*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy reading books about American history and politics and the New Deal is something that is often mentioned. This book came to me at the right time as it’s a short overview of the various impacts of the New Deal on different populations in the US.

To me, this book needed to be longer. Rauchway is clearly an expert in this topic and highlighted some interesting effects of the New Deal on indigenous communities and black Americans. However, I feel like these topics needed more room to develop and more details.

Overall, this book served as a good introduction to the topic. As I was coming into this knowing very little, there were some confusing portions but on the whole it made me intrigued to explore the subject further.

3 out of 5 stars!

Rauchway does something that I think is hard for a history book to do: make the New Deal engaging to read about. There is a lot here to take away; he makes a very compelling argument that the New Deal is all around us and that it has never really gone away. Where a lot of history of the New Deal does not mention the impact of native groups and minorities, he devotes full chapters to them. While I had known of John Collier, Rauchway's exploration of his policy decisions was fascinating.

Each chapter is based around a key event or development; I found the first chapter extremely enlightening. By using the Bonus Army as a background, Rauchway describes Hoover's philosophy towards activist government. The last chapter brings the New Deal directly to our own sidewalks- literally.

As a teacher, there is a lot of accessible history that can be a way of engaging students in history that gets muddled up with "alphabet soup" and the minutiae of policy-making. If you want a place to begin looking at the personal and social impacts of FDR's activism, this is a very good place to begin

3.5 stars

An engaging, well researched read that discusses the origins, successes, & failures of the New Deal. It also applies how the policies & long term effects have shaped the current fabric of US society, & what lessons we might take from it to make progress addressing current issues such as climate change, the pandemic, & economic weaknesses.

[What I liked:]

•I appreciate that this book doesn’t just document past history, but also shows how the New Deal shapes our daily life in the US (infrastructure, public services, labor laws, economic safe guards, & resource development), & the dangers presented by its gradual erosion that has taken place since the 1930’s. It made the text interesting from a historical reference, but also very relevant to today.

•The book points out the many positives brought by New Deal policies, but does not neglect to address the failures: the racism, sexism, & other injustices it was unable to adequately address or even reinforced. This gives some reference point for how policies can be improved.

•The writing style is easy to digest, weaving together narrative & real life characters with more statistical information. It does not attempt to be an exhaustive exploration of the topic, but to provide a few concrete examples. It’s a nice length for a more casual reader of history.

•There are extensive footnotes & resources in the appendix. I appreciate the work & care that went into the research, as well as the ability to synthesize the wealth of information into a focused, approachable text.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•I know it’s not the main focus of the text, & it was addressed in some depth in the intro & conclusion, but I’m interested to read more of the writer’s thoughts on updating, reinstating, reinventing, & strengthening the New Deal policies to address current social, economic, & development issues. There’s a lot more there to explore & expound on, perhaps in a future book.

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]