MTBC: American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work
This is the regular meeting of the Moving Train Book Club, for May, 2010. The selection this month is Nick Taylor's 640 paged, two-coloned titled 2010 book: "American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work."
... the contributions of the WPA have gradually emerged from unawareness. They are drawing renewed attention now, not only for the program's arts and brick-and-mortar legacies but also for its example. The Roosevelt administration placed an extraordinary bet on ordinary people, and the nation realized a remarkable return. The story of the WPA reminds us that the backbone of the United States is the strength, the patience, and the underlying widom of its people when they are called upon to face a crisis and are given the means to overcome it.
That story starts in a country that was on its knees. [from introduction]
From the description on Amazon.com Booklist has this to say:
When Franklin Roosevelt assumed the presidency in March 1933, the rate of unemployment was approximately 25 percent. Staples of today’s government support system for the needy, such as unemployment compensation and food stamps, did not exist. Roosevelt had not campaigned as a big government “liberal,” but he and his brain trust felt compelled to do something and do it fast. One of the cornerstones of the New Deal was the WPA, or Works Progress Administration. It was a controversial program. Conservative economists and politicians viewed it as an unwarranted and wasteful intrusion of government into the economy. But as Taylor illustrates in this comprehensive analysis of the program, the short-term results, over the eight-year life of the program, were enormous. Dams, roads, and bridges were built; on a smaller scale, WPA workers painted murals, served hot meals to the indigent, and even repaired toys. Perhaps more important, hope was provided for the hopeless. Taylor has written a passionate defense of a program that millions saw as a godsend.
--Jay Freeman
This appears to be (I'm about 1/4 way through it now) a thorough and detailed account of the principle characters involved and the substance of the programs themselves. I haven't yet encountered much about opposition to it or an analysis of its legacy. Yet. I'm just about to get to the first election after the relief programs were first implemented.
Where:
Newport, OR
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