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The New Deal: A Modern History (2011)

by Michael A. Hiltzik(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1439154481 (ISBN13: 9781439154489)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Free Press

review 1: While many books have been written about the Depression Era and the New Deal this one provides an excellent history. A different view of the players and the actions they undertook than that generally taught. In fact many of the players have been forgotten. Rather than concentrating on the "First Hundred Days" and the Court-packing debacle the author put them in perspective and therefore their rightful place. A lot of people who think they know history will find interesting tidbits, like the settlement of the West Coast Dockers strike by allowing the unions to control waterfront hiring and establishing shorter hours and improved overtime pay as being the first time in memory (at the time) of the government siding with the workers. In all earlier disputes the government... more came down on the side of the 'employers'.What reader's will find interesting is the similarity between what FDR inherited from Hoover and what Obama inherited from Bush: "excessive speculation in housing and financial assets (esp. if one considers private equity firms to be holding companies), inadequate regulation of financial institutions, and imprudent behavior by the managements of major banks and investment houses." Other similarities are: wealth concentrated in few hands and heavy business influence in Congress. I recommend this book for those who are interested in the country's history and would like to learn from it.
review 2: I thought I knew about the New Deal. But I guess what I really "knew" about was the WPA. There was apparently so much more to it--economic and social regulations (regarding unions, monopolies, etc.), the implementation of Social Security, the manipulation of the gold standard, public utility projects, etc. On the negative side, Hiltzik showed me the terrible discrimination that took place during the time--there was very little "new" to this deal for African Americans who were cheated at every step. An excellent introduction to the subject. less

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