NewMexiKen has begun reading American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work
I am only 60 pages into this 530-page historical narrative, so this reaction is somewhat preliminary. Put another way, I haven’t even gotten through the 1932 election yet. That said, it’s proven quite good so far. The style is anecdotal-narrative, relatively fast-paced. And there are enough parallels to today to elevate your interest. For example, just today President-elect Obama called for a 2.5 million person jobs program.
I have noticed a few errors by Taylor — for example, saying FDR was 53 in 1932, when in fact he was 51. This is absolutely unimportant, but when I see these kind of things I do wonder if more significant details are carefully researched and described.
But, more importantly, the book is good enough that I wanted to mention it. And being reminded about MacArthur’s reaction to The Bonus March was enough to give me chills all over again.
Yet another book you’ve added to my Amazon wishlist; thanks, Ken. And that’s interesting about The Bonus March: after reading about the Ghost Soldiers and how MacArthur abandoned his troops, I didn’t have such a great opinion of him anyway.