Customer Reviews

New Deal, The: A 75th Anniversary Celebration

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The book arrived in a timely manner and to my amazement it was like brand new.....

This book tells of the programs of the FDR era that were set in motion to combat the Great Depression of the 30's. They are documented and available for the new generations to read, review and realize that much of our country's infrastructure, FDIC, SS, rural electricity, massive dam projects, parks, monuments, bridges, marvelous public buildings, and so much more are a result of various NEW DEAL programs. An entire generation of young men, artist, writers, actors, builders, engineers, old and young were given an opportunity to work and proudly rebuild a better, stronger America. Of course these amazing men and women were the hard laborers, flag wavers, and in the most recent years known as THE GREATEST GENERATION. This book celebrates the course of a strong leader when the Nation needed a man of knowledge and resources. Currently we as a Nation are again struggling against many of the same issues and family losses that are recounted in this marvelous book. We need to find HOPE once again.

This is a wonderful book that anyone can enjoy and learn from --- the photos are really good and the story of the New Deal is very readable for the "non-historian". It would make a terrific gift for anyone. It should be of special interest to anyone contemplating today's jobs crisis and at the same time provide pride in what the country did to recover from the Great Depression. Hopefully we will adapt the actions and reignite the passion to do something new that Americans will benefit from for the next 75 years!

This book commemorates the 75th anniversary of the New Deal, the series of programs initialed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help Americans recover during the Great Depression. The various programs gave hope, support and encouragement to millions of Americans. Social Security, which was started then, continues to enrich our lives today. Also the Federal Writers Project offered support to writers John Steinbeck, Studs Terkel and Eudora Welty. This coffee table style book is filled with photos, posters, charts and art from the New Deal era. Depending on your age, this book will let you remember or imagine one of America's most pivotal moments.

Granddaughter to the former president, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt writes in the forward, "I am delighted that [this book] will make the story of the New Deal easily accessible..." Her hope is it will inspire leaders to address today's problems with a spirit of innovation. It's a book that anyone can leaf through and find nuggets of a past that will hold attention for long moments. Symphonies, housing and restoration programs and art projects studded this by-gone time. This book chronicles a time we can still learn from.

Kathryn Flynn has written an interesting brief overview of the New Deal and how a group of visionaries in Washington worked wonders to rescue the Nation in the Thirties. If you look at the Contents page though you'll see that it wasn't just giving industry and agriculture a helping hand but a whole range of government agencies (affectionately referred to as the alphabet soup effect) like: REC (Rural Electric Cooperatives; FTP (Federal Theater Project); SSA (Social Security Administration; FDI (Federal Deposit Insurance); CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and many more.

I always thought it was one of the strengths of the New Deal that the attention paid to the spirit of the Nation was as important as the nuts and bolts of getting people back to work. How wonderful that politicians and civil servants considered the theater, music, fine arts, or writing as creative subjects to be enjoyed by all and not just for a wealthy elite who lived in big cities.

The author covers it all, in a rather generalized way (I think the book is aimed more at students than the general reader) backed up with plenty of period photos, though some of them unfortunately appear rather grey on the page. There is though a fine selection of posters (from the several thousand that were produced) to illustrate the various agencies and projects. Oddly, nowhere can I find the symbol of the times: the NRA eagle poster with the slogan 'We do our part' which must have had blanket coverage everywhere at the time. A more thorough look at the WPA can be found in American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work, very comprehensive (with a twenty-two page index) in its coverage.

***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

this book drips with typical progreesive, marxist and doper baby liberal propaganda.these programs helped the elite few unconstutional law makers and policy wonks in wasshigton.The new deal and the great society were the creation of womb to tomb socialism and dependency on massive gov. for every need.My mom can testify these programs did nothing then or now to stop individual suffering or bleeding.They helped each other out of their depression with no gov aid whatsover!The new deal left out one thing the individual!In my humble opinion a better read would be the Forgotten man or the p.i.g. guide to the great depression.