2008

By 

James Ronald Colyer "Jim Colyer wrote Save Th... (Nashville, Tennessee) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive (Paperback)

Hoover was blamed for the Great Depression. He had trouble with the Federal Reserve and the New York Stock Exchange. Seven months into his term, the stock market crashed. By 1932, 12 million were out of work. The good thing to come from his term was Hoover Dam, located 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas. This hydroelectric dam harnesses the Colorado River to produce electricity for Arizona, Nevada and California. There was controversy about the dam's name. Democrats wanted it called Boulder Dam because of Hoover's failed presidency and because it was originally to be built upriver across Boulder Canyon.